Mar 5, 1925
Guitarist Jimmy Bryant is born in Pavo, Georgia. Based in Los Angeles, he plays on numerous sessions and teams with Speedy West for some scintillating instrumental duets. He writes Waylon Jennings’ “Only Daddy That’ll Walk The Line”
Mar 5, 1950
Songwriter Tom Russell is born at California Lutheran Hospital in Los Angeles, California. He writes Suzy Bogguss’ 1992 hit “Outbound Plane”
Mar 5, 1951
Ike Turner’s band, featuring vocalist Jackie Brenston, records “Rocket 88” in Memphis. Hailed by some as the first rock & roll record, it’s also the first hit produced by Country Music Hall of Famer Sam Phillips
Mar 5, 1953
Singer/songwriter Aaron Barker is born in Texas. Barker writes such George Strait hits as “Baby Blue,” “Easy Come, Easy Go” and “Love Without End, Amen,” plus Lonestar’s “What About Now” and Clay Walker’s “You’re Beginning To Get To Me”
Mar 5, 1954
Fiddler George Wilkerson dies. He was the founder and leader of The Fruit Jar Drinkers, a string band that was a mainstay of the early Grand Ole Opry
Mar 5, 1955
Elvis Presley performs “Uncle Pen” on The Louisiana Hayride, his first TV appearance
Mar 5, 1958
Pop singer Andy Gibb is born in Manchester, England. He’s established in the summer of 1977 with “I Just Want To Be Your Everything,” covered as a country hit several months later by Connie Smith
Mar 5, 1963
A plane crash in Camden, Tennessee, claims the lives of Patsy Cline, Cowboy Copas, Hawkshaw Hawkins and pilot Randy Hughes as they return to Nashville from a charity concert in Kansas City
Mar 5, 1964
Johnny Cash records “The Ballad Of Ira Hayes,” based on the tragic life of a World War II hero, at the Columbia Recording Studio in Nashville
Mar 5, 1973
Alabama, billed as Wildcountry, makes its debut at The Bowery in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The band remains regulars at the club for the next seven years
Mar 5, 1975
Conway Twitty records “Don’t Cry Joni” at Bradley’s Barn in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee
Mar 5, 1975
Roger Miller hosts the 10th annual Academy of Country Music awards on “ABC Wide World Of Entertainment.” Taped six days earlier, the show features double wins for Loretta Lynn, Merle Haggard and the Cal Smith hit “Country Bumpkin”
Mar 5, 1976
Johnny Cash records “One Piece At A Time” in Hendersonville at the House of Cash
Mar 5, 1978
Kenny Rogers & Dottie West host “The World’s Largest Indoor Country Music Show” at the Silver Dome in Pontiac, Michigan, with The Oak Ridge Boys, Roy Acuff and Larry Gatlin & The Gatlin Brothers. It becomes an NBC-TV special
Mar 5, 1986
MCA releases Steve Earle’s album “Guitar Town”
Mar 5, 1990
Mary Chapin Carpenter records “Right Now” and “Down At The Twist And Shout” at Bias Studio in Springfield, Virginia
Mar 5, 1991
MCA releases Vince Gill’s “Pocket Full Of Gold” album
Mar 5, 1994
Mark Chesnutt’s “I Just Wanted You To Know” steps up to #1 on the Billboard country singles chart
