1907
Born on this day in Timbo, Arkansas, was Jimmy Driftwood who was a prolific songwriter and musician, most famous for his songs “The Battle of New Orleans” (which won the 1960 Grammy Award for Song of the Year), and “Tennessee Stud”. Eddy Arnold, Johnny Cash, Hawkshaw Hawkins, Homer and Jethro all covered his songs. He died of a heart attack on July 12, 1998 in Fayetteville, Arkansas aged 91.
1916
Born on this day near Mena, Arkansas was David Luke Myrick who became known professionally as T. Texas Tyler, best known for his 1948 hit, “The Deck of Cards”.
1933
Born on this day in Greenville, Mississippi, was Ben Peters, country music songwriter who wrote many #1 songs. Charley Pride recorded 40 of his songs and 4 of them went to #1 on the American country charts. Peters was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1980. Peters was briefly a recording artist himself; his only charting hit was “San Francisco is a Lonely Town”, which hit #46 on the country charts in 1969. He died in Nashville, Tennessee, on May 25, 2005.
1945
Born on this day in Springhill, Nova Scotia, was Anne Murray, the Canadian singer whose albums have sold over 54 million copies. Murray became the first Canadian female solo singer to reach #1 on the US charts, and also the first to earn a Gold record for one of her signature songs, “Snowbird”. She is also the first woman and the first Canadian to win “Album of the Year” at the Country Music Association Awards for her 1984 album A Little Good News.
1949
Born on this day in Tuskegee, Alabama, was Lionel Richie, singer, songwriter and one time member of the Commodores. Kenny Rogers scored the 1980 crossover country hit with the Richie written and produced track “Lady”. Richie released his tenth studio album, Tuskegee in 2012 which features 13 of his hit songs performed as duets with country stars including Sugarland’s Jennifer Nettles, Jason Aldean, Tim McGraw, Blake Shelton, Darius Rucker, Rascal Flatts, Kenny Chesney, Billy Currington, Little Big Town, Shania Twain, Kenny Rogers, Willie Nelson and Jimmy Buffett. The album returned him to the top of the Billboard 200 chart, his first #1 album there for more than 25 years.
1967
Born on this day, Dan Tyminski, American bluegrass composer, vocalist, and instrumentalist with Alison Krauss and Union Station who has also released the solo albums Carry Me Across the Mountain (2000) and Wheels (2008).
1991
Garth Brooks was at #1 on the US country chart with his third studio album, Ropin’ the Wind. The album replaced his previous album No Fences at the #1 postion, where it enjoyed a combined 18 weeks at the top of the charts.
2007
The Academy of Country Music presented the Cliffie Stone Pioneer Award to Dolly Parton, Waylon Jennings, Don Williams and songwriter Harlan Howard at the Tennessee State Museum in Nashville. Buck Owens received the Jim Reeves International Award.
2015
Chris Stapleton was at #1 on the US Country chart with his debut studio album Traveller which was later named Album of the Year at the 2015 Country Music Association Awards.
