• Today in 1943, Roy Rogers appeared on the cover of Life magazine.
• Today in 1972, Tom T. Hall records “(Old Dogs-Children And) Watermelon Wine” around noon at Mercury Custom Recording Studio in Nashville
• Today in 1988, the “Old 8X10” album by Randy Travis arrived in stores.
• Today in 1994, Alan Jackson’s single, “Summertime Blues,” hit #1.
• Today in 1998, Tim McGraw was named an honorary zookeeper of the Nashville Zoo.
• Today in 2000, as Tim McGraw & Faith Hill’s new video, “Let’s Make Love,” debuted on CMT in the morning, the couple was in Atlanta gearing up for their first concert date on their “Soul 2 Soul” tour. The shows marked the first time that Tim and Faith toured on a bill together since the 1996 “Spontaneous Combustion” tour – where they fell in love.
• Today in 2001, Alan Jackson was honored at a “block party” in Nashville for career record sales totaling more than 35-million albums worldwide.
• Today in 2002, Toby Keith’s “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue” hits the top of “Radio & Records’” Country Top 50 chart.
• Today in 2007, Fruit Of The Loom debuts an ad campaign featuring Vince Gill singing “Daddy Was The Apple Of My Eye” with various fruits from the company’s logo playing in the band.
• Today in 2011, Warner Bros. releases the Blake Shelton album “Red River Blue.”
• Today in 2013, Jason Aldean became the first country artist to headline at Boston’s Fenway Park, kicking off his show with “Crazy Town.” Also filling out the bill are Miranda Lambert, Jake Owen and Thomas Rhett.
• Today in 2014, “Somethin’ Bad,” by Miranda Lambert with Carrie Underwood, was all good at #1 on the Billboard country singles chart.
• Today in 2015, Justin Moore and Cole Swindell took part in the MLB Legends & Celebrity Softball Game two days before the All-Star Game at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati. Among the participants: Macklemore, Snoop Dogg and Nick Lachey.
• Today in 2016, Taylor Swift visited pediatric patients at the Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
• Today in 2017, Reba McEntire, Lee Ann Womack and Brandy Clark raised $50,000 for the Alzheimer’s Foundation at City Winery in Nashville. The show included surprise appearances by Martina McBride, William Michael Morgan and Hunter Hayes.
• Today in 2017, Loretta Lynn canceled the remainder of her 2017 concerts as she continued to recover from a stroke.
• Today in 2018, the Eric Church single, “Desperate Man,” was released.
• Today in 2019, Chuck Wicks married Kasi Williams at the Cabo Azul Resort in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Their first dance? “Can’t Help Falling In Love.”
• Today in 2019, Florida Georgia Line presented an all-terrain wheelchair to a retired veteran during a concert at the Xfinity Center in Mansfield, Massachusetts.
• Today in 2019, Kenny Chesney’s “Tip Of My Tongue,” which was co-written with pop singer Ed Sheeran, hit the airwaves.

• Today in 1967, Kenny Rogers formed The First Edition, just one day after he and members Thelma Camacho, Mike Settle and Terry Williams left the New Christy Minstrels. The group went on to host a syndicated TV variety show in 1972.
• Today in 1981, Earl Thomas Conley’s single, “Fire and Smoke,” topped the charts.
• Today in 1983, Merle Haggard’s album, “Big City,” and the album, “Pancho and Lefty,” by Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson were both certified gold.
• Today in 1990, Reba McEntire’s album, “Reba McEntire Live,” was certified gold.
• Today in 1996, the “Alabama Christmas” album was certified double platinum.
• Today in 2000, Billy Gilman made his “Tonight Show” debut.
• Today in 2000, Daryle Singletary’s album, “Now and Again,” arrived in stores.
• Today in 2001, the Everly Brothers, Waylon Jennings and singer/songwriter (and Grand Ole Opry member) Bill Anderson were announced as being among the latest artists to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
• Today in 2002, the film soundtrack of the animated film, “Lilo and Stitch,” which featured Wynonna, was certified gold.
• Today in 2002, Joe Nichols’ debut single, “The Impossible,” claimed the #1 position on “Billboard’s” National Top 75 Country Singles Sales Chart. He snagged the spot, which had been held by LeAnn Rimes for the previous 23 weeks.
• Today in 2006, Carrie Underwood performed the national anthem prior to Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game at Pittsburgh’s PNC Park. The American League beat the National League, 3-2.
• Today in 2009, Dierks Bentley’s “Sideways” was straight at #1 on the Billboard country singles chart.
• Today in 2015, Luke Bryan sold out Nashville’s Dudley Field in the first country show at the Vanderbilt University football stadium. He bookended his set with “Kick The Dust Up” and “Country Girl (Shake It For Me).” The bill includes Randy Houser, Thomas Rhett, Dustin Lynch and Florida Georgia Line, who join Bryan on “Mountain Music.”
• Today in 2017, Garth Brooks ranks is Forbes the Top Country Cash King, earning $60 million the previous year.

Today in 2017, The House of Representatives votes unanimously to rename the mail center in downtown Bakersfield as the Merle Haggard Post Office Building.

• Today in 1972, when a concert date was cancelled, Barbara Mandrell officially joined the Grand Ole Opry, three weeks earlier than scheduled.
• Today in 1992, Garth Brooks and then-wife, Sandy Brooks, welcomed their first child, daughter Taylor Mayne Pearl Brooks, in Nashville.
• Today in 1993, the “Merry Christmas To You” album by Reba McEntire was certified gold.
• Today in 1994, Travis Tritt scored a #1 hit with his single, “Foolish Pride.”
• Today in 1996, Keifer Thompson moved to Nashville from Oklahoma. Shortly after, he meets future wife and fellow Thompson Square partner Shawna McIlwain.
• Today in 1997, Marty Stuart married Connie Smith on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Afterward, they drove out into the wilderness and end up dancing on a cliff to Buck Owens’ “Your Tender Loving Care.”
• Today in 1998, Brooks & Dunn’s “If You See Her” album was certified gold and platinum simultaneously.
• Today in 1998, the Roy Orbison Estate filed a $12-million royalty suit against Sony Music Entertainment Inc. The suit alleged that Sony, in selling licenses from the artist’s Monument Records master recordings, consistently underpaid Roy in domestic and international royalties.
• Today in 2000, Lee Ann Womack’s “I Hope You Dance” began a five-week ride at #1 on the Billboard country chart.
• Today in 2002, Brad Paisley was #1 on the country charts with his single, “I’m Gonna Miss Her (The Fishin’ Song).”
• Today in 2010, Taylor Swift shot the wedding scene for her “Mine” video at the Christ Church in Kennebunk, Maine, with British actor Toby Hemingway in the role of the groom.
• Today in 2013, Darius Rucker’s single, “Radio,” was released.
• Today in 2014, Florida Georgia Line’s “Dirt” hit the airwaves.
• Today in 2016, Garth Brooks became the first country artist to headline at the new Yankee Stadium in New York. He sang two songs written by New Yorker Billy Joel, “Shameless” and “Piano Man.” Brooks also joined wife Trisha Yearwood on “In Another’s Eyes.”
• Today in 2017, Julianne Hough married NHL player Brooks Laich near Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Her brother, Derek Hough, was a member of the wedding party. The couple announced their separation (after months of questions) in May 2020. They’ve since finalized their divorce.
• Today in 2018, Josh Abbott married Taylor Parnell at Brazos Hall in Austin, Texas.
• Today in 2019, the Thomas Rhett single, “Remember You Young,” was released.
• Today in 2020, Lady A filed suit in Nashville against blues singer Lady A to protect its trademark of the name, granted in 2011. The group was formerly known as Lady Antebellum, but shortened the official name in the midst of the Black Lives Matter movement, running into an unexpected conflict in the process.
• Today in 2021, the Walker Hayes single, “Fancy Like,” hit the airwaves.
• Today in 2021, Morgan Wallen closed on the sale of his four-bedroom Nashville residence…as in, the house where he was notoriously recorded using a racial slur the previous February. The property went for $835,000, nearly 20% more than the $700-grand he bought it for in 2020.

• Today in 1954, Memphis disc jockey Dewey Phillips played Elvis Presley’s debut single, “That’s All Right,” on his radio show. It was the first time an Elvis record had ever been played on the radio.
• Today in 1992, “Achy Breaky Heart” single by Billy Ray Cyrus was certified gold and platinum. “Weird Al” Yankovic later parodied it into “Achy Breaky Song.”
• Today in 1993, the Recording Industry Association of America announced that Garth Brooks was the leading recording artist of the decade, with sales of 24 million records.
• Today in 1995, Shania Twain topped the country charts with “Any Man of Mine.”
• Today in 1995, Collin Raye’s album, “In This Life,” went platinum.
• Today in 1998, LeAnn Rimes’ “Sittin’ On Top Of The World” album was certified gold and platinum.
• Today in 1998, beloved singing cowboy Roy Rogers died of heart failure at the age of 86.
• Today in 2002, the Dixie Chicks album, “Fly,” was certified with the coveted Diamond Award from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), which commemorates sales of 10-million units.
• Today in 2004, Jimmy Buffett’s “Hey, Good Lookin'” video – featuring appearances by George Strait, Kenny Chesney, Toby Keith, Clint Black and Alan Jackson – debuted on CMT.
• Today in 2004, Big & Rich’s debut album, “Horse Of A Different Color,” was certified gold.
• Today in 2007, Montgomery Gentry rolled straight sevens by topping the Billboard chart with “Lucky Man” on 7-7-07.
• Today in 2007, Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood performed “We Shall Be Free” from the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C., for the Al Gore-sponsored Live Earth charity concerts.
• Today in 2008, Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman welcomed their daughter, Sunday Rose Kidman Urban, at Baptist Hospital in Nashville.
• Today in 2011, Blake Shelton’s “God Gave Me You” was released.
• Today in 2012, Eric Church wrote his 2014 single, “Talladega,” with Luke Laird at the Times Union Center in Albany, New York.
• Today in 2014, Luke Bryan’s “Roller Coaster,” which was written by Cole Swindell, hit the airwaves.
• Today in 2017, Craig Morgan filed a $40-million suit against Kent Sporting Goods and a subsidiary that manufactured the live vest his son was wearing when he drowned in July 2016, indicating the vest was not certified for water sports, but had the appearance of vests that have been approved.
• Today in 2017, Florida Georgia Line played the first of three summer stadium shows at Boston’s Fenway Park, joined by The Backstreet Boys, Nelly and Chris Lane. FGL and BSB team on “God, Your Mama, And Me,” Nelly covers “Die A Happy Man,” and the whole crew closed the concert with a mass version of “Cruise.”
• Today in 2017, the film, “Hickok,” debuted with Trace Adkins and Kris Kristofferson having starring roles.