Calendar Search Results: country
March 2, 1990 Luke Combs is born in Huntersville, North Carolina. He moves to Nashville and quickly lands a series of country hits, including "When It Rains It Pours" and "Beautiful Crazy."
January 20, 1990 After being revived by a Washington DJ, "The Electric Boogie" by Jamaican singer Marcia Griffiths peaks at #51 on the Billboard Hot 100, as the "Electric Slide" line dance craze sweeps the nation.More
December 13, 1989 Taylor Swift is born in Reading, Pennsylvania. She is raised in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, and moves to Nashville at age 14, where she discovers her knack for turning heartache into hit singles.More
October 17, 1989 Billy Joel releases the album Storm Front, with his enduring hit "We Didn't Start The Fire."More
April 15, 1989 Roy Orbison's posthumous single "You Got It" climbs to #9 in America four months after his death. It's his first Top 10 hit in that country since "(Oh) Pretty Woman" in 1964.
April 12, 1989 Garth Brooks releases his debut album, Garth Brooks, featuring the #1 Country hits "If Tomorrow Never Comes" and "The Dance."
August 21, 1988 Country singer Kacey Musgraves is born in Golden, Texas. She writes her first song, "Notice Me," at age 8 for her elementary school graduation.
June 11, 1988 Dozens of big-name acts, including Peter Gabriel, Sting, Whitney Houston and Stevie Wonder, rock the stage at the Free Nelson Mandela Concert at Wembley Stadium in London.More
May 24, 1988 Country singer Billy Gilman, known for his hit debut "One Voice" at just 11 years old, is born in Westerly, Rhode Island.
May 21, 1988 "Eighteen Wheels And A Dozen Roses" by Kathy Mattea hits #1 on the Country chart. It's the second chart-topper from her fourth album, Untasted Honey, following "Goin' Gone."
April 28, 1988 Country/pop singer B.W. Stevenson, known for the original 1973 version of "My Maria," dies at age 38 while undergoing heart valve surgery.
March 23, 1988 Mick Jagger performs his first solo gig in Japan, 15 years after having been barred from entering the country due to prior drug convictions.
January 30, 1988 Two years after a cover of Nanci Griffith's "Love At The Five And Dime" gave Kathy Mattea her first hit, she lands her first #1 on the Country chart with another Griffith tune: "Goin' Gone."
November 29, 1987 Burl Ives and Mac Davis join Dolly Parton for a "Down Home Country Christmas" on her TV series, Dolly, singing numerous holiday favorites with children and puppets.
October 12, 1987 INXS release their breakthrough album Kick, with the hits "Need You Tonight," "Devil Inside" and "New Sensation."More
July 21, 1987 Guns N' Roses release their first album, Appetite For Destruction. It's a landmark debut, featuring the hits "Welcome To The Jungle" and "Sweet Child O' Mine."More
May 16, 1987 U2 break big in America with their first #1 hit in that country, "With Or Without You," from the album The Joshua Tree. Their next single, "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For," follows to #1, cementing their superstar status.
April 25, 1987 U2's fifth album, The Joshua Tree, hits #1 in America, giving the band their rock star bona fides in that country (they've been huge in their native Ireland for years). It holds the top spot for an impressive nine weeks, finally dethroned by Whitney Houston's Whitney.
March 9, 1987 U2 release their fifth studio album, The Joshua Tree. The first two singles, "With Or Without You" and "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For," climb to #1 in America. The album becomes their first #1 in that country, and takes the Grammy Award for Album of the Year.More
March 8, 1987 The day before releasing The Joshua Tree, U2 debut two songs from the album - "Exit" and "In God's Country" - on the BBC show The Old Grey Whistle Test. Also on the show is a young Irish singer named Sinead O'Connor with her first live TV performance.
March 2, 1987 The Trio album, a collaboration between Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris and Dolly Parton, is released. The album had been planned since 1979 - it was worth the wait, selling over 4 million copies and winning the Grammy Award for Best Country Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal.
February 14, 1987 KTWV in Los Angeles switches from Rock to Smooth Jazz, becoming the first radio station to adopt that format. Smooth Jazz stations - heavy on Kenny G, David Sanborn, and David Lanz - soon pop up all over the country, offering a relaxing choice for at-work listening.
February 10, 1987 Randy Travis' Storms Of Life becomes the first debut country album certified for selling a million copies within its first year of release.
December 6, 1986 Ringo becomes the first Beatle to turn pitchman with the announcement that he'll be shilling for Sun Country wine coolers.
November 8, 1986 At the Country Club in Los Angeles, California, Metallica play their first show with bassist Jason Newsted, the replacement for Cliff Burton, who was killed in a tour bus accident in September.
June 2, 1986 Randy Travis releases his debut album, Storms Of Life. Thanks to the #1 Country hits "On The Other Hand" and "Diggin' Up Bones," it goes on to sell over 3 million copies, establishing Travis as a star.
May 10, 1986 Paul Simon plays three songs from his upcoming Graceland album on Saturday Night Live. He's backed by South African musicians, including the vocal group Ladysmith Black Mambazo, who perform with him on "Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes." With South Africa under a cultural boycott in an attempt to stop Apartheid, its music is sequestered. Simon's appearance with musicians from the country and the subsequent album introduce the sound to a global audience, but also cause problems for Simon when he faces criticism for violating the boycott.
May 2, 1986 Country singer-songwriter Rose Falcon is born in New York.
March 20, 1986 Country singer Kathy Mattea releases her third album, Walk The Way The Wind Blows, featuring her breakthrough single - a cover of Nanci Griffith's "Love At The Five And Dime." It peaks at #3 on the country chart.
March 5, 1986 After years grinding away on the Nashville music scene, Steve Earle, 31, releases his debut album, Guitar Town, with the title track recalling his time touring in a van and working on his "motel tan" (no tan at all). Not quite country, not quite rock, it helps define a new genre known as Americana.
©2026 Songfacts®, LLC