Fiddler Clarence “Tater” Tate was born in Gate City, VA 1931. He performed with Bill Monroe, Patty Loveless and Wilma Lee Cooper, among others.
Clint Black was born in Long Branch, NJ in 1962. Raised in Houston, he earned the Country Music Association’s 1989 Horizon award at the outset of a career that includes A Better Man, Something That We Do and Put Yourself In My Shoes.
The Dillards, a bluegrass group that influenced The Eagles, taped their first appearance on The Andy Griffith Show in a recurring role as The Darlings in 1963.
In 1966 The Tennessean reported Johnny Cash will file a $25-million defamation of character lawsuit against the Ku Klux Klan, which circulated messages demanding boycotts of his concerts, falsely believing he married an African-American woman
John Denver recorded Take Me Home, Country Roads at the RCA Studios in New York with the song’s writers, Bill Nivert and Taffy Danoff, on backing vocals
W.W. And The Dixie Dancekings premiered at Nashville’s Crescent Theater in 1975. The cast included Burt Reynolds, Mel Tillis, Don Williams, Roni Stoneman and Jerry Reed.
Dolly Parton taped the pilot for her first syndicated television show, Dolly, at Opryland’s production studios in 1976.
Karen Carpenter, of The Carpenters, died from anorexia nervosa at her parents’ home in Downey, CA in 1983. Primarily a pop act, The Carpenters did earn a Top 10 country hit in 1978 by recording Sweet, Sweet Smile, written by Juice Newton.
Randy Travis joined Andy Griffith on NBC’s Matlock as an aspiring country singer in 1993.
Pam Tillis earned her first #1 single in Billboard with Mi Vida Loca (My Crazy Life) in 1995.
Freddy Fender received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles in 1999.
