JANUARY 2
1926: Guitarist Harold Bradley was born in Nashville. As a member of Nashville’s A-Team of studio musicians, he became a Country Music Hall of Fame member after playing on hits by Patsy Cline, Elvis Presley, Loretta Lynn and Conway Twitty, among others.
1936: Roger Miller WAs born in Fort Worth, TX. Raised in Erick, OK, Miller’s quirky songwriting and sense of humor lead to such hits as “King Of The Road,” “Dang Me” and “Chug-A-Lug,” launching him into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
1943: Songwriter Dick Feller was born in Bronaugh, MO. He penned Jerry Reed’s “Lord, Mr. Ford” and John Denver’s “Some Days Are Diamonds (Some Days Are Stone),” and earned a Top 10 novelty hit as a recording artist in 1974 with “The Credit Card Song.”
1954: John Jarvis was born in Pasadena, CA. A session keyboard player who recorded with George Strait, Wynonna and Mary Chapin Carpenter, he also wrote Vince Gill’s “I Still Believe In You,” Steve Wariner’s “Small Town Girl” and Conway Twitty’s “Julia.”
1968: Capitol released Merle Haggard’s “Sing Me Back Home” album.
1968: Capitol released the Buck Owens album “It Takes People Like You To Make People Like Me.”
1970: Marty Robbins recorded “My Woman, My Woman, My Wife” at the Columbia Recording Studios in Nashville with a band that included Charlie Daniels.
1975: “Austin City Limits” premiered on PBS with Willie Nelson as the first featured guest. The set list included “Good Hearted Woman,” “Whiskey River,” “Okie From Muskogee” and “Will The Circle Be Unbroken.”
1986: Gary Morris debuted as blind singer Wayne Masterson on ABC’s drama “The Colbys.”
1986: Johnny Lee filed a $15-million suit in Houston against manager Sherwood Cryer for non-payment. He wanted to be released from a 1974 management contract under which Cryer received 50% of his net income.
1997: Faith Hill went double-platinum for the second time, with the album “It Matters To Me.”
1998: Bass player John Rich and Lonestar decide to part company during a band meeting in Nashville. Rich would re-emerge in 2004 as a member of Big & Rich.
2015: Little Jimmy Dickens died at the Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville of cardiac arrest, eight days after suffering a stroke. Mixing comedy and an underrated ability as a balladeer, he was a longtime member of the Grand Ole Opry and a 1983 inductee in the Country Music Hall of Fame.
