SEPTEMBER 12
1927: Helen Carter was born in Maces Spring, VA. The daughter of The Carter Family’s Maybelle Carter, she began performing with the group in 1938, and eventually toured with her mother and sisters June and Anita, playing accordion for the group.
1931: George Jones was born in Saratoga, TX. Widely regarded as one of the most gifted singers in country music history, he gained hits in five different decades, despite a lengthy battle with chemicals. He entered the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1992.
1955: Don Gibson recorded his first hit, “Sweet Dreams,” in an evening session in Nashville.
1959: “Bonanza,” the first western TV series broadcast in color, debuted on NBC, where it remained for 14 seasons. Guitarist Joe Maphis performs the instrumental theme song, and cast member Lorne Greene earns a pop/country hit in 1964, with “Ringo.”
1963: The National Life and Casualty Insurance Company purchased Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium from the city of Nashville for $200,000, and officially recognized it as the Grand Ole Opry House.
1966: “The Roger Miller Show” debuted on NBC-TV, with “King Of The Road” as its theme song. Guests for the first week included Bill Cosby and The Doodletown Pipers.
1975: Emmylou Harris recorded “Together Again.”
1980: Willie Nelson began a two-day stay with president Jimmy Carter in Washington, D.C. The two men jogged six miles together, and Nelson famously smoked weed on the roof of the White House.
1995: MCA released George Strait’s “Strait Out Of The Box.”
1995: Arista releases BlackHawk’s “Strong Enough” album.
1995: “The Jeff Foxworthy Show” debuted on ABC-TV.
1995: MCA released Reba McEntire’s cover of “On My Own,” a collaboration with Linda Davis, Martina McBride and Trisha Yearwood.
2003: Johnny Cash died at Nashville’s Baptist Hospital, of complications from diabetes, four months after the death of his wife, June Carter. The Man In Black was a member of both the Country Music and Rock & Roll Halls of Fame.
2008: Charlie Walker died of colon cancer in Hendersonville, TN. A Grand Ole Opry star, he earned his biggest hit with the 1958 single “Pick Me Up On Your Way Down.”
2021: Fiddler Don Maddox died in Ashland, OR. He was a member of the family group The Maddox Brothers & Rose, who rose to prominence in the 1940s and ’50s, billed as “the most colorful hillbilly band in America.”
