Today in 1988, at the 30th annual GRAMMY Awards, K.T. Oslin won the GRAMMY for Best Country Female Vocal Performance for “80’s Ladies.” Randy Travis won Best Country Male Vocal Performance for his album “Always and Forever,” and got Best Country Song “Forever and Ever, Amen.” The “Trio” album, featuring Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt, won the trophy for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group. Ronnie Milsap, Kenny Rogers, and Asleep at the Wheel were also winners.
This day in 2017: Chuck Wicks suffered a fractured skull and vertebrae when a car carrying him and three friends hydroplaned and flipped in Mississippi on the way to the Mardi Gras in New Orleans. He was hospitalized for several days and had to wear a neck brace for three months.
Garth Brooks will be honored with the Icon Award at the Billboard Music Awards. In addition to accepting the honor, Garth will perform at the ceremony, which will air April 29th on NBC, live from Las Vegas.
Garth has certainly earned the Icon honor, with nine “Billboard” number one albums, the most of any country artist. Also, he recently became the first artist to have a hit on the Hot Country Songs chart in each of five decades.
Previous BBMA Icon winners include Cher, Neil Diamond, Celine Dion, Jennifer Lopez, Prince, Stevie Wonder, Janet Jackson and Mariah Carey.
Source: Billboard
Reba McEntire recently announced she’s rejoined her original label, MCA Nashville, where she spent 32 years, from the ’70s through 2007. Well, now that she has a new label, Reba is teasing new music.
In a video posted to Twitter, asking fans to text her, Reba talked about the busy year she has coming up, which includes more Las Vegas dates with Brooks & Dunn and more.
“We got my tour … a few new songs, new lighting, new staging, everything like that,” she shared, referring to her tour that kicks off next month. She also noted, “Be expecting some new music along with getting to revisit my catalog of all the things I’ve been doing over the past years.”
Reba’s new tour is set to kick off March 1st in Plant City, Florida. Click here for a complete schedule.
This day in 1997: LeAnn Rimes won two trophies, Best New Artist and Best Female Country Vocal Performance for “Blue” at the 39th annual GRAMMY Awards.
Sam Hunt has another number one single. Sam’s latest single “Kinfolks” tops the “Billboard” Country Airplay chart, making it his sixth number one single.
Sam took to Instagram to share the news, noting, “Thanks to everyone who helped make it happen!”
“Kinfolks” is Sam’s first Country Airplay number one since “Body Like A Back Road” topped the chart back in May 2017.
Elsewhere on the chart…
Dan +Shay’s “10,000 Hours,” featuring Justin Bieber, tops the Hot Country Songs chart for a 20th week, the fourth longest reign for any song. The current record holder is Bebe Rexha and Florida Georgia Line’s “Meant to Be,” which spent a whopping 50 weeks at number one.
Kenny Chesney’s new single “Here and Now” is at 25 on the Country Airplay chart, making it his 91st Country Airplay entry, second only to George Strait, who has 100.
Today in 1949, Hank Williams Sr.’s “Lovesick Blues” was released. It was the song that got him his first invitation to perform on the Grand Ole Opry.
Written by Cliff Friend and Irving Mills, the song first appeared in the 1922 musical Oh, Ernest. It was recorded by Emmett Miller in 1925 and 1928, and later by country music singer Rex Griffin. The recordings by Griffin and Miller inspired Hank Williams to perform the song during his first appearances on the Louisiana Hayride radio show in 1948. Receiving an enthusiastic reception from the audience, Williams decided to record his own version despite initial push back from his producer Fred Rose and his band.
MGM Records released “Lovesick Blues” in February 1949, and it became an overnight success, quickly reaching number one on Billboard’s Top C&W singles and number 24 on the Most Played in Jukeboxes list. The publication named it the top country and western record of the year, while Cashbox named it “Best Hillbilly Record of the Year”.
Several cover versions of the song have been recorded. The most popular, Frank Ifield’s 1962 version, topped the UK Singles Chart. In 2004, Williams’ version was added to the National Recording Registry.
Source: Wikipedia
Willie Nelson is giving everyone a present for his birthday. On April 24th, just five days before Willie turns 87, he’ll drop his 70th album, “First Rose of Spring.”
While the album will feature two songs written by Willie, it will mostly be written by such artists as Toby Keith, Chris Stapleton, and Billy Joe Shaver.
Willie also dropped the first single from the record, the album’s title track, written by Randy Houser, Allen Shamblin, and Mark Beeson. Check out the new single and the track list below:
“First Rose of Spring” (Randy Houser, Allen Shamblin & Mark Beeson)
“Blue Star” (Willie Nelson & Buddy Cannon)
“I’ll Break Out Again Tonight” (Sanger “Whitey” Shafer & Doodle Owens)
“Don’t Let the Old Man In” (Toby Keith)
“Just Bummin’ Around “(Pete Graves)
“Our Song” (Chris Stapleton)
“We Are the Cowboys” (Billy Joe Shaver)
“Stealing Home” (Marla Cannon-Goodman, Casey Beathard & Don Sampson)
“I’m the Only Hell My Mama Ever Raised” (Wayne Kemp, Bobby Borchers & Mack Vickery)
“Love Just Laughed” (Willie Nelson & Buddy Cannon)
“Yesterday When I Was Young” (Hier Encore) (Charles Aznavour & Herbert Kretzmer)
Source: Rolling Stone
Today in 1969, Johnny Cash recorded his album “Johnny Cash At San Quentin,” including the song “A Boy Named Sue.” June Carter, Carl Perkins, The Carter Family, and the Statler Brothers performed with him.
At San Quentin is the 31st overall album by Johnny Cash, recorded live at San Quentin State Prison on February 24, 1969 and released on June 4 of that same year. The concert was filmed by Granada Television, produced and directed by Michael Darlow. The album was the second in Cash’s conceptual series of live prison albums that also included At Folsom Prison (1968), På Österåker (1973), and A Concert Behind Prison Walls (1976).
The album was certified gold on August 12, 1969, platinum and double platinum on November 21, 1986, and triple platinum on March 27, 2003 by the RIAA. The album was nominated for a number of Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year and won Best Male Country Vocal Performance for “A Boy Named Sue.”
There have been several releases with different songs and set order. The album cover photo by Jim Marshall is considered to be an iconic image of Cash, with Marshall Grant’s Epiphone Newport bass guitar famously silhouetted in the foreground.
This was Cash’s first album recorded without his longtime lead guitar player and Tennessee Two founder Luther Perkins, who had died several months earlier. On the album, Cash is heard paying tribute to Perkins (who was not related to Carl Perkins, who appears on the recording as lead guitarist on several tracks).
Two songs are performed live on stage for the first time during the show: “San Quentin” and “A Boy Named Sue”. According to biographer Robert Hilburn, the decision had already been made for Cash to perform “San Quentin” twice as it was considered the major new song of the set, though on record Cash makes it appear as if the encore is due to audience demand; producer Bob Johnson ultimately chose to include both versions of the song on the album. According to Hilburn, Cash spontaneously decided to perform “A Boy Named Sue” during the show and neither the TV crew nor his band knew he planned to do it (though he gave them advance warning by announcing early in the show his intent to play it); he used a lyric sheet on stage while Perkins and the band improvised the backing.
Source: Wikipedia
Rascal Flatts announced they’ll be calling it quits following their upcoming tour, and during a discussion at the Country Radio Seminar in Nashville they insisted their decision had nothing to do with any trouble within the group.
“We love each other, probably more now than we ever did when we first started,” Jay DeMarcus shared. “We just got to this point in the road where it’s forking and we’re entering new seasons of our lives.”
He added, “This is a decision that we didn’t reach lightly,” noting, “It was a very tough decision and is going to be a very sad, bittersweet year, but it’s something we think is the best for our lives right now.”
The band’s final show is set for October 30th at Bridgestone Arena, and Jay insists that at least for now, it will be their final show. “We haven’t signed a pact to say we’re never going to work together ever again,” he said. “This isn’t a ploy to get everybody to come out, see this tour so we can turn around next year … there are no immediate plans to do any more Rascal Flatts shows past October 30.”
Source: Billboard
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