JULY 1

1922: A day after becoming the first artist to record a country song, Eck Robertson cut “Sally Goodin” in New York.

1928: Alice Harper was born in Winnsboro, TX. She’d go on to marry Lefty Frizzell and inspire his classic “I Love You A Thousand Ways.”

1942: Capitol Records released its first six singles.

1955: Keith Whitley was born in Sandy Hook, KY. Married to Lorrie Morgan in 1986, his rich vocals dot some of the most expressive singles of the late-1980s, although his career was shortened when he died from alcohol poisoning in 1989.

1955: Ernest Tubb introduced Patsy Cline in her Grand Ole Opry debut, as she performed “A Church, A Courtroom And Then Goodbye.”

1961: Michelle Wright was born in Chatham, Ontario. She netted a Top 10 single in 1992 with “Take It Like A Man.”

1968: Capitol released Merle Haggard’s “Mama Tried.“

1969: Record producer Sam Phillips sold Sun Records to Shelby Singleton. The deal included the transfer of the early recordings of Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis, among others.

1971: Guitarist Jerry Kennedy had the first of five sessions at Nashville’s Mercury Studio for the Grammy-nominated album “With All Due Respect To Kris Kristofferson.” Among the day’s songs: “For The Good Times” and “Help Me Make It Through The Night.”

1972: Alabama, with the name Wildcountry, gave its first public performance at the Canyon Land theme park in Alabama.

1975: Beauregard, the lazy bloodhound on “Hee Haw,” died from a kidney infection.

1979: Kenny Rogers taped an appearance on “The Muppet Show” in London.

1980: Warner Bros. released John Anderson’s self-titled debut album.

1981: The estate of Lester Flatt sued Coors for using the late performer’s likeness to sell beer. The suit was settled out of court three years later.

1983: Gaylord Broadcasting announced the company had signed a letter of intent to purchase all Opryland properties, for a reported $250 million. Included in the deal is the Nashville Network.

1989: Kathy Mattea’s “Come From The Heart” reached #1 on the Billboard country chart.

1990: Hank Williams Jr. married his fourth wife–Mary Jane Thomas, a former model for Hawaiian Tropic suntan lotion–in Missoula, MT. They honeymooned in Tanzania, where they discovered their camp was infested with cobras.

1992: With Doug and Ricky Lee Phelps gone from the group, The Kentucky HeadHunters began their first tour with new members Marc Orr and Anthony Kenney in Milwaukee.

1992: Cecile Ham, the wife of Clint Black’s manager Bill Ham, was abducted outside a Houston drugstore by a paroled felon. He killed her and stole her credit cards. Spencer Goodman was found guilty a year later and received the death sentence.

1995: Rock & roll disc jockey Wolfman Jack died of a heart attack in Belvedere, NC. A pioneering, scratchy-voiced broadcaster, he was included 15 years prior in the lyrics of Don Williams’ country hit “Good Ole Boys Like Me.”

1995: “Sold (The Grundy County Auction Incident)” put John Michael Montgomery at the top spot on the Billboard country chart.

1997: Actor Robert Mitchum died of lung cancer in Santa Barbara, CA. In addition to taking roles in such pictures as “Cape Fear,” “The Longest Day” and “River Of No Return,” he earned a country hit in 1967 with “Little Old Wine Drinker Me.”

2002: Gaylord Entertainment sold Acuff-Rose Music, the first Nashville publishing company, to Sony/ATV/Tree for $157 million. The transfer involved three buildings on Music Row and 55,000 songs, including titles by Hank Williams and Roy Orbison, among others.

2006: Former record executive Irving Green died at Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs, CA. He founded Mercury Records, a creative home for such acts as Patti Page, Kathy Mattea, Shania Twain, The Statler Brothers and Billy Ray Cyrus.

2008: Willie Nelson reopened Willie’s Place in Carl’s Corner, TX. The first-night concert boasts David Allan Coe and Ray Wylie Hubbard.

2011: Songwriter Charlie Craig died of lung cancer in Nashville. He wrote Alan Jackson’s “Wanted” and Janie Fricke’s “She’s Single Again,” among other hits.

2013: Charles Carr died in Montgomery, Alabama. He drove the Cadillac in which Hank Williams took his final ride in January 1953.