In 1927, Victor releases the first two singles recorded during the historic Bristol sessions in August. One features a gospel group, the other pairs Ernest Stoneman with The Blue Ridge Corn Shuckers.
Bob Wills holds his first recording session with The Texas Playboys in 1935. The cut 13 songs in Dallas. Among the selections: “Maiden’s Prayer”
Hank Williams records “Take These Chains From My Heart,” “Kaw-liga” and “Your Cheatin’ Heart” at the Castle Studio in Nashville’s Tulane Hotel in 1952. It would be his final recording session.
Songwriter Ron Peterson files suit against Conway Twitty, charging that he–not Twitty–wrote the hit “Touch The Hand.” Though maintaining his innocence, Conway admitted the similarities of his composition to Peterson’s “blew my mind,” as he put it. On his attorney’s advice, he settled out of court and subsequent releases have credited Peterson as a co-writer.
Del Reeves files suit against Billy Ray Cyrus in 1992, claiming the “Achy Breaky Heart” singer owes him 8% of the retail price of his first album, plus 15% of his other receipts for helping Cyrus obtain his recording contract. Cyrus’ manager, Jack McFadden, denied the claims saying, “The only thing Del Reeves had to do with his record contract was introduce him to me. I’m the one who got the contract.”
In 1993 Garth Brooks begins three days of taping at Dallas’ Texas Stadium for his second TV special, “This Is Garth Brooks, Too!,” which includes man-made rain and fire. Among the ticket-buyers during the run: Miranda Lambert.
Waylon Jennings walks off CBS-TV’s “The Late, Late Show,” hosted by Tom Snyder in 1998, when the amount of air time he was told he would receive is cut by two-thirds. His departure leaves Snyder and crew with 15 minutes to fill.
That same day in 1998, Elvis Presley, Tammy Wynette, George Morgan and former Grand Ole Opry chief Bud Wendell join the Country Music Hall of Fame during the national telecast of the Country Music Association Awards. Steve Wariner’s “Holes In The Floor Of Heaven” wins Single and Song of the Year.
And we lost Grand Ole Opry member Roy Drusky in 2004. A silky vocalist, he earned a dozen hits in the early-1960s and wrote the Faron Young singles “Alone With You” and “Country Girl”
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Ray Charles is born in Albany, GA in 1930. Best known for his work in jazz and rhythm & blues, he brings attention to country with his album “Modern Sounds In Country And Western Music” and records “Seven Spanish Angels” with Willie Nelson.
Another singing partner of Willie Nelson’s was born on September 23…Julio Iglesias. Born in Madrid, Spain in 1943, the Latin star joined Willie Nelson on the million-selling 1984 single “To All The Girls I’ve Loved Before,” which wins the Country Music Association’s Vocal Duo of the Year award.
Songwriter Pat Alger is born in LaGrange, GA in 1947. He goes on to write Kathy Mattea’s “Goin’ Gone,” Trisha Yearwood’s “Like We Never Had A Broken Heart” and Garth Brooks’ “Unanswered Prayers” and “The Thunder Rolls,” among others. He originally wanted to be an architect, but decided to give the music business a try. He enters the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2010.
