This Day in Country Music

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28th Sept 1937, Born on this day, was Glenn Sutton, country music songwriter and producer. Born Royce Glenn Sutton in Hodge, Louisiana, he was one of two chief architects of the countrypolitan sound (the other being Sutton's frequent songwriting partner Billy Sherrill). He co-wrote Tammy Wynette’s first major hit single, “Your Good Girl’s Gonna Go Bad,” along with Tammy’s #1 record, “I Don’t Wanna Play House.” He was equally well known as a producer, particular for his former wife Lynn Anderson. Glenn produced her most famous single, “Rose Garden,” which hit #1 on the country charts and #3 on the pop charts.

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29th Sept 1907, Born on this day, was Orvon Grover Autry, better known as Gene Autry, who gained fame as The Singing Cowboy on radio, in movies (he appeared in almost 100 films) and television for more than three decades beginning in the 1930s, his signature song is "Back in the Saddle Again". Autry was the owner of the Los Angeles/California Angels Major League Baseball team from 1961 to 1997. He died three days after his 91st birthday at his home in Studio City, California on October 2, 1998. More here: http://www.thisdayincountrymusic.com/pages/gene_autry

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30th Sept 1954, 22 year-old Patsy Cline signed her first recording contract with Bill McCall of Four Star Records. The contract would only allowed her to record songs from the Four Star Records publishing company and also stipulated that Cline only sing country songs. She later left Four Star Records to sign with Decca Records, and her self-titled debut album on Decca was released in 1957. Read more on Patsy: http://www.thisdayincountrymusic.com/pages/patsy_cline

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1st Oct 1964, Bitter Tears: Ballads of the American Indian by Johnny Cash was released in the US. His twentienth album release was a concept album, with the tracks on the album focusing exclusively on the history of and problems facing Native Americans in the US. Cash had been convinced that his ancestry included members of the Cherokee tribe, and this partly served as inspiration for recording Bitter Tears, but later on as he began researching his ancestry, he actually had no Cherokee ancestry, but Scottish, English, and Scots-Irish ancestry. More on Johnny: http://www.thisdayincountrymusic.com/pages/johnny_cash

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2nd Oct 1971, Lynn Anderson was at #1 on the country music album chart with You're My Man, Anderson's fourth studio album. The record was a #1 hit on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart for seven weeks, Anderson's third (and to date, last) #1 on the chart. Produced by Anderson's husband Glenn Sutton, the title song was Anderson's second #1 record.

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3rd Oct 1966, Merle Haggard released the album Swinging Doors which went on to peak at #1 on the Country charts. The album is sometimes called Swinging Doors and The Bottle Let Me Down, although the second half of this title is actually an advertisement for the other big single on the album.

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4th Oct 1929, Born on this day in Mora, Missouri, was Leroy Frank Van Dyke, the American country music singer. He has recorded more than 500 songs, his best known hits, are "The Auctioneer" (which sold over 2.5 million copies), from 1956 and "Walk On By" from 1961, (which was named by Billboard in 1994 as the biggest country single of all time, based on sales, plays and weeks in the charts).

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5th Oct 2001, Reba an American sitcom starring Reba McEntire aired for the first time. The show was set in Houston, Texas, and featured Reba McEntire as a wisecracking single mother Reba Nell Hart, whose dentist ex-husband Brock (Christopher Rich) has left her to marry young, ditzy Barbra Jean (Melissa Peterman). The final episode aired on February 18, 2007.

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6th Oct 1969 Johnny Cash was at #1 on the US Country chart with At San Quentin a recording of a live concert given to the inmates of San Quentin State Prison. The album, which spent 20 weeks at the top of the chart was nominated for a number of Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year and won Best Male Country Vocal Performance for "A Boy Named Sue." More on Johnny: http://www.thisdayincountrymusic.com/pages/johnny_cash

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7th Oct 1870, Born on this day in Smartt Station, Tennessee, was Uncle Dave Macon also known as "The Dixie Dewdrop" who was an old-time banjo player, singer, songwriter, and comedian. Known for his chin whiskers, plug hat, gold teeth, and gates-ajar collar, he gained regional fame as a vaudeville performer in the early 1920s before becoming the first star of the Grand Ole Opry in the latter half of the decade. He died on March 22nd 1952.