In 1923, Gentleman Jim Reeves was born in Galloway, Texas. Reeves originally had other aspirations, including being a minor league baseball player, but he became a club singer who followed Moon Mullican, Jimmie Rodgers, and several pop singers. He eventually was a member of the Moon Mullican show, and became an emcee for the Louisiana Hayride show, where he was asked to fill in for a Sleepy Labeef, or Hank Williams, depending upon the source. The rest is history. He had eighty charted singles, eleven of which became Number Ones on the chart. Of these eighty, fifty one were Top Tens, and no less than sixty nine were Top Forty. Out of this impressive list of hits, he will be remembered for "He'll Have To Go", "Mexican Joe", and "Four Walls" will be remembered as his biggest hits. He died in 1964 along with Dean Manuel in a Brentwood Tennessee crash of a plane he was piloting. He and Randy Hughes, who piloted the ill-fated plane that took Patsy Cline, Hawkshaw Hawkins, Cowboy Copas, and Hughes to their deaths in 1963 were student pilots under the same trainer, according to some sources.
In 1935, Justin Tubb was born in San Antonio, Texas. He was the son of the Texas Troubador himself, and was a longtime member of the Grand Ole Opry due to his success as a singer. His biggest hit was "Looking Back to See" as a singer and he also scored a lot of success as a songwriter, with his biggest success in that area being "Lonesome 7-7203", which was not only Hawkahaw Hawkins' biggest hit, but his only Number One hit. From a personal conversation, I know that he was nothing if not candid, a quality that I respect in anybody.
In 1952, Rudy Gatlin of the Gatlin Brothers was born in Olney, Texas. Thirty-four Gatlin's charted hits have owned Top Forty status, and of these they have had three Number Ones. They are a tight family harmony trio, and most of the hits they have recorded also have a Gatlin or Gatlins as the writer or writers.
In 1977, four days after the death of Elvis Presley, "Way Down" went to the Number One position on the Country Music charts for the King.
In 1983, The Oak Ridge Boys went to the top of the charts with "Love Song". I wanna sing a love song......
In 1988, Restless Heart, fronted by Larry Stewazt were enjoying the fruits of their labors with a Number One song entitled "Bluest Eyes In Texas".
In 1988, Western swing steel guitarist Leon McAuliffe passed away after a long illness in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He was known for his time with Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys, and he also had his own group, and actually taught school and was on several radio and tv shows in his time.
