JUNE 12
1928: Emmett Miller recorded “Lovesick Blues” in New York with a band that included Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey. Miller’s version of the song later influenced Hank Williams to record it, leading to Williams’ breakthrough record.
1937: Producer Chips Moman was born in LaGrange, GA. He wrote “Luckenbach, Texas” and “Another Done Somebody Wrong Song” and produced hits for Elvis Presley, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard, among others.
1949: Ernest Tubb recorded five Top 10 hits in a single recording session at Nashville’s Castle Studio: “My Filipino Rose,” “My Tennessee Baby,” “Slipping Around,” “Warm Red Wine” and “Driftwood On The River.”
1952: Jamieson “Junior” Brown was born in Kirksville, IN. Hailed for his instrumental work on his self-designed guit-steel, he became a critics’ favorite in the 1990s and won the Country Music Association’s video award for “My Wife Thinks You’re Dead.”
1970: Freddie Hart recorded “Easy Loving” in a late-night session at the Jack Clement Studios in Nashville.
1971: Fiddler Joseph Emmett Mainer died. Better-known as J.E. Mainer, his Mountaineers were recognized as one of the top Appalachian string bands during the 1930s.
1973: Dolly Parton recorded “Jolene” during the afternoon at RCA Studio B in Nashville.
1976: Crystal Gayle notched her first #1 country single in Billboard with “I’ll Get Over You.”
1978: Johnny Bond died from a heart attack at the St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank. A movie sidekick to Gene Autry and Tex Ritter, as well as an artist and songwriter in his own right, he landed a spot in the Country Music Hall of Fame two decades later.
1989: Thirty-five years after Memphis’ WHBQ became the first radio station to play an Elvis Presley record, the station pulled all of the King’s music from its airwaves, citing listener complaints.
1998: Chet Atkins performed at the Tennessee Theater in Knoxville, Tennessee. It was the last time the guitarist played publicly, as he battled cancer.
2002: Marty Stuart held his first Late Night Jam, playing “Walk Softly On This Heart Of Mine” with T. Graham Brown and Kentucky HeadHunter Richard Young. The Ryman Auditorium bill also featured Joe Nichols, Billy Gibbons, Ray Benson, Pam Tillis, Montgomery Gentry and Connie Smith.
2017: Garth Brooks ranked #26 among Forbes’ highest-paid celebrities for earning $60 million. Also listed: Taylor Swift, #49, $44 million; Kenny Chesney, #53, $42.5 million; Luke Bryan, #55, $42 million; Dolly Parton, #71, $37 million; Florida Georgia Line and Toby Keith, #83, $34.5 million; and Jason Aldean, #98, $32.5 million.
