In 1907, Jimmy Driftwood was born in Mountain View, Arkansas. He was an acclaimed folk singer and a songwriter who wrote more than 5,000 songs, and was a major force in preserving not only his musical heritage, but the culture of Arkansas mountain people. He is most famous for his song, "The Battle of New Orleans", recorded by Johnny Horton, for which Driftwood won a Grammy award.
In 1910, Pauline "Mom" Lewis of the First Family of Bluegrass Gospel Music, the Lewis Family, was born as Pauline Holloway.
In 1916, T Texas Tyler was born in Mena, Arkansas as David Luke Myrick. He saw major chart success with "Filipino Baby", "Deck of Cards", "Dad Gave My Dog Away", "Honky Tonk Gal", "My Bucket's Got A Hole In It", and "Bumming Around".
In 1924, Mr. Guitar, Chet Atkins, was born in Luttrell, Tennessee. He was not only a great guitarist, with Mose Rager, Merle Travis, Jerry Reed, and Thom Bresh being among the few in his league, but he was a producer whose influence on Nashville will be forever be preserved in Country Music history. He won fourteen Grammy awards.
In 1933, Ben Peters was born in Mississippi. He wrote many great songs. Charlie Pride recorded forty of his compositions, with four of them going Number One. Among his credits, "Before the Next Teardrop Falls", "Turn the World Around", "Kiss An Angel Good Mornin'", "It's Gonna Take A Little Bit Longer", "Love Put A Song In My Heart", "More To Me", "Daytime Friends", and "You're So Good When You're Bad".
In 1945, Anne Murray was born in Springhill, Nova Scotia, Canada. She charted fifty four times, with ten of them going to Number One on the charts.
In 1962, Eddy Shaver, son of Billy Joe Shaver, and great guitarist, was born. He learned a lot about the guitar from Dickey Betts, and was considered to be in the Vaughn/Hendrix league in ability. Not only performing with his dad, he was often seen onstage wtih Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, and Dwight Yoakum, and many others.
In 1965, Ira Louvin, born Ira Loudermilk in Alabama, was killed in an auto accident that also claimed the life of his wife and two others. Ira and his brother, Charlie, were the Louvin Brothers, the best vocal duet of all time. They were known for a number of hits, including "When I Stop Dreaming", "I Don't Believe You've Met My Baby", "You're Runnin" Wild", "Cash On the Barrelhead", "My Baby's Gone" and "Knoxville Girl".
In 1981, Dolly Parton went to the top of the charts with "But You Know I Love You".
In 1986, Whitey Ford, the Duke of Paducah, passed away, at age 85.
In 2000, major set changes were made to the Opry House in Nashville, Tennessee. I was there for the first show, and lamented the changes, believing that all change is not good change. (In fact, I believe that most change is bad change.)
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