DECEMBER 30
1927: Bob Ferguson was born in Willow Springs, MO. He produced Connie Smith, Dolly Parton and Jim Ed Brown & Helen Cornelius, and wrote Ferlin Husky’s “Wings Of A Dove” and Porter Wagoner’s “The Carroll County Accident.”
1930: Steel guitarist Orville “Red” Rhodes was born in East Alton, IL. He won four Academy of Country Music Awards as a musician in the 1960s and ’70s.
1931: Skeeter Davis was born in Dry Ridge, KY. She earned her first hit as a 1953 duet partner of Betty Jack Davis, who died in a car accident. Skeeter went on to Grand Ole Opry membership and a solo career that peaked with 1962’s “The End Of The World.”
1937: Singer/songwriter John Hartford was born in New York. The multi-instrumentalist worked primarily in bluegrass throughout his career, though he created a pop and country standard by writing Glen Campbell’s “Gentle On My Mind.”
1938: Dobro player Mike Auldridge was born in Washington, D.C. He joined the bluegrass band The Seldom Scene and performed on Emmylou Harris’ “Making Believe,” plus her duet with Linda Ronstadt, “I Never Will Marry.”
1944: Bob Wills & The Texas Playboys appeared on the Grand Ole Opry, causing a stir when Monte Mountjoy’s drum set was moved onto the stage at the last minute. Drums were previously not allowed. Their first number was “New San Antonio Rose.”
1950: Lefty Frizzell made his first appearance on the Grand Ole Opry, singing “If You’ve Got The Money I’ve Got The Time” and “I Love You A Thousand Ways.”
1951: “The Roy Rogers Show” debuted on NBC. The series features Rogers, wife Dale Evans and sidekick Pat Brady, plus the couple’s horses–Trigger and Buttermilk–and dog Bullet. Rogers and Evans sign off each episode with their theme song, “Happy Trails.”
1956: Suzy Bogguss was born in Aledo, IL. She earned respect for her easy-going vocal skills and adept song selection in the 1990s, gaining thoughtful hits with “Outbound Plane,” “Just Like The Weather,” “Aces” and “Letting Go.”
1959: Songwriter Don Henry was born in San Jose, CA. He co-wrote Kathy Mattea’s “Where’ve You Been” and Miranda Lambert’s “All Kinds Of Kinds.”
1961: Jack Greene was asked to be Ernest Tubb’s drummer when Tubb plays Atlanta’s East Point. Six months later, he’s in the band.
1962: Brenda Lee suffered from a minor eye injury and had her hair singed when she unsuccessfully tried to rescue her poodle from a house fire in Nashville.
1977: Johnny Paycheck gave a free concert in Big Stone Gap, VA, to support striking coal miners. Paycheck played “Take This Job And Shove It” twice.
1982: Epic released Merle Haggard & Willie Nelson’s duet album “Pancho & Lefty.”
1984: Gary Morris’ run in a New York production of the opera “La Boheme” concluded at the Anspacher Theater after 2 ½ months.
1991: Arista released Alan Jackson’s “Dallas.”
1993: Songwriter Mack David died in Rancho Mirage, CA. Primarily a pop songwriter, he also wrote two hits for Margo Smith, Marty Robbins’ “The Hanging Tree,” The Judds’ “Born To Be Blue” and Barbara Mandrell’s “Happy Birthday Dear Heartache.”
1994: “Grand Ole Gospel Time,” which followed the Grand Ole Opry for 23 years on Friday nights, was held for the final time. The show was produced by the reverend Jimmy Snow, son of Hank Snow.
2001: Neal McCoy joined Wayne Newton and comedian Drew Carey to entertain American troops at the Kandahar Airport in Afghanistan as a part of the USO’s Deliver America Tour.
2008: George Jones was saluted during the CBS special “The Kennedy Center Honors.” Brad Paisley, Randy Travis and Alan Jackson cover his songs, and Garth Brooks offers a medley of “White Lightning,” “The Grand Tour” and “The Race Is On.”
2010: Trace Adkins sang the national anthem and Ashton Shepherd performed “God Bless America” at the Music City Bowl at Nashville’s LP Field.
