MARCH 5

1925: Guitarist Jimmy Bryant was born in Pavo, GA. Based in Los Angeles, he played on numerous sessions and teams with Speedy West for some scintillating instrumental duets. He wrote Waylon Jennings’ “Only Daddy That’ll Walk The Line.”

1950: Songwriter Tom Russell was born at California Lutheran Hospital in Los Angeles. He wrote Suzy Bogguss’ 1992 hit “Outbound Plane.”

1951: Ike Turner’s band, featuring vocalist Jackie Brenston, recorded “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.

1953: Singer/songwriter Aaron Barker was born in TX. Barker wrote 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.”

1954: Fiddler George Wilkerson died. He was the founder and leader of The Fruit Jar Drinkers, a string band that was a mainstay of the early Grand Ole Opry.

1955: Elvis Presley performed “Uncle Pen” on The Louisiana Hayride, his first TV appearance

1958: Pop singer Andy Gibb was 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.

1960: Elvis Presley was discharged from the Army.

1963: A plane crash in Camden, TN, claimed the lives of Patsy Cline, Cowboy Copas, Hawkshaw Hawkins and pilot Randy Hughes as they returned to Nashville from a charity concert in Kansas City.

1964: Johnny Cash recorded “The Ballad Of Ira Hayes,” based on the tragic life of a World War II hero, at the Columbia Recording Studio in Nashville.

1973: Alabama, billed as Wildcountry, made its debut at The Bowery in Myrtle Beach, SC. The band remained regulars at the club for the next seven years.

1975: Conway Twitty recorded “Don’t Cry Joni” at Bradley’s Barn in Mt. Juliet, TN.

1975: Roger Miller hosted the 10th annual Academy of Country Music awards on “ABC Wide World Of Entertainment.” Taped six days earlier, the show featured double wins for Loretta Lynn, Merle Haggard and the Cal Smith hit “Country Bumpkin.”

1976: Johnny Cash recorded “One Piece At A Time” in Hendersonville at the House of Cash.

1978: Kenny Rogers & Dottie West hosted “The World’s Largest Indoor Country Music Show” at the Silver Dome in Pontiac, MI, with The Oak Ridge Boys, Roy Acuff and Larry Gatlin & The Gatlin Brothers. It became an NBC-TV special.

1983: Ronnie Dunn debuted on the country charts as a solo act. Eight years later he returned to the charts as one half of the duo Brooks and Dunn with singing partner Kix Brooks.

1986: MCA released Steve Earle’s album “Guitar Town.”

1990: Mary Chapin Carpenter recorded “Right Now” and “Down At The Twist And Shout” at Bias Studio in Springfield, VA.

1991: MCA released Vince Gill’s “Pocket Full Of Gold” album.

1994: Mark Chesnutt’s “I Just Wanted You To Know” stepped up to #1 on the Billboard country singles chart.

2004: Gretchen Wilson’s debut single, “Redneck Woman,” was released to radio.

2004: Brad Paisley was named the 2004 Artist Humanitarian of the Year by the Country Radio Broadcasters at the Country Radio Seminar in Nashville.

2007: George Strait racked up eight nominations to top the ballot at Academy of Country Music Awards, unveiled at Nashville’s Country Music Hall of Fame. Brooks & Dunn collected seven, and Ronnie Dunn garner collected another on his own.

2023: Guitarist Gary Rossington died. The last original member of Lynyrd Skynyrd, he was a writer on “Sweet Home Alabama,” ranked among country’s all-time greatest singles in the Country Music Foundation book “Heartaches By The Number.”