In 1930, The Jolly Greene Giant, Jack Greene, was born in Maryville, Tennessee. He joined Ernest Tubb's band after being noticed by Tubbs when Greene opened for the Troubadours. He played guitar, drums, and worked as a vocalist, and started releasing records before he left Tubbs' show. He was about the hottest thing in country music in the late sixties and early seventies, when he had five Number Ones, and four more Top Tens. Though he was popular up until the time of his death, he never had the success he had in those few years.
In 1943, Leona Williams was born in Vienna, Missouri. She had success with her family band, then worked on her own radio show. She worked as a backing vocalist and bassist for Loretta Lynn. She married Merle Haggard, and also recorded a Top Ten single with him, as well as co-writing some of his hits with him. She was the first female to record and album inside prison walls. After her divorce from Haggard, she married another singer, songwriter, performer, musician named Dave Kirby, who also had a lot of success as a songwriter, and a band member for Waylon Jennings and Porter Wagoner.
In 1959, singer-songwriter David Lee Murphy was born in Herrin, Illinois. In 1994,1995, 1996, and 2004 he caught lightning in a bottle, and had some very well received songs. His only Number One was "Dust On The Bottle", and he is also remembered for a few other songs including "Party Crowd".
In 1974, John Rich was born in Amarillo, Texas. There are many who think only of his associations with Big and Rich, and Lonestar, but he is one of the few of the new faces that actually knows about real country music. One night, at a Marty Stuart Show in Nashville, he stood and gave an all-Johnny Horton song performance, thereby earning him a couple of fans at TTCB. Though we seldom listen to new age country here, he is a prolific songwriter, with many credits to his name.
In 1978, Johnny Paycheck assumed the Number One position with "Take This Job And Shove It".
In 1984, George Strait owned the top spot on the charts with "You Look So Good In Love".
In 1989, K.T.Oslin was atop the charts with "Hold Me".
In 1998, producer Owen Bradley passed away in Nashville. . After beginning a successful career as a singer, songwriter, musician, and bandleader, he became a producer at Decca Records. Even though he would produce records for other labels, it would be because he had been 'loaned' out by Decca. He worked with some of the best in the business, from Roy Acuff and Bill Monroe, to Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, and many others, right up to Mandy Barnett, who was the last recording artist with which he had a close relationship. He and his brother were the first to put a recording studio on 16th Ave, in a Quonset hut called Bradley's Barn. He was one of the ones responsible for the salvation of country music as a viable genre with his new techniques that became known as the Nashville Sound.
