Acadiana’s Classic Country Mustang 107.1 is all about playing you the best in classic country hits.
Now, we want to bring you a look back at the biggest moments in country music history that happened this week.
Let’s take a look:
November 3rd
1956
Stonewall Jackson was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry. The American country music singer and musician achieved his greatest fame during country’s “golden” honky tonk era in the 1950s and early 1960s.
1962
Billboard renamed its Hot C&W Sides chart “Hot Country Singles,” a name it will keep for the next 27 years. The chart length remained 30 positions.
1965
Johnny Wright was at #1 on the Country chart with “Hello Vietnam.” The single, with backing vocals from his wife, Kitty Wells, was later used as the opening theme in the 1987 Stanley Kubrick film Full Metal Jacket.
1973
Kris Kristofferson was at #1 on the country album chart with his fourth studio release, Jesus Was a Capricorn. The album cover pictures Kristofferson and his soon-to-be wife Rita Coolidge. The track “Why Me” from the album reached #1 on the Country singles charts. The Kris Kristofferson and Rita Coolidge album Full Moon went to #1 on the Country chart the following week.
1980
Waylon Jennings was at #1 on the US Country charts with, “Theme from The Dukes of Hazzard (Good Ol’ Boys)”. The theme to the CBS comedy adventure television series, The Dukes of Hazzard, spent seventeen weeks on the Billboard country singles charts and became his biggest hit.
November 4th
1940
Born on this day in Lubbock, Texas, was Delbert McClinton, singer-songwriter, guitarist, harmonica player, and pianist. His highest-peaking single was “Tell Me About It”, a 1992 duet with Tanya Tucker which reached #4 on the Country chart. Emmylou Harris had a #1 country hit in 1978 with McClinton’s “Two More Bottles of Wine.”
1953
Born on this day in Hamilton, Ohio was singer, songwriter Van Stephenson. He scored three US Billboard Hot 100 hits in the 1980s as a solo artist, and later became vocalist in the country music band BlackHawk. Stephenson died of cancer on April 8, 2001.
1975
American Country singer, Audrey Williams, (the first wife of Hank Williams) died from heart failure related to her years of alcohol and drug use at the age of 52, outliving Hank, Sr. by 22 years.
1997
Shania Twain released her third studio album Come On Over which became the best-selling country music album, by a female act. To date, the album has sold more than 40 million copies worldwide, shipped over 20 million copies in the United States, and in the UK it has sold over 3.3 million. The album debuted at #1 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart and stayed there for 50 non-consecutive weeks, staying in the Top Ten for 151 weeks.
November 5th
1936
Born on this day, was Billy Sherrill, record producer and arranger who is most famous for his association with a number of country artists, most notably Tammy Wynette. Sherrill and business partner Glenn Sutton are regarded as the defining influences of the countrypolitan sound, a smooth amalgamation of pop and country music that was hugely popular during the late 1960s and throughout the ’70s. Sherrill died on 4 Aug 2015 after a short illness at the age of 78.
1946
Born on this day in Winter Haven, Florida, was Gram Parsons, singer, songwriter. He was a member of The International Submarine Band, The Byrds, Flying Burrito Brothers and released the 1973 solo album Grievous Angel. Parsons died on 19th September 1973 from a heroin overdose aged 26.
1960
Johnny Horton was killed in a car crash near Milano, Texas involving a truck. He had several major successes, most notably during 1959 with the song “The Battle of New Orleans” (written by Jimmy Driftwood) which was awarded the 1960 Grammy Award for Best Country & Western Recording.
1996
Unchained was released, the second album in Johnny Cash’s American Recording series, backed by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Unchained contained songs by Tom Petty (“Southern Accents”), Soundgarden (“Rusty Cage”) and Beck (“Rowboat”), The album also included a cover of the classic 1962 Hank Snow song, “I’ve Been Everywhere”, written by Geoff Mack.
November 6th
1941
Born on this day in Monahans, Texas, was Guy Clark, Grammy Award winning country musician, songwriter who has released more than twenty albums, and his songs have been recorded by other artists including Jerry Jeff Walker, Jimmy Buffett, Ricky Skaggs, Steve Wariner, and Rodney Crowell. Clark won the 2014 Grammy Award for Best Folk Album: My Favorite Picture Of You. Clark died on May 17, 2016 aged 74.
1947
Hank Williams recut a version of his song “Honky Tonkin'” during sessions at Castle Studio, Nashville. Waylon Jennings later recorded his version of the song for his 1992 album Ol’ Waylon Sings Ol’ Hank.
1948
Little Jimmy Dickens was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry. Famous for his humorous novelty songs, his small size (4’10”) and his rhinestone-studded outfits (which he is given credit for introducing into live country music performances). He started as a member of the Grand Ole Opry in 1948 and was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1983. Before his death he was the oldest living member of the Grand Ole Opry.
1963
Born on this day in Terre Haute, Indiana was session musician and country guitarist J. T. Corenflos. He worked on demos in the mid-1990s with Kenny Chesney and had also worked with Jean Shepard and Joe Stampley before joining the band Palomino Road in 1992. He died on October 24, 2020 age 56.
1982
Special guests on this week’s syndicated US music television series The Glen Campbell Music Show included Roger Miller who performed “King of the Road” and then with Glen Campbell played “Southern Nights”, “Goin’ Back to Alabam”, “By the Time I Get to Phoenix” and “It’s Your World (Boys and Girls)”.
November 7th
1959
Patsy Cline appeared on the networked TV show Ozark Jubilee. She sang “Walkin’ After Midnight” and “Come on In”, and also “Let’s Go to Church” as a duet with Slim Wilson. Cline made a total of sixteen appearances on the Jubilee. The series helped popularize country music in America’s cities and suburbs drawing more than nine million viewers.
1963
Born on this day in Nashville, Tennessee, was Robin Lee Bruce, country music artist who scored the #12 hit on Hot Country Songs in 1990 with a cover of Alannah Myles’ single “Black Velvet” and has written album cuts for LeAnn Rimes and Jo Dee Messina, as well as other artists.
1966
Dolly Parton released the single “Dumb Blonde” on Monument Records. The song is notable for being Parton’s first song to chart on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart, peaking at #24. Parton re-recorded the song with Miranda Lambert in 2018 for the Dumplin’ soundtrack album.
1970
Merle Haggard was at #1 on the country music album chart with The Fightin’ Side of Me. The title track (like the song “Okie from Muskogee”) became a success and gave Haggard a #1 hit single.
1988
Alabama released “Song of the South” which went to #1 on the Country chart. It became the twenty-fourth #1 single for the group. The song was first recorded by American country music artist Bobby Bare on his 1980 album Drunk & Crazy.
1991
Garth Brooks was at #1 on the US country chart with his third studio album, Ropin’ the Wind. The album repelaced his previous album No Fences at the #1 postion, where it enjoyed a combined 18 weeks at the top of the charts.
Info from This Day In Country Music