May 19, 1921
Irene Amburgey is born in Neon, Kentucky. As Martha Carson, she becomes a significant country gospel singer, working for 12 years with husband James Carson on southeastern radio stations and joining the Grand Ole Opry as a solo act in 1952
May 19, 1934
Bass player Bobby Dyson is born in Dalehart, Texas. He plays on hits by Jim Reeves, Dolly Parton and Waylon Jennings, among others, and is reportedly the first musician to play electric bass on the Grand Ole Opry
May 19, 1938
Session guitarist, producer and recording engineer Chip Young is born in Atlanta, Georgia. He produces Billy Swan’s “I Can Help” and The Gatlin Brothers’ “She Used To Be Somebody’s Baby,” and plays on records by Elvis Presley and Conway Twitty
May 19, 1962
George Jones hits #1 on the Billboard country chart with “She Thinks I Still Care”
May 19, 1964
Billy Walker records “Cross The Brazos At Waco” in an afternoon session at the Columbia Studios in Nashville
May 19, 1967
Ralph Stanley holds his first recording session as a solo artist in Cincinnati, Ohio
May 19, 1973
Fourteen-year-old Tanya Tucker collects her first #1 single, hitting the top of the Billboard list with “What’s Your Mama’s Name”
May 19, 1977
“Smokey & The Bandit” has its premiere at Radio City Music Hall in New York. The movie stars Burt Reynolds, Sally Field, Jackie Gleason and Jerry Reed, who sings “East Bound And Down.” John Schneider also appears in a teeny walk-on role
May 19, 1979
It’s quite the pick-up line: The Bellamy Brothers pick up their first #1 country single in Billboard with “If I Said You Have A Beautiful Body Would You Hold It Against Me”
May 19, 1979
Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter have a son, Waylon Albright “Shooter” Jennings. He grows up to become an artist in his own right, earning a Top 10 country album with 2012’s “Family Man” and playing his father in the 2005 movie “Walk The Line”
May 19, 1986
MCA releases George Strait’s album “#7”
May 19, 1986
Warner Bros. releases The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s “20 Years Of Dirt: The Best Of The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band”
May 19, 1989
T.G. Sheppard opens a restaurant, the North of the Border Cafe and Cantina, in Gatlinburg, Tennessee
May 19, 1992
Mercury releases Billy Ray Cyrus’ debut album, “Some Gave All”
May 19, 1992
Ricky Van Shelton records the Elvis Presley classic “Wear My Ring Around Your Neck” for the Castle Rock movie “Honeymoon In Vegas”
May 19, 2000
John Schneider and Tom Wopat return to prime time on the CBS-TV special “The Dukes Of Hazzard: Hazzard In Hollywood,” with Mac Davis and Anita Cochran. Toby Keith performs four songs during the show, including “How Do You Like Me Now?!”
May 19, 2010
Brooks & Dunn join a Knoxville foundation to dedicate a new Habitat For Humanity home at 1717 LeFlore Avenue
May 19, 2013
The Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame holds the grand opening of its physical location at the Music City Center. In attendance are writers Bill Anderson, Sonny Curtis, Don Schlitz, Rory Bourke and Bobby Braddock
May 19, 2014
Ralph Stanley receives an honorary doctorate from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut
