This Day in Country Music

[Spiritinthesky]

18th Dec 1925, Born on this day, was James Carter, an American amateur singer and several times an inmate of the Mississippi prison system. He was paid $20,000, and credited, for a four-decade-old lead-vocalist performance used on the soundtrack to the film O Brother, Where Art Thou? Folk music historian Alan Lomax had recoded the imates (including Carter), in 1959, singing and chopping logs in time to music. Carter died on November 26, 2003 aged 77.

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19th Dec 1920, Born on this day in Bolt, West Virginia, was Little Jimmy Dickens, famous for his humorous novelty songs, his small size, 4'11" (150 cm), and his rhinestone-studded outfits. He scored the 1965 #1 “May the Bird of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose”, and has been a member of the Grand Ole Opry for 60 years and is a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame. He died on Jan 2nd 2015 at the age of 94.

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20th Dec 1974, John Denver was at #1 on the US Country chart with his eighth studio album Back Home Again. The multi-platinum album contained the hit singles "Annie's Song" and "Back Home Again". In addition, the studio versions of "Thank God I'm a Country Boy" and "Sweet Surrender" appear on this album. On the cover, John is shown with his then-wife Ann Martell.

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21st Dec 1973, Charlie Rich was at #1 on the US country album chart with Behind Closed Doors. The album received three Country Music Association awards: Best Male Vocalist, Album of the Year, and Single of the Year, for the title song which gave the singer his first #1 hit. More on Charlie Rich: http://www.thisdayincountrymusic.com/pages/charlie_rich

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22nd Dec 1921, Born on this day in Huntington, West Virginia, was Hawkshaw Hawkins, country music singer popular from the 1950s into the early 60s and known for his rich, smooth vocals and music drawn from blues, boogie and honky tonk. Hawkins died in the 1963 plane crash that also killed country stars Patsy Cline and Cowboy Copas.

[Spiritinthesky]

23rd Dec 1981, While Johnny Cash and his family were sitting down to enjoy their evening meal, three armed intruders broke into their Montego Bay home. Johnny and his family were all locked in a cellar and over $35,000 worth of items were stolen during the robbery. All were unharmed during the ordeal. - See more at: http://www.thisdayincountrymusic.com/pages/johnny_cash

[Spiritinthesky]

24th Dec 1963, "Love's Gonna Live Here" by Buck Owens, was at #1 on the Country chart. Spending sixteen weeks at the top spot and a total of thirty weeks on the chart, after "Love's Gonna Live Here" finished its 16-week stay at #1, no other song would spend more than 10 weeks at #1 for 49 years. On January 12, 2013, "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" by Taylor Swift would become the first song to spend at least 10 weeks at #1. More on Buck Owens: http://www.thisdayincountrymusic.com/pages/buck_owens

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25th Dec 1908, Born on this day in Elkmont, Alabama, was Alton Delmore from The Delmore Brothers, the country music pioneers and stars of the Grand Ole Opry in the 1930s. The Delmore Brothers, together with other brother duos such as the Louvin Brothers, the Blue Sky Boys, the Monroe Brothers (Birch, Charlie and Bill Monroe), the McGee Brothers, and The Stanley Brothers, had a profound impact on the history of country music and American popular music. Delmore died on June 8th 1964.

[Spiritinthesky]

26th Dec 1941, Born on this day in Puryear, Tennessee, was Rattlesnake Annie, country singer and songwriter. She earned her nickname as a child from her respect of snakes. She recorded her debut album, Rattlesnakes and Rusty Water, on her own label, Rattlesnake Records. At the time, it was unusual for a woman to play guitar in public, and it was also rare for a woman to produce her own songs.

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27th Dec 1989, Ronnie Milsap was at #1 on the Country music singles chart with "A Woman in Love", a song written by Curtis Wright and Doug Millett. It was released as the third single from the album Stranger Things Have Happened and was his last song to reach #1 on the US country singles chart.