This day in 1977, Alabama debuted on the charts with their first single, “I Wanna Be With You Tonight.”

The group (while still known as ‘Wild Country’) sent out demo tapes to record companies but received few responses until executives at GRT Records signed the band to a one-record contract, issuing their debut single, “I Want to Be with You Tonight”, in 1977. GRT was more interested in the band as songwriters, and convinced the group to change their name to the Alabama Band, later shortened to Alabama. The song reached number 78 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, and GRT declared bankruptcy the following year. Due to a hidden clause in their contract, Alabama was forbidden from recording with another label. For the next two years, the band raised money to buy out their contract and they began recording again in 1979. Following self-recorded efforts Wild Country (1976) and Deuces Wild (1977), Alabama Band No. 3 became the band’s third album, and the band performed over 300 shows on the road that year.

The group signed with RCA in 1980.

Alabama amassed over 40 number one hit singles (on a variety of industry charts) and 12 top-10 albums, including ten that peaked at number one on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart. The group also had 33 number ones on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart.

Hear “I Wanna Be With You Tonight” here.

This day in 1999, Faith Hill’s album, “Faith,” was certified triple platinum.

“Faith” was the third studio album by country artist Faith Hill, released in 1998. Due to the success of the single “This Kiss” in Australia and the UK, the album was released under the title Love Will Always Win, featuring the title track, a new version of “Piece of My Heart” and two new versions of “Let Me Let Go”, which replace “You Give Me Love”, “My Wild Frontier”, “Just to Hear You Say That You Love Me” and the original version of “Let Me Let Go”. In some countries, “It Matters to Me”, the title track and hit single from Hill’s second album, is also included as a bonus track. “Better Days” was previously recorded by Bekka & Billy on their debut album. “Love Will Always Win” was later issued as a single by Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood from Brooks’ album The Lost Sessions. “I Love You” was originally recorded by Celine Dion for her album, Falling into You. The album was released on April 21, 1998 and was certified six-times Platinum by the RIAA for shipments of over six million copies in the United States.

This day in 1960, Loretta Lynn made her debut on the charts with her first single, “I’m a Honky Tonk Girl.”

The song was among the first to not only be recorded by Lynn, but also to be penned by her. She composed the song while living in the state of Washington, maintaining her role as a housewife and occasional member of a local country music band. The composition was later recorded in California after Lynn was given money by a local businessman, who was impressed by her singing. “I’m a Honky Tonk Girl” was then issued as a single under the newly founded and independent Zero Records label in March 1960.

“I’m a Honky Tonk Girl” was self-promoted by Lynn and her husband, driving from one radio station to another. The effort paid off by that summer when it peaked at number fourteen on the Billboard country songs chart. The story behind the song’s promotion became one of the trademarks of Lynn’s career. Its story was profiled in the 1980 film about her life Coal Miner’s Daughter and has been covered by other artists. “I’m a Honky Tonk Girl” has since received positive praise from music critics and writers alike, who have credited the song as being one of her signature tunes.

Listen to “I’m a Honky Tonk Girl” here.

This day in 1986, after 28 years with Columbia Records, country legend Johnny Cash was dropped from the label. Here’s the kicker – he learned about his contract’s cancellation in the newspapers.

Columbia first signed Johnny Cash in 1960, using a lucrative contract to lure him away from Sun Records, his first label and also the early home of Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins. Cash’s first Columbia single, “All Over Again,” made the country Top 5, and his second, “Don’t Take Your Guns To Town” made it all the way to #1, while also crossing over to the pop Top 40. But the biggest hits of Cash’s career were yet to come, including an incredible eight #1 albums in an eight-year span: Ring of Fire: The Best of Johnny Cash (1963); I Walk The Line (1964); Johnny Cash’s Greatest Hits (1967); At Folsom Prison (1968); At San Quentin (1969); Hello, I’m Johnny Cash (1970); The Johnny Cash Show (1970); and Man In Black (1971). During this period, Johnny Cash established himself as a titanic figure in American popular culture while selling millions upon millions of records for Columbia, but by the mid-1980s, fashions in country music had shifted dramatically away from his old-school style, and the hits stopped coming.

In 1986, having also recently dropped jazz legend Miles Davis from its roster of artists, Columbia chose to end its no-longer-profitable relationship with Johnny Cash. Cash did not remain professionally adrift for long, however, releasing four original albums and numerous re-recordings of earlier material over the next seven years on Mercury Records. But it was not until 1994 that Cash truly found his creative bearings again. That was the year that he released the album American Recordings, the first in a series of albums on the label of the same name headed by Rick Rubin, the original producer of the Beastie Boys and the co-founder, with Russell Simmons, of Def Jam Records.

Under Rubin’s influence, Cash moved to a raw, stripped-down sound that proved to be enormously successful with critics, with country traditionalists and with hipster newcomers to country music.

Johnny Cash went on to have two more massively successful solo albums with American Recordings prior to his death in 2003. Ironically, Rick Rubin went on to become co-head of Columbia Records in 2007, a position he left in 2012.

Source: History.com

This day in 2000: Brad Paisley was performing at the West Virginia Interstate Fair and Exposition when he got the surprise of a lifetime. Gov. Cecil H. Underwood showed up to hear Brad’s music and to present him with the “Distinguished West Virginian Award.” The honor is presented to native West Virginians who have shown a lifetime commitment to community service and excellence in their respective career fields. Past award recipients include Kathy Mattea and astronaut John McBride. This date was also dubbed “Brad Paisley Day” in his home state.