OCTOBER 3
1900: Eldridge Johnson formed the Victor Talking Machine Company in Camden, NJ. The Victor label hosted the first country recording session in 1922 and released singles by some of the genre’s first stars, including Jimmie Rodgers and The Carter Family.
1924: Joe Allison was born in McKinney, TX. Allison wrote such hits as Jim Reeves’ “He’ll Have To Go” and Faron Young’s “Live Fast, Love Hard, Die Young” and served as the head of Liberty Records’ country division in the 1960s.
1941: Pop singer Chubby Checker was born with the given name Ernest Evans, in Andrews, SC. He became a major star in the early-1960s with “The Twist” and “Let’s Twist Again.” His 1990s country foray, “Texas Twist,” was mostly ignored.
1960: “The Andy Griffith Show” debuted on CBS. Set in Mayberry, NC, it ran eight years and featured The Dillards, a bluegrass band that influenced The Eagles, as a recurring TV group The Darlings, beginning in 1963.
1966: Capitol released the Merle Haggard album “Swinging Doors And The Bottle Let Me Down.”
1967: Woody Guthrie died in Queens after a 15-year struggle with Huntington’s disease. The folk singer/songwriter influenced the social content of several 20th-century genres, including country, and was eventually added to the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.
1968: Linda Ronstadt recorded “Silver Threads And Golden Needles” at TTG Recording Studios in Los Angeles.
1977: The “Elvis In Concert” special, featuring live performances from Elvis Presley’s final tour, runs on CBS. It includes his rendition of the future hit “My Way.”
1983: Merle Haggard recorded “Let’s Chase Each Other Around The Room” in Nashville.
1983: Warner Bros. released the John Anderson album “All The People Are Talkin’.”
1988: Dolly Parton began recording her “White Limozeen” album with Ricky Skaggs on board as producer.
1989: MCA released Marty Stuart’s “Hillbilly Rock” album.
1991: George Strait recorded “Gone As A Girl Can Get” and “So Much Like My Dad” at Emerald Sound in Nashville.
1992: Collin Raye’s “In This Life” rose to #1 on the Billboard country chart.
1995: MCA released Reba McEntire’s “Starting Over” album.
1997: Garth Brooks filed suit against rapper Warren G. in Nashville to protect his use of the lower-case “g” as a symbol.
1998: Tim McGraw resided at #1 on the Billboard country singles chart with “Where The Green Grass Grows.”
2000: Columbia released Travis Tritt’s “Down The Road I Go” album.