Little Jimmy Dickens made his first appearance on the Grand Ole Opry in 1948, performing John Henry and I Dreamed Of An Old Love Affair.
The late Hank Williams registered a #1 country single in Billboard with Kaw-Liga in 1953.
Buck Owens signed a recording contract with Capitol Records in 1957. He was there with The Farmer Boys playing guitar. He left in the middle of their session to sign his own deal.
Waylon Jennings & Willie Nelson shared the top spot on the Billboard country chart in 1976 with Good Hearted Woman.
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band won Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal in 1990, for Will The Circle Be Unbroken, Volume 27 and shared Best Bluegrass Recording with Bruce Hornsby, for The Valley Road; during the 32nd annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles.
William Morrow published Pride: The Charley Pride Story in 1994.
Trace Adkins’ second wife, Julie, shot him with a .38-caliber revolver in 1994. The bullet penetrated both lungs and both chambers of his heart.
Bill Monroe provided vocals on Billy and Terry Smith’s version of Walk Softly On This Heart Of Mine and Blue Moon Of Kentucky in a Nashville studio. That 1996 collaboration represented Monroe’s final recording session.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Smith Hammett was born in Gaffney, SC in 1887. The banjo player was a mentor to Earl Scruggs, teaching him the revolutionary three-finger style.
Don Reno, of the bluegrass act Reno & Smiley, was born in Spartanburg, SC in 1927. The duo, which also featured Red Smiley, collected a minor country hit in 1961 with Don’t Let Your Sweet Love Die.
Mary Chapin Carpenter was born in Princeton, NJ in 1958. Her folk-tinged brand of country made her one of the most thoughtful artists of the 1990s while she garnered hits with Down At The Twist & Shout, I Feel Lucky and Shut Up And Kiss Me.
