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Country Music History – October 28

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OCTOBER 28

1917: Bill Bolick was born in Hickory, NC. With younger brother Earl Bolick, he formed The Blue Sky Boys, who began recording in 1935 and maintained an influential career into the 1960s.

1931: The Delmore Brothers met country pioneers Fiddlin’ John Carson and reverend Andrew Jenkins at an audition in Atlanta. They had an impromptu performance en masse while waiting for what turns out to be the Delmores’ first recording session.

1934: Johnny Western was born in Two Harbors, MN. He wrote and performed the theme song to the 1957 TV series “Have Gun, Will Travel,” appears in 50 western films and worked as an emcee for Johnny Cash in the early-1960s.

1936: Charlie Daniels was born in Wilmington, NC. A leading figure in the Southern rock movement, his song “The Devil Went Down To Georgia” gave him permanent footing in country music. In 2008, he became a member of the Grand Ole Opry. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2016.

1939: Bill Monroe made his first appearance on the Grand Ole Opry, performing “Foggy Mountain Top” and “Mule Skinner Blues” at Nashville’s War Memorial Auditorium.

1955: Colonel Tom Parker received a telegram from RCA saying the label would pay no more than $25,000 to buy out Elvis Presley’s contract from Sun. Sun owner Sam Phillips held out for $35,000.

1963: Gene Autry’s Golden West Broadcasters bought KTLA-TV in Los Angeles from Paramount Pictures for $12 million, the highest price ever paid at the time for a television station.

1966: Connie Smith recorded “Cincinnati, Ohio” at RCA Studio B in Nashville.

1969: Bill Monroe recorded the original version of “Walk Softly On This Heart Of Mine” in Mt. Juliet, TN. Twenty years later, a suped-up version became the first single for The Kentucky HeadHunters.

1972: Brad Paisley was born in Glen Dale, WV. A singer, songwriter and guitarist, he blends humor and sensitivity in a career that leads to Grand Ole Opry membership and the Country Music Association’s Entertainer of the Year award.

1977: Franklin, Tennessee, resident Gene Hood filed a lawsuit against Conway Twitty, claiming “Linda On My Mind” was derived from his song “Too Much Of You.” Twitty won the suit–four years later.

1991: Atlantic released Tracy Lawrence’s debut album, “Sticks And Stones.”

1995: David Lee Murphy’s “Dust On The Bottle” reached #1 on the Billboard country chart.

1999: During a show at Dallas’ Adams Mark Hotel, Kenny Rogers threw a frisbee, breaking a chandelier and sending broken glass on fans. Concert-goer Kevin O’Toole needed 70 stitches and later sued Rogers for $2 million, claiming the incident made him impotent.

2000: NPR recognized Tammy Wynette’s “Stand By Your Man” among the 100 most important American musical works of the 20th century.

2001: Alan Jackson woke up at 4:00 a.m., inspired to write “Where Were You (When The World Stopped Turning),” a song about healing from terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon the previous month.

2005: Jessi Colter performed in Franklin, TN, with the Waymore Blues Band, her first time to sing with her late husband’s musicians since his death. The band includes Richie Albright, Robby Turner and Barny and Carter Robertson, among others.

2006: “Picture” songwriter Kid Rock and Pamela Anderson get married for the fourth time in three months at the Clarkston Union Bar & Kitchen in Michigan. Afterward, they threw a party at his home, attended by Bob Seger and David Allan Coe.

2007: Porter Wagoner died of lung cancer at Alive Hospice in Nashville, with Dolly Parton at his side. Known for his flamboyant rhinestone suits, he hosted an influential syndicated TV show and became an unofficial spokesman for the Grand Ole Opry. He joined the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2002.

2007: Vince Gill, Mel Tillis and Ralph Emery were officially inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame during a medallion ceremony at the Nashville facility.

2008: Sugar Hill released Joey+Rory’s debut album, “Life Of A Song.”

2018: Ronnie Dunn and K.T. Oslin were inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame at the Music City Center, along with “Boondocks” writer Wayne Kirkpatrick, “Fool Hearted Memory” composer Byron Hill and “Blue Bayou” author Joe Melson. Reba McEntire received the inaugural Career Maker Award.

2020: Billy Joe Shaver died from a stroke in Waco, TX. The singer/songwriter was a major influence on the outlaw movement. His writing credits included Waylon Jennings’ “Honky Tonk Heroes” and John Anderson’s “I’m Just An Old Chunk Of Coal (But I’m Gonna Be A Diamond Someday).”

2022: Jerry Lee Lewis died at his home in Mississippi, 12 days after he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. He combined flashy piano-playing with a wild personality and drawling vocal delivery to become a rock & roll pioneer and a country star, known for “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Going On,” “Great Balls Of Fire” and “Middle Age Crazy.”