DECEMBER 15
1891: A.P. Carter was born in Maces Spring, VA. Along with his wife, Sara, and her cousin, Maybelle, The Carter Family became a pioneering force in country music, entering the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1970.
1902: Nudie Cohn was born in Kiev, Ukraine. The Hollywood clothier brought the rhinestone suit to prominence, fashioning outfits for Hank Williams, Elvis Presley and Porter Wagoner, among others.
1928: Jerry Wallace was born in Guilford, MO. After a minor pop/rock career in the 1960s, he shifted into country music, netting four hit singles in the 1970s, with “If You Leave Me Tonight I’ll Cry” earning the largest success.
1928: Ernie Ashworth was born in Huntsville, AL. He joined the Grand Ole Opry in 1964 on the heels of his hit “Talk Back Trembling Lips,” which inspired his trademark suits, embroidered with large, sequined lips.
1944: Hank Williams married Audrey Guy at a gas station outside Andalusia, AL.
1944: Jim Reeves re-signed with the St. Louis Cardinals for approximately $100-a-month to pitch for their B-level farm team in Lynchburg, VA.
1955: Sun released Johnny Cash’s original studio version of “Folsom Prison Blues.”
1955: Randy Parton was born in Sevierville, TN. The younger brother of Dolly and Stella Parton, he performed one song on the 1984 soundtrack to “Rhinestone.”
1956: Elvis Presley made a return appearance on “The Louisiana Hayride,” eight months after ending his run as a weekly performer. To quiet fans when he finished, “Hayride” producer Horace Logan coined the phrase, “Elvis has left the building.”
1975: Tammy Wynette recorded “‘Til I Can Make It On My Own.”
1976: The Kendalls recorded “Heaven’s Just A Sin Away” during a 10 a.m. session at Nashville’s LSI Studios.
1976: Johnny Paycheck recorded “Slide Off Your Satin Sheets” and “I’m The Only Hell (Mama Ever Raised)” at the Columbia Recording Studios in Nashville.
1977: Crystal Gayle recorded “Talking In Your Sleep” during an evening session at Jack’s Tracks in Nashville.
1979: Alan Jackson married Denise Jackson (she already had the same last name) at the First Baptist Church in Newnan, GA. He sang “The Wedding Song.”
1980: Waylon Jennings & Jessi Colter recorded a medley of “The Wild Side Of Life” and “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels.”
1982: Ronnie Milsap recorded “Stranger In My House” at Groundstar Laboratory in Nashville.
1982: An old report on the death of Hank Williams was uncovered in a police file. The report indicated that although Oak Hill, WV, has long been listed as the place he died, Williams may have already been dead when he was taken from a Knoxville hotel.
1987: Kostas wrote the Patty Loveless hit “Timber, I’m Falling In Love.”
1990: Kenny Chesney graduated from East Tennessee State University.
1993: Naomi and Wynonna Judd sang together in public for the first time since their final concert, on “Bob Hope’s Bag Full Of Christmas Memories,” a two-hour NBC special.
