Fearing that the locals will be insulted by having his band named The Crazy Tennesseans, Roy Acuff made his first Grand Ole Opry appearance in which the group is billed under a new name in 1938, The Smoky Mountain Boys.
Tom T. Hall recorded A Week In A Country Jail at Nashville’s Columbia Recording Studio in 1969.
The grand opening was held for Roger Miller’s King of the Road Motor Inn at 211 N. First Street in Nashville in 1970. That night, Miller performed in a gray-and-pink pinstripe suit. The hotel was built for $2.75 million and became the site where Ronnie Milsap was discovered.
Leon Russell began recording a country album in Nashville in 1973 under a pseudonym, Hank Wilson’s Back, Vol. I. Recorded in three days, the album yielded two singles: Roll In My Sweet Baby’s Arms and A Six Pack To Go.
Donna Fargo won four Academy Of Country & Western Music awards at Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park, CA in 1973. She earned Top Female Vocalist, and The Happiest Girl In The Whole U.S.A. took Single Record, Song and Album of the Year.
MCA released Loretta Lynn’s Entertainer Of The Year album in 1973.
Epic released the Merle Haggard album A Friend In California in 1986.
Terrorists bombed New York’s World Trade Center in 1993. Just a few blocks away, Steve Wariner was having a photo shoot for the cover of his Drive album.
Comedian Tim Wilson died of a heart attack in Columbia, GA in 2014. He co-wrote Toby Keith’s country hit High Maintenance Woman.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Actor, comedian and dance band leader Jackie Gleason was born in Brooklyn, NY in 1916. Immortalized for his role in the 1950s TV series The Honeymooners, he wrote Jimmy Dean’s 1962 country hit To A Sleeping Beauty. But we all know him and love him most as Sheriff Buford T. Justice.
Antoine “Fats” Domino was born in New Orleans in 1928. The R&B singer found success in country music as a songwriter when Hank Williams Jr. recorded Ain’t That A Shame.
J.R. Cash was born in Kingsland, AR in 1932. As Johnny Cash, he joined the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, rising to prominence with rockabilly music at Sun Records and graduating to become an icon for country music.
Songwriter Jan Crutchfield was born in Paducah, KY in 1938. He authored Dave & Sugar’s Tear Time, Jack Greene’s Statue Of A Fool, Charley Pride’s Does My Ring Hurt Your Finger and Lee Greenwood’s It Turns Me Inside Out.
Singer/songwriter Chris Wall was born in Los Angeles, CA in 1952. He wrote Confederate Railroad’s Trashy Women.
