DECEMBER 29

1922: Rose Lee Maphis was born in Hagerstown, MD. Following her 1952 marriage to Joe Maphis, she worked as half of a husband-and-wife team on Los Angeles TV. They also wrote Vern Gosdin’s “Dim Lights, Thick Smoke (And Loud, Loud Music).”

1926: A front-page story in Variety magazine titled “Hill-Billy Music” thumbed its nose at the audience of the burgeoning country genre. The piece portrays the audience as “poor white trash” who are “illiterate and ignorant, with the intelligence of morons.”

1937: Actress Mary Tyler Moore was born in Brooklyn, NY. She opened a country label, MTM Records, in the mid-1980s, creating a home for Judy Rodman, Holly Dunn, The Girls Next Door and Schuyler, Knobloch & Overstreet.

1939: Ed Bruce was born in Keiser, AR. The rich-voiced performer works as a vocalist, actor, commercial spokesman and songwriter. His writing credits include “Texas (When I Die)” and “Mammas, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys.”

1963: Hank Williams Jr. made his first appearance on the CBS-TV series “The Ed Sullivan Show” from New York, singing “Jambalaya (On The Bayou),” “Your Cheatin’ Heart,” “Long Gone Lonesome Blues” and “Cold, Cold Heart.”

1966: “Second Fiddle To A Steel Guitar” debuted in movie theaters with Minnie Pearl, Sonny James, Lefty Frizzell, Kitty Wells, Johnny Wright, Connie Smith, Billy Walker, Curly Fox, Dottie West, Webb Pierce, Faron Young, Bill Monroe and Little Jimmy Dickens.

1969: Capitol released Merle Haggard’s live “Okie From Muskogee” album.

1971: Johnny Paycheck recorded “Someone To Give My Love To” in a late-night session at the Columbia Recording Studios in Nashville.

1972: Jeanne Pruett recorded “Satin Sheets.”

1975: MCA released Conway Twitty’s “Twitty” album.

1980: Two men tried to kill songwriter Gary S. Paxton, who produced hits for Vern Gosdin. One of the men told police a country figure recruited them to do the job. Paxton believed Gosdin was responsible.

1983: George Jones received the first platinum album of his career, for “I Am What I Am.”

1990:  Clint Black met his wife, Lisa Hartman Black.

1993: Trisha Yearwood earned a gold album for “The Song Remembers When.”

1998: Lorrie Morgan, Steve Winwood and Michael English performed at halftime during the first Music City Bowl at Dudley Field in Nashville, while guitarist Larry Carlton was booed for a jazz version of the national anthem. Virginia Tech defeated Alabama, 38-7.

2000: John Michael Montgomery suffered a compound fracture above the ankle his leg on his Kentucky farm. Months later, at Nashville’s annual Country Radio Seminar, John Michael was still hobbling on crutches.

2001: Alan Jackson’s “Where Were You (When The World Stopped Turning)” spent the first of five weeks at #1 in Billboard.

2007: Bluegrass music’s Dailey & Vincent made their Grand Ole Opry debut as a duo at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville.

2012: Dobro player Mike Auldridge died of cancer in Maryland. A key member of the progressive bluegrass band The Seldom Scene, he played on Emmylou Harris’ “Making Believe” and on Harris’ duet with Linda Ronstadt, “I Never Will Marry.”

2020: ABC looks back at a difficult 12 months with a two-hour special, “The Year 2020.” It includes screen time for Brad Paisley, John Legend, P!nk and Lionel Richie, and recognizes the deaths of Charley Pride, Kenny Rogers, Little Richard and Charlie Daniels.