DECEMBER 5
1922: Songwriter Don Robertson was born in Peking, China. His credits include: Hank Locklin’s “Please Help Me I’m Falling,” Hank Snow’s “I Don’t Hurt Anymore” and Eddy Arnold’s “I Really Don’t Want To Know.”
1932: R&B singer Richard Penniman was born in Macon, GA. As Little Richard, he gained a Country Music Association nomination after appearing on the album “Rhythm Country & Blues.” Two of his songs are remade in country: “Slippin’ And Slidin’,” by Billy “Crash” Craddock; and “Lucille,” by Waylon Jennings.
1938: Singer/songwriter/guitarist J.J. Cale was born in Oklahoma City. The author of Eric Clapton’s rock classics “After Midnight” and “Cocaine,” he also penned Waylon Jennings’ 1980 country hit “Clyde.”
1947: Jim Messina was born in Maywood, CA. He became a founding member of two major country-rock bands, Buffalo Springfield and Poco, and later joined Kenny Loggins in Loggins & Messina. Messina wrote Lynn Anderson’s “Listen To A Country Song.”
1967: Gary Herzberg was born in Montebello, CA. Under the stage name Gary Allan, the scratchy-voiced singer debuted in 1996, launching a string of hits that includes “Smoke Rings In The Dark,” “Watching Airplanes” and “Every Storm (Runs Out Of Rain).”
1968: The movie “Killers Three” opens with Merle Haggard playing a sheriff who gets killed by Dick Clark. The picture incorporates his performance of “Mama Tried.”
1969: The Johnny Cash Show set a record for New York’s Madison Square Garden, attracting 21,000 people. The concert was issued as a live album in 2002 with appearances by June Carter, The Carter Family, Carl Perkins, The Statler Brothers and Tommy Cash.
1978: The Charlie Daniels Band recorded “The Devil Went Down To Georgia” at Nashville’s Woodland Sound Studios.
1986: Songwriter Carmol Taylor died. Taylor wrote such hits as George Jones’ “The Grand Tour,” Tammy Wynette’s “My Man” and Joe Stampley’s “Red Wine And Blue Memories.”
1987: Molly O’Day died from cancer in Huntington, WV. A hard-country singer who peaked in the 1940s, she was best known for her recording of “Tramp On Your Street.”
1987: Ricky Van Shelton made his first appearance at #1 on the Billboard country singles chart with “Somebody Lied.”
1988: Jimmy Bowen debuted his new Universal label. The roster included Eddie Rabbitt, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and Eddy Raven.
1990: Johnny Cash was named a Grammy Living Legend on CBS-TV, with Dwight Yoakam, Rosanne Cash and June Carter Cash performing a tribute.
1992: George Strait topped the Billboard chart with “I Cross My Heart,” from the “Pure Country” soundtrack.
2000: Lost Highway released the soundtrack to “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” Among the artists featured: Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss, Dan Tyminski, The Whites, Gillian Welch, John Hartford, Ralph Stanley, The Cox Family and Norman Blake.
2002: Kiss bass player Gene Simmons interviewed Travis Tritt in New York for Simmons’ Tongue magazine. The rocker calls Tammy Wynette’s “D-I-V-O-R-C-E” the greatest country song ever recorded.
2010: Merle Haggard, Oprah Winfrey, and Paul McCartney were recognized during the 33rd annual Kennedy Center Honors in Washington, D.C.
