OCTOBER 5
1922: Bobbie Jett was born. Jett became one of Hank Williams’ girlfriends and gave birth to his daughter shortly after Williams’ death. The daughter, who adopted the name Jett Williams, engaged in a lengthy court battle to prove her inheritance.
1925: WSM signed on the air in Nashville. The station became an important magnet for country music by developing the Grand Ole Opry. Eventually, the country industry was clustered in the Tennessee capital, known as Music City.
1938: Johnny Duncan was born in Dublin, TX. A cousin of Dan Seals, he hit his commercial stride in the late-1970s with such easy-going releases as “Stranger,” “Thinkin’ Of A Rendezvous” and “She Can Put Her Shoes Under My Bed (Anytime).”
1966: Loretta Lynn recorded “Don’t Come Home A’Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ On Your Mind)” during an afternoon session at Bradley’s Barn in Mt. Juliet, TN.
1970: George Jones & Tammy Wynette welcomed their only child, Tamala Georgette Jones, in Lakeland, FL.
1972: Fiddler Tommy Magness died in Georgia. A member of Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys in the early-1940s, he played on Monroe’s “Mule Skinner Blues,” plus Little Jimmy Dickens’ “Take An Old Cold ‘Tater (And Wait).”
1977: Crystal Gayle recorded new versions of two songs she previously cut, “When I Dream” and “Ready For The Times To Get Better,” at Jack’s Tracks in Nashville. The new takes would become singles.
1990: Columbia released Mary Chapin Carpenter’s “Shooting Straight In The Dark” album.
1990: Alan Jackson made the cover of the USA Weekend Sunday newspaper supplement. Arista’s Steve Sharp said country has finally reached a young audience: “Artists have to look good to be considered. You can’t have a fat, ugly guy making records.”
1991: “The Statler Brothers Show” debuted on The Nashville Network. In their first week, they sang “(Oh Baby Mine) I Get So Lonely” and “Your Cheatin’ Heart.”
1993: Johnny Cash sang “Don’t Take Your Guns To Town” when he was featured as the first country musical guest on “The Late Show With David Letterman” on CBS.
1994: Merle Haggard claimed his place in the Country Music Hall of Fame during the Country Music Association awards show at Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry House.
1994: Host Vince Gill won three trophies in the Country Music Association awards on CBS from Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry House: Entertainer, Male Vocalist and one for his participation in the Album of the Year, “Common Thread: The Songs Of The Eagles.”
1995: Bill Monroe received the National Medal of Arts from president Bill Clinton at the White House in Washington, D.C.
1996: Ty Herndon scored a #1 country single in Billboard with “Living In A Moment.”
2001: Delayed twice in the aftermath of terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Reba McEntire’s WB sitcom, “Reba,” debuted.
2002: Tracy Byrd collected a #1 single in Billboard for “Ten Rounds With Jose Cuervo.”