JULY 13
1942: Roger McGuinn was born in Chicago. A primary member of the country-rock band The Byrds, McGuinn joined ex-Byrd Chris Hillman and The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band on the 1989 hit “You Ain’t Going Nowhere.”
1944: Bobby G. Rice was born in Boscobel, WI. He earned four Top 10 recordings from 1972-1975, the biggest coming with “You Lay So Easy On My Mind.”
1954: Louise Mandrell was born in Corpus Christi, TX. Barbara Mandrell’s sister collected five solo hits in the 1980s, including “Save Me” and “I’m Not Through Loving You Yet.” She also added backing vocals on Merle Haggard’s “Always Wanting You.”
1959: Guitarist Brent Mason was born in Vanwert, OH. His credits include Alan Jackson’s “Chattahoochee,” plus recordings by Brooks & Dunn, Shania Twain and George Strait, leading him to win the Country Music Association’s Musician of the Year twice.
1962: Songwriter Victoria Shaw was born in Manhattan, NY. Her credits include “The River,” by Garth Brooks; “Too Busy Bein’ In Love,” by Doug Stone; and “I Love The Way You Love Me,” by John Michael Montgomery.
1962: Rhonda Vincent was born in Kirksville, MO. She emerged as a major bluegrass talent in the 1990s and 2000s, and contributed to the Grammy-winning country album “Lovin’, Livin’, Losin’: Songs Of The Louvin Brothers.”
1971: “Hee Haw,” featuring co-hosts Buck Owens and Roy Clark, made its final network TV appearance, as CBS decided to “de-ruralize” its lineup. The show subsequently went into syndication.
1977: The Country Music Association denied a request by Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson to have their names removed from the awards ballot. The two said they oppose competition among artists and specifically do not want to compete with each other.
1993: RCA released Clint Black’s “No Time To Kill” album.
1995: Two women suffocated their 86-year-old landlady in a Cincinnati suburb, intending to rob her. The crime was part of an elaborate plot, in which they intended to take hostages at the Grand Ole Opry and force authorities to bring Reba McEntire to meet them.
1996: Promoters claimed 225,000 people attended the Atlanta Motor Speedway for a concert featuring Alan Jackson, Hank Williams Jr., Alabama, Pam Tillis, Patty Loveless, Lee Roy Parnell, The Charlie Daniels Band, Tracy Byrd, Kenny Chesney and Mac Davis.
1996: Shania Twain owned the #1 position in Billboard with “No One Needs To Know.”
2002: Brad Paisley hooked the #1 slot on the Billboard country chart with “I’m Gonna Miss Her (The Fishin’ Song).”
2021: Toby Keith and Rhett Akins were revealed as 2021 inductees in the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, along with Christian artist Amy Grant and songwriters Buddy Cannon and John Scott Sherill.
