Mar 20, 1937
Jerry Reed is born in Atlanta, Georgia. With a rhythmic, fingerstyle guitar sound, he earns a Grammy award for “When You’re Hot, You’re Hot” and a million-seller with “Amos Moses,” branching into movie roles, most notably “Smokey & The Bandit”
Mar 20, 1937
Tommy Hunter is born in London, Ontario. The TV personality hosts a Canadian program that provides large exposure to country music north of the U.S. border, “The Tommy Hunter Show”
Mar 20, 1941
Singer/songwriter Mike Settle is born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. A member of Kenny Rogers & The First Edition, he writes “But You Know I Love You,” which becomes a hit for the band, for Bill Anderson and for Dolly Parton
Mar 20, 1949
Hank Williams records “Wedding Bells” at Nashville’s Castle Studios
Mar 20, 1963
George Hamilton IV records “Abilene” at RCA Studio B in Nashville
Mar 20, 1976
Kris Kristofferson shoots his live performance of “Watch Closely Now” for the movie “A Star Is Born” during a Barbra Streisand concert for 50,000 people at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona
Mar 20, 1984
The Judds make their first large-venue appearance, opening for The Statler Brothers at an arena in Omaha
Mar 20, 1989
Mercury releases Kathy Mattea’s “Willow In The Wind” album
Mar 20, 1990
Vince Gill, Ricky Skaggs and Emmylou Harris all testify on Capitol Hill in Nashville against a bill that would label records for their thematic content
Mar 20, 1990
Conway Twitty sells his Twitty Bird publishing catalog to Tree for more than $1 million. It includes the copyrights to such titles as “It’s Only Make Make Believe,” “Linda On My Mind” and “You’ve Never Been This Far Before”
Mar 20, 1990
Capitol releases Dan Seals’ album “On Arrival”
Mar 20, 1993
George Strait’s “Heartland” rises to #1 in Billboard
Mar 20, 2007
Lost Highway releases the Willie Nelson/Merle Haggard/Ray Price album “Last Of The Breed”
Mar 20, 2011
Steel guitarist Ralph Mooney dies of cancer in Texas. An innovative musician, he wrote “Crazy Arms” and played on a host of hits by the likes of Waylon Jennings, Buck Owens and Merle Haggard
