May 16, 1953
Jimmy Dean makes his Grand Ole Opry debut, introduced to the audience at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium by Carl Smith
May 16, 1957
Shooting begins at Los Angeles’ Ziv Studios on the movie “Carnival Rock,” featuring David Houston, Bob Luman, James Burton, The Platters and “Louisiana Hayride” founder Horace Logan
May 16, 1964
Buck Owens, Ernest Tubb and Bill Monroe draw fans to all-country concerts at Madison Square Garden in New York. Also featured: Webb Pierce, Bill Anderson, Stonewall Jackson, Skeeter Davis, Carl Smith, Hank Snow, Ray Price, Porter Wagoner and Leon McAuliffe
May 16, 1964
Buck Owens nets a #1 single in Billboard with “My Heart Skips A Beat”
May 16, 1969
Merle Haggard records “Workin’ Man Blues” at the Capitol tower in Hollywood
May 16, 1969
Roger Miller records Kris Kristofferson’s “Me And Bobbie McGee” in Nashville
May 16, 1971
Rick Trevino is born in Houston. The Hispanic singer, signed to Columbia Records at age 19, develops a short string of 1990s hits, including “She Can’t Say I Didn’t Cry,” “Learning As You Go” and “Running Out Of Reasons”
May 16, 1971
Eric Weissberg & Steve Mandell record “Dueling Banjos” in Clayton, Georgia. The performance appears in the movie “Deliverance”
May 16, 1974
Dolly Parton makes her solo debut with a concert at Nashville’s Northside Junior High School gym. Also on the show: Jim Ed Brown and Betty Jean Robinson
May 16, 1977
MCA releases the “Smokey & The Bandit” soundtrack, featuring Jerry Reed’s “East Bound And Down”
May 16, 1977
MCA releases Merle Haggard’s “Ramblin’ Fever” album
May 16, 1981
T.G. Sheppard’s “I Loved ‘Em Every One” tops the Billboard country singles chart
May 16, 1986
Capitol releases T. Graham Brown’s debut album, “I Tell It Like It Used To Be”
May 16, 1987
Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris score a #1 country single with a song written by pop record producer Phil Spector, “To Know Him Is To Love Him”
May 16, 1988
Ricky Van Shelton records “Living Proof” and “I’ve Cried My Last Tear For You”
May 16, 1995
Patty Loveless records “The Trouble With The Truth” at Woodland Sound Studio in Nashville
