Jim Reeves and Abbott Records chief Fabor Robison tangled with a handgun in a Los Angeles recording studio in 1955. Reeves ultimately demanded his release from the label. Nearly three weeks later, Abbott announced Reeves was leaving.
Tom T. Hall appeared at #1 on the Billboard country chart for the first time with A Week In A Country Jail in 1970.
MCA agreed to buy ABC Records in 1979. As a result, Barbara Mandrell, The Oak Ridge Boys, John Conlee and Don Williams find themselves on a different record label.
Porter Wagoner debuted a new disco sound with a performance at Nashville’s Exit/In in 1979. The Tennessean said the show is “about as disco as Goo Goo Clusters”
Shenandoah filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1991, citing “insurmountable debts” from legal costs involving the band’s name. Groups claiming the same name surfaced in Kentucky, Nevada and Massachusetts.
RECORDED ON JANUARY 31
1968: Merle Haggard recorded The Legend Of Bonnie And Clyde, inspired by the Warren Beatty movie, at the Capitol Recording Studio in Hollywood
RELEASED ON JANUARY 31
1989: RCA released Baillie & The Boys’ Turn The Tide album
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Guitar maker C.F. Martin was born in Germany in 1796. His instrument found its way into the hands of such acts as Elvis Presley, George Jones, Jimmie Rodgers and Ernest Tubb, among others.
Record producer and keyboard player Al De Lory was born in Hollywood in 1930. He produced many of Glen Campbell’s biggest singles, including Wichita Lineman, Galveston, By The Time I Get To Phoenix and Gentle On My Mind.
Producer Rick Hall was born in Franklin County, AL in 1932. Owner of the FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, he oversees hits by The Osmonds, Paul Anka, Mac Davis, Shenandoah, Jerry Reed and Larry Gatlin & The Gatlin Brothers Band.
