November 5th:
1911
Born on this day in Cincinnati, Ohio, was Roy Rogers, singer and cowboy actor, one of the most heavily marketed and merchandised stars of his era, as well as being the namesake of the Roy Rogers Restaurants franchised chain. He and his wife Dale Evans, his golden palomino, Trigger, and his German Shepherd dog, Bullet, were featured in more than 100 movies & The Roy Rogers Show. The show ran on radio for 9 years before moving to TV from 1951 – 1957. Rogers died of congestive heart failure on July 6, 1998, he was residing in Apple Valley, California.
1936
Born on this day, was Billy Sherrill, record producer and arranger who is most famous for his association with a number of country artists, most notably Tammy Wynette. Sherrill and business partner Glenn Sutton are regarded as the defining influences of the countrypolitan sound, a smooth amalgamation of pop and country music that was hugely popular during the late 1960s and throughout the ’70s. Sherrill died on 4 Aug 2015 after a short illness at the age of 78.
1946
Born on this day in Winter Haven, Florida, was Gram Parsons, singer, songwriter. He was a member of The International Submarine Band, The Byrds, Flying Burrito Brothers and released the 1973 solo album Grievous Angel. Parsons died on 19th September 1973 from a heroin overdose aged 26.
1960
Johnny Horton was killed in a car crash near Milano, Texas involving a truck. He had several major successes, most notably during 1959 with the song “The Battle of New Orleans” (written by Jimmy Driftwood) which was awarded the 1960 Grammy Award for Best Country & Western Recording.
1996
Unchained was released, the second album in Johnny Cash’s American Recording series, backed by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Unchained contained songs by Tom Petty (“Southern Accents”), Soundgarden (“Rusty Cage”) and Beck (“Rowboat”), The album also included a cover of the classic 1962 Hank Snow song, “I’ve Been Everywhere”, written by Geoff Mack.
2002
American IV: The Man Comes Around was released in the US, the fourth album in the American series by Johnny Cash, (and his 87th overall). The album won Album of the Year at the 2003 CMA Awards and the video for “Hurt”, (a song written by Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails), was nominated in seven categories at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards and won the award for Best Cinematography. In February 2003, mere days before his 71st birthday, Cash won another Grammy Award for Best Country Male Vocal Performance for “Give My Love To Rose,” a song Cash had originally recorded in the late 1950s. The music video for “Hurt” also won a Grammy for Best Short Form Video at the 2004 Awards.
2002
2003
“It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere” by Alan Jackson with Jimmy Buffett, and written by Jim “Moose” Brown and Don Rollins won the Country Music Association (CMA) Award for Vocal Event of the Year. The song became the #3 country song of the decade on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs Chart.
