May 13, 1910
Curt Massey is born in Midland, Texas. He joins his older sister in the band Louise Massey & The Westerners, scoring several crossover hits in the 1930s and ’40s. He also co-writes the theme to “Petticoat Junction”
May 13, 1914
Johnny Wright is born in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee. The husband of Kitty Wells, he registers a #1 single in 1965 with the Tom T. Hall song “Hello Vietnam” and accumulates hits during the ’50s as one-half of Johnnie & Jack
May 13, 1916
Jack Anglin is born in Columbia, Tennessee. Teamed with Johnny Wright in the duo Johnnie & Jack, he becomes a Grand Ole Opry member in 1952, while the act nets such hits as “Poison Love” and “(Oh Baby Mine) I Get So Lonely”
May 13, 1950
Mother Maybelle Carter and The Carter Sisters join the Grand Ole Opry
May 13, 1955
An Elvis Presley performance causes a riot for the first time in Jacksonville. Mae Boren Axton sees the show, and promises to write him a hit. Six months later, she brings him “Heartbreak Hotel”
May 13, 1957
Elvis Presley’s “All Shook Up” ascends to #1 on the Billboard country chart
May 13, 1959
Johnny Horton records a special version of “The Battle Of New Orleans” for England, replacing “We fought the bloody British” with “We fought the bloomin’ rebels”
May 13, 1965
Lari White is born in Dunedin, Florida. The soulful vocalist nets three hits in the 1990s and acts in the Tom Hanks movie “Cast Away.” She also becomes the first woman to produce an album by a major male star: Toby Keith’s “White Trash With Money”
May 13, 1966
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band gives its first performance at The Paradox in Orange, California
May 13, 1967
Merle Haggard makes his Grand Ole Opry debut
May 13, 1974
MCA releases Cal Smith’s “Country Bumpkin” album
May 13, 1975
Bob Wills dies of heart complications, caused by a stroke, in Fort Worth, Texas. The bandleader was the best-known western-swing performer, with recordings such as “Faded Love” and “San Antonio Rose” landing him in the Country Music Hall of Fame
May 13, 1975
A week after he first recorded them, Ronnie Milsap re-records “Daydreams About Night Things” and “Just In Case” during an afternoon in Nashville
May 13, 1988
Trisha Yearwood competes on TNN’s talent search, “You Can Be A Star.” She loses to a cab driver from Atlanta
May 13, 1995
The Judds pop up on the cover of TV Guide
May 13, 1999
Red Kirk dies. A disc jockey in Knoxville and Ohio, he also had a pair of country hits: 1949’s “Lovesick Blues” and 1950’s “Lose Your Blues”
May 13, 2000
Kenny Rogers’ “Buy Me A Rose” sprouts at #1 on the Billboard country chart with vocal assistance from Alison Krauss and Billy Dean
May 13, 2014
The Band Perry is inducted into the Junior Achievement Tri-Cities Tennessee/Virginia Business Hall of Fame
