September 24th:
1950
Hank Snow was at #1 on the Country music singles charts with “I’m Moving On”. The song, stayed at the top of the charts for 21 weeks and was the first of seven #1 Billboard country hits Snow scored throughout his career.
1955
Born on this day in Oak Park, Illinois, was American female singer-songwriter Lane Brody, best known for her 1984 Billboard topping country hit, “The Yellow Rose” (a duet with country music singer Johnny Lee), and for the Oscar nominated song “Over You” from the film Tender Mercies. She is the first female in country music to have an Oscar nominated hit from a soundtrack album. Besides “The Yellow Rose”, Brody has eleven other chart singles on the country charts.
1962
Patsy Cline released her third and final EP, So Wrong/You’re Stronger Than Me. This was the final EP released in her lifetime, as she would be killed in a plane crash less than a year later in March 1963. The other two tracks were, “Heartaches and a version of the Hank Williams song “Your Cheatin’ Heart.” George Strait covered “You’re Stronger Than Me” on his 2000 album George Strait.
1962
Singer Jerry Scoggins, Lester Flatt, and Earl Scruggs recorded “The Ballad of Jed Clampett” for the TV show The Beverly Hillbillies, which was released October 12, 1962. The theme song became an immediate country music hit and was played at the beginning and end of each episode. Flatt and Scruggs appeared in several episodes as family friends of the Clampetts in the following years.
1990
Alabama were at #1 on the Country charts with “Jukebox in My Mind”, taken from their album Pass It On Down.
2007
The California Friends of John Denver and The Windstar Foundation unveiled a bronze plaque near the spot where his plane went down, killing the singer, near Pacific Grove. The site had been marked by a driftwood log carved (by Jeffrey Pine of Colorado) with the singer’s name.
2009
Ronnie Milsap had recorded a new song “My First Ride” as a fundraiser to benefit firefighters and police officers. Unhappy with Capitol Records, because the company refused to service the record to radio and iTunes, Milsap and a group of Tennessee firefighters picketed the office of Capital. Ronnie marched with the group of 50 people to the front steps of the office, then sang the new single from atop a vintage fire truck.
2013
“That’s My Kind of Night” by Luke Bryan was at #1 on the Country singles chart. Written by Dallas Davidson, Chris DeStefano, and Ashley Gorley, the track spent 12 weeks at the top of the chart. Bryan began his musical career in the mid-2000s, writing songs for Travis Tritt and Billy Currington.
2015
Kenny Rogers announced that he was planning on retiring after his next world tour. Speaking on NBC’s Today show, Rogers said “I’ve done this long enough. There’s a fine line between being driven and being selfish, and I think I crossed that line when I was younger. I really want to be there with my kids and my wife. I don’t see enough of them. And I have some things on my bucket list.”
