Calendar Search Results: country
November 5, 1974 Ryan Adams is born David Ryan Adams in Jacksonville, North Carolina. He'll front the alt country band Whiskeytown before embarking on a solo career.
October 25, 1974 The Pointer Sisters become the first Black female group to play the Grand Ole Opry. They earn their invite from their song "Fairytale," which goes on to win a Grammy for Best Country Vocal Performance By A Duo Or Group.
October 14, 1974 Nashville veterans worry about the sanctity of country music when Olivia Newton-John wins Female Vocalist of the Year at the Country Music Association (CMA) Awards.More
October 14, 1974 Natalie Maines, lead singer for The Chicks, is born in Lubbock, Texas. Her group becomes one of the biggest acts in country music, but as a child, Maines is into pop stars like Michael Jackson and Madonna.
September 21, 1974 Walter Brennan, an Academy Award-winning actor and occasional country singer ("Old Rivers"), dies of emphysema at age 80.
September 12, 1974 Country singer Jennifer Nettles (of Sugarland) is born in Douglas, Georgia.
June 8, 1974 Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You" goes to #1 on the Country chart. Nearly two decades later, Whitney Houston's R&B version tops the Hot 100 and becomes one of the best-selling singles of all time.More
March 8, 1974 John Denver records "Annie's Song" and "Thank God I'm A Country Boy" at RCA's Music Center of the World studios in Los Angeles.
March 2, 1974 Olivia Newton-John wins the Grammy for Best Female Vocal Country Performance for "Let Me Be There." Country veterans are miffed, but reach full outrage when she takes the CMA award for Female Vocalist of the Year.
February 17, 1974 Country singer Bryan White is born in Oklahoma.
January 2, 1974 Country singer and actor Tex Ritter (father of actor John Ritter) dies of a heart attack in Nashville, Tennessee, at age 68. His first of many hits was 1944's "I'm Wastin' My Tears on You."
December 20, 1973 Bobby Darin dies at age 37 after surgery to repair his ailing heart.More
December 1, 1973 The Carpenters "Top Of The World" hits #1 in America. The song is also a #1 Country hit for Lynn Anderson.
September 15, 1973 The protest singer Victor Jara is brutally murdered in Chile under orders by the country's new dictator, Augusto Pinochet. The incident inspires Calexico's 2008 track "Victor Jara's Hands."
August 18, 1973 Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn's "Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man" hits #1 on the country chart.
July 14, 1973 Bluegrass/country guitarist Clarence White (of The Byrds) dies at 29 after being hit by a drunk driver. He was loading equipment into his car after a gig in Palmdale, California, when he was struck.
June 26, 1973 Country singer Gretchen Wilson, known for her hit "Redneck Woman," is born in Pocahontas, Illinois.
June 4, 1973 Jimmy Buffett releases A White Sport Coat and a Pink Crustacean, his first Key West-themed album with producer Don Gant. It features the country-music parody "Why Don't We Get Drunk."
May 28, 1973 Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn release "Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man," which becomes their third #1 country hit as a duo.
February 3, 1973 Elton John's reptilian rocker "Crocodile Rock" hits #1 in America for the first of three weeks, giving him his first chart-topper in that country.
January 20, 1973 Jerry Lee Lewis makes his first appearance at the Grand Ole Opry, telling the crowd at the end of his set: "Let me tell ya somethin' about Jerry Lee Lewis, ladies and gentlemen; I am a rock 'n' rollin', country-and-western, rhythm 'n' blues-singin' mothaf---er."
October 28, 1972 Brad Paisley is born in Glen Dale, West Virginia. His first hit is as a songwriter, penning David Kersh's Top 5 country ballad "Another You."
October 14, 1972 Joe Cocker and six members of his touring band are arrested after a concert in Adelaide, Australia, when police allegedly discover marijuana and heroin in their hotel rooms. The group are not charged but instead given four hours to leave the country.
March 16, 1972 The Dripping Springs Reunion festival kicks off in a field near Austin, Texas. Envisioned as the Woodstock of country music, the 3-day event features performances by Willie Nelson, Earl Scruggs, Bill Monroe, Kris Kristofferson, Loretta Lynn, Buck Owens and Dottie West. The festival is poorly promoted and a huge flop, with attendance estimated at about 20,000 (combined) when at least 180,000 were expected. Two years later, Willie Nelson uses the same site for the first of his Fourth of July Picnic concerts, which becomes a popular annual event and helps establish Austin as a music destination.
February 14, 1972 Rob Thomas of Matchbox Twenty is born to American parents in West Germany.More
January 7, 1972 The St. Cleve Chronicle reports that a "Major Beat Group" will put music to the epic poem "Thick As A Brick," written by 8-year-old Gerald Bostock. The Society for Literary Advancement and Gestation (SLAG) had disqualified Bostock's poem from their competition, citing an "extremely unwholesome attitude towards life, his God and Country."
November 8, 1971 Led Zeppelin IV - the one with "Stairway To Heaven" - is released.More
October 15, 1971 Rick Nelson (formerly Ricky) plays the "Rock & Roll Spectacular" concert at Madison Square Garden. When he plays some newer songs, the hit-hungry audience boos. Nelson writes the song "Garden Party" about the experience, and it becomes a hit, reviving his career.More
August 28, 1971 John Denver's first hit, "Take Me Home Country Roads," peaks at #2 on the Hot 100, held back by the Bee Gees' "How Can You Mend A Broken Heart?" Denver's song, which endures as a singalong favorite, is about West Virgina, but he had never been there - the lyric was inspired by postcards his co-writer Bill Danoff received from a friend who lived in that state.
July 28, 1971 George Harrison releases his song "Bangla Desh," which brings attention to the refugee crisis in that country. He performs it three days later at his Concert For Bangladesh, the first major rock fundraiser.
©2026 Songfacts®, LLC