JULY 24

1911: Drummer Smokey Dacus was born in Quinton, OK. He became a member of Bob Wills’ Texas Playboys from 1935-1940, playing on such classics as “San Antonio Rose,” “Ida Red” and “Right Or Wrong.”

1922: Songwriter Lawton Williams was born in Troy, TN. He wrote Gene Watson’s “Farewell Party,” Bobby Helms’ “Fraulein,” Hank Locklin’s “Geisha Girl” and George Jones’ “Color Of The Blues,” among others

1936: Songwriter Max D. Barnes was born in Hardscratch, IA. His credits include “Who’s Gonna Fill Their Shoes,” by George Jones; “Don’t Take It Away,” by Conway Twitty; “Look At Us,” by Vince Gill; and “Chiseled In Stone,” by Vern Gosdin

1941: Teenage Chet Atkins picked up his first radio job, at Columbus’ WRBL in Ohio.

1946: Tex Williams held his first recording session for Capitol Records.

1948: Roy Acuff announced his candidacy for governor of Tennessee. He ran against the incumbent and lost. He also campaigned for the job twice more but was unsuccessful.

1957: Pam Tillis was born in Plant City, FL. The daughter of country singer Mel Tillis, she fashioned a career of her own with a series of hits in the 1990s, winning the Country Music Association’s Female Vocalist in 1994 and joining the Grand Ole Opry in 2000.

1967: Tommy Duncan died in San Diego from a heart attack. The former vocalist for Bob Wills’ Texas Playboys delivered such milestone recordings as “Right Or Wrong,” “New San Antonio Rose” and “Roly Poly.”

1970: Eleven-year-old Marty Stuart met Connie Smith for the first time at a fair in Mississippi. He predicted to his mother he would someday marry the Grand Ole Opry singer. They did, in fact, marry 27 years later.

1972: After more than 20 years with Columbia Records, Marty Robbins signed a recording contract with MCA. He returned to Columbia within three years.

1973: Johnny Cash recorded “Life’s Little Ups And Downs” and “City Of New Orleans” at the House of Cash in Hendersonville, TN. Both became hits for other country acts–the former for Ricky Van Shelton and the latter for Willie Nelson.

1974: Chet Atkins recorded “The Entertainer” during an afternoon session at Nashville’s RCA Studio B. The recording received a country Grammy nomination.

1976: Guitarist Charlotte “Rosie” Ledford died. She was a member of The Coon Creek Girls, the first all-female stringband, which also became the first country act to perform at the White House.

1978: MCA released Merle Haggard’s “It’s Been A Great Afternoon.”

1984: The body of Loretta Lynn’s oldest son, Jack Benny Lynn, was pulled from the Duck River near Waverly, TN. Lynn apparently drowned while trying to ride his horse across the river.

1984: Terry Bradshaw retired from the National Football League. A future Hall of Famer, he appeared in four Super Bowls, but also recorded a minor country hit in the mid-1970s by remaking Hank Williams’ “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry.”

1984: Mandolin player Lester McFarland died. He participated in the blind duo Mac & Bob, which began recording in the 1920s and gained fame the following decade on WLS Radio’s “National Barn Dance.”

1985: Kenny Rogers was named the first winner of the Roy Acuff Humanitarian Award by the Country Music Foundation.

1987: Merle Haggard & George Jones performed for 12,000 at Nashville’s Starwood Amphitheatre. It marked the first time Haggard played a major venue in Music City.

1992: Reba McEntire began appearing in a two-episode role, playing herself on the ABC-TV soap opera “One Life To Live.”

1992: Billy Dean topped the country charts with the single, “Billy the Kid.”

1995: Warner Bros. releases Faith Hill’s “Let’s Go To Vegas.”

1996: BlackHawk’s self-titled debut album was certified double platinum.

1998: Tanya Tucker filed a $300,000 lawsuit against Capitol Records Nashville, contending that the label willfully neglected her career.

1998: Thomas Nelson published Larry Gatlin’s autobiography, “All The Gold In California And Other People, Places & Things,” co-written with Jeff Lenburg.

2001: Lost Highway released “Down From The Mountain,” the soundtrack to a live concert film associated with “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” Performers include Alison Krauss, Emmylou Harris, The Whites, Dan Tyminski, John Hartford and The Cox Family.

2002: Darryl Worley’s album, “I Miss My Friend,” debuted at #1 on Billboard’s Country Album chart.

2004: Toby Keith headlined his first stadium gig, which also featured Scotty Emerick, Al Ketchum, Gretchen Wilson, Montgomery Gentry and Jo Dee Messina.

2007: From the odd pairings department: Porter Wagoner, backed by Marty Stuart, opened for the rock band The White Stripes at New York’s Madison Square Garden.