This Day in Country Music History, February 6
2016
Days after cancelling all his February shows, Merle Haggard plays a concert in Las Vegas, struggling through six songs before giving the stage to Toby Keith. The last performance of Haggard’s life includes “Ramblin’ Fever” and “Sing Me Back Home”
2014
Dierks Bentley and OneRepublic shoot an episode of “CMT Crossroads” at Rocketown in Nashville. The show includes performances of “Counting Stars,” “Up On The Ridge,” “I Hold On” and “Pride (In The Name Of Love)”
2012
EMI releases Eric Church’s “Springsteen” to radio. Referenced in the lyrics: “I’m On Fire,” “Born To Run,” “Glory Days” and “Born In The U.S.A.”
2011
Keith Urban performs “Who Wouldn’t Wanna Be Me” at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, before the Super Bowl, a 31-25 Green Bay Packers win over the Pittsburgh Steelers. Paul Overstreet is in the stands
1989
Patty Loveless quietly marries record producer Emory Gordy in Gatlinburg
1980
George Jones records “He Stopped Loving Her Today” at the Columbia Recording Studio in Nashville, then bets producer Billy Sherrill that the record won’t go to #1
1976
Ronnie Milsap performs “Daydreams About Night Things” and “Just In Case” as he joins the Grand Ole Opry
1971
Dolly Parton scores her first #1 single in Billboard with “Joshua”
1963
Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs, who already perform the theme song for “The Beverly Hillbillies,” make the first of seven on-screen appearances on the CBS sitcom. They introduce a new song, “Pearl Pearl Pearl,” addressed to the show’s Pearl Bodine
1962
Richie McDonald is born in Lubbock, Texas. He becomes the lead singer of Lonestar, whose slick harmonies define a series of hits beginning in the mid-1990s, including “No News,” “I’m Already There” and the pop crossover ballad “Amazed”
