This Week In Country Music History

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:

July 21st

1951
Lefty Frizzell was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry. Frizzell has been cited as influencing prominent country singers like George Jones, Merle Haggard, Roy Orbison, and Willie Nelson. He was the first artist to achieve four songs in the top ten on the Country Music Billboard charts at one time.

1965
Born on this day, was Sidney Cox, banjo, dobro, guitar, vocals with The Cox Family, who were featuted on the soundtrack to the 2000 film O Brother, Where Art Thou?

1972
Born on this day in Calgary, Alberta, was Canadian country music artist Paul Brandt who made his mark on the country music charts with the single “My Heart Has a History,” propelling him to international success and making him the first male Canadian country singer to reach to the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart in the US since Hank Snow.

1973
Jeanne Pruett was at #1 on the country album chart with Satin Sheets, the singer’s second studio album. The album contained Pruett’s first major hit and signature song of the same name as the album. The single reached #1 on the Billboard Country Chart.

1999
American singer, guitarist, (and professional baseball player) Charley Pride received a star of the Hollywood Walk of Fame. His greatest musical success came in the late-1960s and early to mid-1970s, when he was the best-selling performer for RCA Records. During the peak years of his recording career (1966–1987), he had 52 top-10 hits on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, 30 of which made it to #1.

July 22nd

1951
Born on this day American guitarist and record producer Richard Bennett. He has worked with Rodney Crowell, Vince Gill, Steve Earle, Emmylou Harris, Marty Stuart, The Bellamy Brothers, Pistol Annies and Miranda Lambert.

1961
Patsy Cline was brought onstage at the Grand Ole Opry in a wheelchair to tell her fans that she would be back singing soon. Cline had been seriously injured in a car accident outside the Madison High School in Nashville the previous month.

1964
Hank Snow, with producer Chet Atkins, recorded “In The Misty Moonlight”, “I Saw A Man” and other tracks, at RCA Victor Studio, Tennessee. The band on the session includes guitarists Harold Bradley and Jerry Shook, steel guitarist Joseph Tanner, bassist Junior Huskey, drummer Buddy Harman, pianist Hargus Robbins, vibraphonist Joe Layne plus The Anita Kerr Singers.

1974
Born on this day was Sonya Isaacs, American country singer. Isaacs is married to singer-songwriter Jimmy Yeary, with whom she co-wrote Martina McBride’s 2011 #4 single “I’m Gonna Love You Through It”.

1984
Jack Benny, who was Loretta Lynn’s second child and eldest son, died at the of age 34 while trying to ford the Duck River at the family’s ranch in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee.

1984
Born on this day country music singer, songwriter, and record producer Nicolle Galyon. She has written songs for Lady Antebellum, Miranda Lambert, Keith Urban, Kenny Chesney, Florida Georgia Line, and many others.

July 23rd

1971
Born on this day in Decatur, Illinois, was Alison Maria Krauss, bluegrass-country singer, songwriter and fiddler. She released her first solo album in 1987 and then was invited to join the band with which she still performs, Alison Krauss and Union Station. Krauss recorded Raising Sand with Robert Plant in 2007 which was nominated for and won 5 Grammys at the 51st Grammy Awards.

1982
The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas the American musical comedy film co-written, produced and directed by Colin Higgins was released. An adaptation of the 1978 Broadway musical of the same name, the film starred Dolly Parton and Burt Reynolds. The film version presented some difficulties for Universal, particularly with advertising. In 1982, the word “whorehouse” was considered obscene in parts of the US, resulting in the film being renamed The Best Little Cathouse in Texas in some print ads.

1990
Born on this day in Jackson Mississippi, was Neil Perry, singer, mandolin, accordion, drums, and Piano in The Band Perry who scored the 2013 #1 Country album If I Die Young.

1996
Born on this day in League City, Texas, was Danielle Bradbery, American country singer. Her debut studio album, Danielle Bradbery, released in 2013, featuring the top 20 country hit “The Heart of Dixie”. She won season four of NBC’s The Voice in 2013, becoming the youngest contestant to come in first place.

1997
Deana Carter won Song of the Year at the Nashville Songwriters AssociationInternational’s 30th Songwriter Achievement Awards for “Strawberry Wine.” Vice Gill won Songwriter – Artist of the Year for the third time and Mark D. Sanders won the award for best Songwriter.

1999
Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards appeared onstage with Willie Nelson at a concert in Westport, Connecticut.

July 24th

1958
Johnny Cash started recoding session for his third album The Fabulous Johnny Cash which was released in November 1958 by the Columbia label, after Cash’s departure from Sun Records.

1979
Born on this day, was Jerrod Niemann country music singer, songwriter, who charted with the single “I Love Women (My Momma Can’t Stand)”. He has also co-written three singles for Garth Brooks: the Chris LeDoux tribute “Good Ride Cowboy”, as well as “That Girl Is a Cowboy” and “Midnight Sun”.

1980
The Urban Cowboy soundtrack was certified platinum. The double album featured Anne Murray, Kenny Rogers, The Eagles, Johnny Lee, Mickey Gilley, Bonnie Raitt, Linda Ronstadt & J.D. Souther, Jimmy Buffett and The Charlie Daniels Band and others. The film is said to have started the 1980s boom in pop-country music known as the “Urban Cowboy Movement” also known as Neo-Country or Hill Boogie.

2003
Johnny Cash picked up six nominations in the MTV Video Music Awards for his remake of Nine Inch Nails’ “Hurt” from his album, American IV: The Man Comes Around. The video, featuring images from Cash’s life and directed by Mark Romanek, was also named the best video of the year by the Grammy Awards and CMA Awards, and the best video of all time by NME.

July 25th

1950
During his first recording session at Jim Beck’s Studio on 1101 Ross Avenue in Dallas, Lefty Frizzell recorded “If You’ve Got The Money I’ve Got The Time,” “I Love You A Thousand Ways” and “Shine, Shave, Shower (It’s Saturday).” Beck is credited with discovering Frizzell which led to his first major recording contract.

1970
Born on this day in Norwich, Connecticut was drummer Rich Redmond. He worked with Rushlow, and later became a member of Jason Aldean’s band, playing on “Big Green Tractor,” “Dirt Road Anthem” and “She’s Country”

1971
Sonny James was at #1 on the Country singles chart with “Bright Lights, Big City”, James’ fifteenth #1 hit in a row in the country chart.

1972
Ben Isaacs singer with American country, bluegrass and gospel group The Isaacs. On August 10, 2021, they were invited to become members of the Grand Ole Opry. The group was initially named the Calvary Mountain Boys and later became Sacred Bluegrass before settling on the family name, the Isaacs.

1988
“Set ‘Em Up Joe” by country music artist Vern Gosdin was at #1 on the Country chart. The song was a tribute song to Ernest Tubb and was Vern Gosdin’s second #1 on the country chart.

1995
Charlie Rich, singer and musician, died in his sleep aged 62. Rich who acquired the nickname The Silver Fox is best remembered for his 1973 hits, “Behind Closed Doors” and “The Most Beautiful Girl”. Rich’s destructive personal behavior famously culminated at the CMA awards ceremony for 1975, when he presented the award for Entertainer of the Year, while visibly intoxicated. Instead of reading the name of the winner, who happened to be John Denver, he set fire to the envelope with a cigarette lighter.

Info from This Day In Country Music