MARCH 19

1848: Frontier figure Wyatt Earp was born in Monmouth, IL. He’s referenced in Ed Bruce’s 1980 hit “The Last Cowboy Song.”

1940: Songwriter Lionel Delmore was born to Alton Delmore, of The Delmore Brothers. As an adult, Lionel co-wrote the John Anderson hits “Swingin’,” “I Wish I Could Write You A Song” and “Honky Tonk Crowd.”

1956: Patsy Cline sent a letter to fan club president Treva Miller from her mother’s home in Winchester, VA, to say she’d left husband Gerald Cline: “He told me if I was gonna sing, I wasn’t going to live with him. So I’m back home.”

1957: Elvis Presley put down $1,000 to buy Graceland Mansion in Memphis. The deal was completed less than one week later, purchased for $102,500.

1965: Waylon Jennings recorded his first charted single, “That’s The Chance I’ll Have To Take,” at RCA Studio B in Nashville during an evening session.

1968: Tom T. Hall married “Truck Drivin’ Son-Of-A-Gun” songwriter Dixie Deen, whom he affectionately called “Miss Dixie.”

1975: Tanya Tucker recorded “Lizzie And The Rainman” and “San Antonio Stroll.”

1977: Glen Campbell’s “Southern Nights” rode at #1 on the Billboard country chart.

1980: Reba McEntire recorded “(You Lift Me) Up To Heaven” in Nashville.

1984: RCA released Vince Gill’s first solo album, “Turn Me Loose.”

1988: Ricky Van Shelton rose to #1 in Billboard with “Life Turned Her That Way.”

1990: Dolly Parton bought WSEV-AM & FM, the Sevier County radio station where she had her first recording session.

1991: MCA released George Strait’s “Chill Of An Early Fall” album.

2003: Knoxville radio station WIVK, instrumental in the career of Dolly Parton, celebrated 50 years on the air with a party. Among the guests: Parton, Kenny Chesney, Darryl Worley, Trick Pony, Kenny Rogers, Phil Vassar, Joe Nichols and Aaron Tippin.

2011: “The King Of Luck,” a Willie Nelson documentary directed by Billy Bob Thornton, debuts in Austin with on-screen contributions from Kris Kristofferson, Paul English, Billy Joe Shaver, Joe Ely and Ray Price.