FEBRUARY 11
1847: Inventor Thomas Edison was born in Milan, OH. Among his creations: the motion picture and the phonograph.
1918: Publishing executive Wesley Rose was born in Chicago. The son of Acuff-Rose Music founder Fred Rose, he joined the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1986, after playing a role in the careers of The Everly Brothers, Hank Williams and Marty Robbins.
1936: Burt Reynolds was born in Waycross, GA. The movies “Smokey & The Bandit,” “W.W. & The Dixie Dancekings” and “The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas” make him a friend to The Statler Brothers and Jerry Reed. He briefly dated Tammy Wynette.
1956: George Jones reaches #1 on the Billboard country chart for the first time as the writer of Red Sovine & Webb Pierce’s “Why Baby Why.”
1962: June Carter became a permanent member of Johnny Cash’s roadshow, with a concert in Des Moines, IA. Also on the bill: Patsy Cline and 13-year-old steel guitarist Barbara Mandrell.
1965: The Man In Black registered the first gold record of his career, with the album “Ring Of Fire (The Best Of Johnny Cash).”
1967: Loretta Lynn made her first appearance at #1 in Billboard with “Don’t Come Home A’Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ On Your Mind).”
1975: Alabama’s Randy Owen married his wife, Kelly.
1982: “Always on My Mind” by Willie Nelson was released.
1984: Merle Haggard reached #1 on the Billboard country chart with the Lefty Frizzell song “That’s The Way Love Goes.”
1984: Vince Gill debuted on the charts with “Victim of Life’s Circumstances.”
1984: A federal grand jury in Memphis indicted Jerry Lee Lewis on tax evasion charges. He was acquitted the following October.
1985: Banjo player Rudy Lyle died. A former member of Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys, he appeared on Monroe’s classic “Uncle Pen.”
1986: Johnny Lee guest starred on NBC-TV’s “The A-Team,” alongside Mr. T and fellow guests Boy George and Culture Club.
1989: Alabama’s “Song Of The South” hit #1 on the Billboard country chart.
1992: New releases included Reba McEntire’s video “For My Broken Heart” and John Anderson’s album “Seminole Wind.”
1993: Johnny Cash recorded “The Wanderer” with U2 in Dublin, Ireland, for the rock band’s “Zooropa” album.
1994: Don Henley and Glenn Frey had lunch with their management in Aspen, CO. They agreed to reunite The Eagles, whose commercial country-rock has become a major influence on country music.
1999: Tornadoes earlier in the week forced a CD manufacturing plant in Jacksonville, IL, to shut down production, causing a possible delay for Steve Wariner’s single “Two Teardrops.” But his record label persuaded two manufacturing plants to press 400 copies of the single while volunteers addressed and stuffed envelopes to get the single shipped to radio stations on time.
2003: Terri Clark’s single “I Just Wanna Be Mad” hit number one on the “Radio & Records” Country Top 50 chart. It also marked a milestone — it was the first time in 46 weeks that a solo female artist grabbed the top spot on the “Radio & Records” chart.
2004: Wannabe songwriter Walter Bonin was indicted in Nashville on seven counts of extortion, after sending a series of messages to George Strait’s representatives, threatening to blow up the singer’s property if he didn’t record one of Bonin’s songs.
2008: On a new episode of “CMT Crossroads,” Alison Krauss and Robert Plant performed a list which included “Gone Gone Gone (Done Moved On),” “Black Dog,” and “When the Levee Breaks.”
2011: Kenny Chesney was officially honored as the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame’s “Tennessean of the Year” at an event in Nashville.
2016: Songwriter Kim Williams died in Florida. A member of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame since 2012, he penned such hits as Randy Travis’ “Three Wooden Crosses,” Garth Brooks’ “Ain’t Going Down (Til The Sun Comes Up)” and Reba McEntire’s “The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter.”
2019: Garth Brooks practiced fielding at third base and in the outfield as he begins a week of spring training with the Pittsburgh Pirates in Bradenton, FL.
