DECEMBER 23

1926: Pop singer Harold Dorman was born in Drew, MS. He had a hit in 1960 with the self-penned “Mountain Of Love,” remade in 1964 by Johnny Rivers. It’s a hit in 1982 for Charley Pride, who also sang Dorman’s “Mississippi Cotton Picking Delta Town.”

1928: Drummer Buddy Harman was born in Nashville. A member of the so-called “A-Team” of session musicians, his credits include The Everly Brothers’ “Bye Bye Love,” Loretta Lynn’s “Coal Miner’s Daughter” and Patsy Cline’s “Crazy,” among others.

1950: Lefty Frizzell hit #1 on the Billboard country chart with his debut single, “If You’ve Got The Money I’ve Got The Time.”

 1957: Left unattended in jail, Merle Haggard walked out the front door of the Bakersfield police station, a day after the attempted robbery of a restaurant.

1959: Buck Owens recorded “Excuse Me (I Think I’ve Got A Heartache)” and “Above And Beyond” in a productive afternoon at the Capitol Tower in Hollywood.

1962: Ernest Tubb invited Cal Smith to become the frontman in his band. Smith hits the road in San Jose the same day, and arrives in Nashville on Christmas.

1964: The Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson had a nervous breakdown during a plane trip to Houston. As a result, Glen Campbell is asked to play bass with the band on the road, a role he handles for the next six months.

1967: Jack Greene joined the Grand Ole Opry.

1968: Epic released Tammy Wynette’s album “Stand By Your Man.”

1969: Merle Haggard recorded “The Fightin’ Side Of Me” in Los Angeles at the Capitol Recording Studios.

1969: Willie Nelson’s home in Ridgetop, TN, burned while he was in Nashville at a Christmas party. When Nelson saw the house in flames, he ran in to rescue his guitar, Trigger, and a bag of marijuana stashed inside the case.

1970: Jerry Reed recorded “When You’re Hot, You’re Hot” and “Another Puff.” The latter appears in the soundtrack to the 2006 film “Thank You For Smoking.”

1981: RCA released Alabama’s “Mountain Music.”

1992: Mayor Bennett Broussard, of Kaplan, LA, declared Sammy Kershaw the town’s “country music ambassador to the world” while announcing the community will put up signs citing Kaplan as the “Home of Sammy Kershaw.”

2000: NPR ranks Johnny Cash’s “I Walk The Line” among the 100 most important American musical works of the 20th century.

2017: Chris Stapleton’s “From A Room: Volume 2” debuted in the top spot on the Billboard country albums chart.