Calendar Search Results: country
September 25, 2019 The first installment of Ken Burns' eight-part documentary series Country Music airs on PBS. The film chronicles the evolution of the genre from the early "hillbilly" musicians of the '20s with Fiddlin' John Carson through the New Traditionalists of the '90s with Garth Brooks.
September 6, 2019 The Highwomen, a country supergroup comprising Brandi Carlile, Maren Morris, Amanda Shires and Natalie Hemby, release their self-titled debut album. The group's name is a reference to The Highwaymen, which formed in 1985 with the lineup of Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings and Kris Kristofferson.
March 16, 2019 "Old Town Road" by the rapper Lil Nas X makes the Country chart, but is removed the following week when Billboard declares it ineligible for the tally. The attention leads to a remix with Billy Ray Cyrus that goes to #1 on the genre-agnostic Hot 100.More
January 6, 2019 Kanye West debuts his weekly Sunday Service series at his home in Calabasas, California. The event, teased on social media by wife Kim Kardashian, features gospel-soul takes of Kanye's hits with the rapper's celebrity pals rounding out the congregation. More
September 14, 2018 Carrie Underwood releases her sixth studio album, Cry Pretty, which debuts at #1 in the US. The title track was inspired by the country singer's heartache over a series of traumatic events in her life, including three miscarriages.
September 7, 2018 Country singer Kathy Mattea ends a six-year recording hiatus when she releases the folk album Pretty Bird, featuring covers of Joan Osborne's "St. Teresa," Mary Gauthier's "Mercy Now," and Bobbie Gentry's "Ode To Billie Joe." It also debuts a new voice from the husky-throated singer, whose vocal problems forced her to learn to tap into her lower register.
August 25, 2018 During her Reputation tour, Taylor Swift headlines a concert at the Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee, where Tim McGraw and Faith Hill join her onstage for a performance of her seminal country hit "Tim McGraw."
August 16, 2018 Aretha Franklin dies after a long battle with pancreatic cancer at age 76.More
May 21, 2018 The Hootie & the Blowfish album Cracked Rear View is certified for selling 21 million copies in America, overtaking Guns N' Roses' Appetite For Destruction as the top-selling debut album of all-time in that country.
April 15, 2018 Carrie Underwood debuts her song "Cry Pretty" at the Academy of Country Music Awards. It's her first appearance since a fall six months earlier that required over 40 stitches in her face.
November 30, 2017 Westbury New Road, where Rihanna grew up in Barbados, is renamed Rihanna Drive in her honor.More
November 27, 2017 Country singer Blake Shelton is named People magazine's "Sexiest Man Alive." He's the second musician to receive the honor in the annual feature's 32-year run; the first was Adam Levine, his fellow coach on The Voice, in 2013.
November 19, 2017 Country star Mel Tillis dies of respiratory failure at 85.
October 25, 2017 Nashville stages a star-studded farewell concert for Kenny Rogers, who has decided to retire after a 60-year music career. A range of acts salute the singer with covers of some of his most memorable songs, with Chris Stapleton taking on "The Gambler," Lionel Richie singing "Lady," and Don Henley performing the Eagles' "Desperado," which Rogers covered. The highlight of the evening is when Rogers takes the stage with his duet partner Dolly Parton, as the two close out the night with "Islands in the Stream."More
October 14, 2017 Kacey Musgraves marries Ruston Kelly (also a country singer) in Tennessee. He inspires her song "Butterflies," and their divorce in 2020 informs much of Musgraves' 2021 album Star-Crossed.
October 1, 2017 During Jason Aldean's headlining set at the Route 91 Harvest festival on the Las Vegas strip, a gunman opens fire from his suite at the nearby Mandalay Bay hotel, killing 58 and injuring over 500 in the deadliest mass shooting in US history.More
September 8, 2017 Troy Gentry of the country music duo Montgomery Gentry dies in a helicopter crash en route to a gig in Medford, New Jersey. He was 50.
August 5, 2017 Sam Hunt's "Body Like a Back Road" lands at #1 on the Country chart for the 25th week, breaking the record previously held by Florida Georgia Line's "Cruise." It ends up spending 34 weeks at the top, but is overtaken the next year by "Meant to Be" by... Florida Georgia Line, which stays for 50.
June 8, 2017 Country songwriter/producer Norro Wilson, who penned hits for George Jones, Tammy Wynette, Charley Pride, and others, dies at age 79.
April 28, 2017 Brad Paisley releases the first visual album in country music: a special edition of Love and War with videos for each of the 16 tracks.
February 5, 2017 Lady Gaga opens the Super Bowl halftime show with a verse from "God Bless America," followed by the song Woody Guthrie wrote as a parody, "This Land Is Your Land."More
December 19, 2016 Country songwriter Andrew Dorff, brother of actor Stephen Dorff, dies at age 40. Penned hits for artists such as Martina McBride ("Ride"), Kenny Chesney ("Save It for a Rainy Day"), Blake Shelton ("Neon Light") and Hunter Hayes ("Somebody's Heartbreak").
November 15, 2016 Less than a year after being diagnosed with ovarian cancer, country singer Holly Dunn, age 59, dies at a hospice facility in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
November 8, 2016 Despite strident support from a passel of stars, including Katy Perry, Barbra Streisand and Bruce Springsteen, Hillary Clinton loses the US presidential election to Donald Trump, whose supporters include Ted Nugent, Loretta Lynn and Wayne Newton. Miley Cyrus, who said she would move if Trump was elected, decides to stay in the country.
November 2, 2016 Beyoncé goes country, performing her song "Daddy Lessons" with the Dixie Chicks at the CMA Awards. Eight years later, she becomes the first Black woman to top the Country chart when "Texas Hold 'Em" goes to #1.
September 30, 2016 Mary J. Blige debuts her Apple Music talk show, The 411, and welcomes Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton as her first guest. Halfway through the intimate conversation, Blige bursts into a rendition of Bruce Springsteen's protest anthem "American Skin (41 Shots)" in a bid to address the rash of police brutality against African Americans. The attempt falls flat with viewers, who heckle the singer on social media.More
August 20, 2016 The Tragically Hip play their final concert, calling it quits at a show in lead singer Gord Downie's hometown of Kingston, Ontario. Downie was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer in December 2015.More
July 11, 2016 Country singer Craig Morgan mourns the death of his son Jerry Greer after the 19-year-old's body is discovered the day after he goes missing while tubing on the Tennessee River. Jerry is one of four sons born to Morgan and his wife, Karen.
July 3, 2016 Maren Morris releases her first major-label album, Hero. It goes to #1 on the Country chart and includes one of her most enduring songs, "My Church."
April 6, 2016 On his 79th birthday, Merle Haggard dies at his ranch in Northern California. Haggard placed 71 songs in the Top 10 of the Country chart during his lifetime.
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