Comedian Will Rogers and Jimmie Rodgers began a tour together in San Antonio at the Memorial Auditorium in 1931. The tour covered 50 cities in 18 days, earning more than $225,000 for the American Red Cross.
Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys recorded Smoke On The Water, Stay A Little Longer, Hang Your Head In Shame, Texas Playboy Rag, You Don’t Care What Happens To Me and Roly-Poly in Hollywood in 1945.
Hank Williams returned to on-air duties at WSFA Radio in Montgomery, AL in 1946, where he had played five years before. Naturally he became a major attraction for the station.
A year later in 1947, Hank Williams wrote I Saw The Light.
Claude King recorded Wolverton Mountain at the Columbia Recording Studio in Nashville during an evening session in 1962.
Capitol released Merle Haggard’s single The Fightin’ Side Of Me in 1970.
The Dukes Of Hazzard debuted on CBS in 1979, starring John Schneider, as Bo Duke; Tom Wopat, as Luke Duke; and Waylon Jennings, as The Balladeer. Jennings sings the theme song, Good Ol’ Boys.
Willie Nelson’s assets went on the auction block to meet his $16-million debt to the IRS in 1991. Not a single bid was entered.
Loretta Lynn made a guest appearance on the ABC sitcom Roseanne in 1993.
Mandolin player Adam Steffey announced his plans to leave Alison Krauss + Union Station in 1998.
Reba McEntire took over as Annie Oakley in Annie Get Your Gun at Broadway’s Marquis Theatre in 2001. Tom Wopat was also a regular in the production.
Charlie Louvin died at home in Wartrace, TN in 2001 of pancreatic cancer. The Louvin Brothers used genetic harmonies to build an influential career as a duo, joining the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2001.
Sony relaunched the Monument label in 2017, headed by Jason Owen and songwriter Shane McAnally. Caitlyn Smith and Walker Hayes are the first signees for the company, which previously represented Larry Gatlin, Kris Kristofferson and The Dixie Chicks.
England Media published Lucky Me, the autobiography of Moe Bandy in 2018.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Fiddler Clayton McMichen was born in Allatoona, GA in 1900. He recorded as a member of Gid Tanner’s Skillet Lickers, a string band that rose to importance in country music during the 1920s, before embarking on a solo career.
James O’Gwynn was born in Winchester, MS in 1928. Nicknamed the Smilin’ Irishman, he earns his biggest hit in 1962 with the Bill Anderson song My Name Is Mud.
Dave Rowland was born in Los Angeles in 1942. He backed Elvis Presley as a member of The Stamps Quartet and eventually formed a gospel-influenced trio, Dave & Sugar, surrounding himself with two female singers and hitting chart paydirt from 1976-1981.
Lucinda Williams was born in Lake Charles, LA in 1953. Her laidback snapshots of Southern life make her a significant figure in the alt.country movement. She also wrote Mary Chapin Carpenter’s mainstream-country hit Passionate Kisses.
