Jul 25, 1894
Character actor Walter Brennan is born in Swampscott, Massachusetts. He appears in well over 150 movies, playing Grandpa in TV’s “The Real McCoys.” He also nets a pop and country hit with his 1962 recitation “Old Rivers”
Jul 25, 1927
Ralph Peer begins a series of recordings in a Bristol, Tennessee, furniture store where he holds a session with Ernest Stoneman. Within days, his field work turns up two new, significant acts: Jimmie Rodgers and The Carter Family
Jul 25, 1948
Singer/songwriter Steve Goodman is born in Chicago. The folk performer is best known for writing “You Never Even Called Me By My Name,” by David Allan Coe; and “City Of New Orleans,” an Arlo Guthrie pop hit remade by Willie Nelson
Jul 25, 1950
Lefty Frizzell records “If You’ve Got The Money I’ve Got The Time,” “I Love You A Thousand Ways” and “Shine, Shave, Shower (It’s Saturday)” in his first recording session, at Dallas’ Jim Beck Studio
Jul 25, 1965
Folk singer/songwriter Bob Dylan angers the crowd when he plays his first electric concert at the Newport Folk Festival. For the last part of the show, he borrows a guitar from Johnny Cash. Also watching backstage: Bill Monroe
Jul 25, 1987
Steve Wariner’s “The Weekend” reaches #1 in Billboard
Jul 25, 1992
The Garth Brooks single “The River” peaks at #1 in Billboard
Jul 25, 1994
Wade Hayes records “Don’t Stop” at the Soundshop in Nashville
Jul 25, 1995
Charlie Rich dies while on vacation in Hammond, Louisiana, from a blood clot in his lung. Known as “The Silver Fox,” Rich’s “countrypolitan” sound led to million-sellers with “Behind Closed Doors” and “The Most Beautiful Girl”
Jul 25, 2007
Songwriter Lawton Williams dies of a respiratory ailment at Harris Hospital in Fort Worth, Texas. Among his credits: Bobby Helms’ “Fraulein,” Hank Locklin’s “Geisha Girl” and Gene Watson’s “Farewell Party”
