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Country Music History – January 15

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JANUARY 15

1925: Record producer and entrepreneur Ralph Peer coins the phrase “hillbilly music” to describe southern folk.

1949: Lynyrd Skynyrd frontman Ronnie Van Zant is born in Jacksonville, Florida. The rocker co-writes “Sweet Home Alabama,” tabbed by the Country Music Foundation among country’s 500 greatest singles in the 2003 book “Heartaches By The Number.”

1973: Ronnie Milsap records his first two country hits, “I Hate You” and “That Girl Who Waits On Tables,” at Nashville’s Jack Clement Studios.

1974: Melba Montgomery records the Mothers Day special “No Charge,” written by Harlan Howard, at Pete’s Place in Nashville.

1976: Roy Clark begins an 18-day concert tour behind the Iron Curtain in the Soviet city of Latvia with The Oak Ridge Boys and Buck Trent. The government asks Clark to drop the theme from “Doctor Zhivago” from a medley.

1986: A safe stolen from Bill Monroe’s bus in December is found at a creek in Hendersonville, Tennessee. The safe, which had contained $10,000 in cash, is empty.

1988: Columbia releases Vern Gosdin’s “Chiseled In Stone” album.

1991: Gaylord Entertainment buys CMT, giving the organization a second country music cable channel to complement The Nashville Network.

1992: Johnny Cash is inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame during a ceremony at New York’s Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, along with Booker T. & The MGs, Jimi Hendrix, Sam & Dave, Bobby “Blue” Bland, guitar maker Leo Fender, songwriter Doc Pomus and The Yardbirds, including guitarist Eric Clapton.

2000: Patty Loveless introduces Ralph Stanley as a new member of the Grand Ole Opry.

2002: Arista releases Alan Jackson’s “Drive” album.

2008: Rounder releases The SteelDrivers’ self-titled debut album.

2016: Nash Icon releases the Hank Williams Jr. album “It’s About Time.”