Intended as a country version of Laugh-In, Hee Haw aired its first episode June 15, 1969. Buck Owens and Roy Clark hosted the show, which featured comic skits, jokes, and country music. Hee Haw helped boost careers of many budding music stars.
Loretta Lynn and Charley Pride appeared in the first episode. The series ran for twenty-six seasons, finally wrapping up in 2003.
Mega-star Patsy Cline, born September 8, 1932 in Winchester, Virginia, is one of the most influential vocalists and one of the most successful country artists ever. She began performing on a radio station when she was fifteen, which led to more appearances. She made her first national television appearance on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts, where she performed Walkin' After Midnight, her first big hit.
Her first single to reach #1 was I Fall to Pieces in 1961.
She was killed in a plane crash in 1963.
In 1973, she was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, the first female artist to be included. In 1995, Cline received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Her hits I Fall to Pieces and Crazy have been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame,
Jeff Cook, born August 27, 1949 in Fort Payne, Alabama, is one of the founding members of the country super-group Alabama. He founded the band with his cousins Randy Owen and Teddy Gentry in 1972. He was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame in 2019.
He has released solo projects including a recording with William Shatner.
Super-group Alabama, winner of countless country music awards, was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, October 6, 1998. They have released almost two dozen albums and have over 40 #1 hits.
Patsy Cline, one of the queens of country music, recorded Crazy, a ballad composed by Willie Nelson, August 21, 1961. It has been covered by many other artists, but Patsy's performance has made the song hers. It reached #2 in 1962.
Garth Brooks video from his single We Shall Be Free won Video of the Year, May 11, 1993 at the 28th Academy of Country Music Awards. It rose to #12 on the Billboard Country charts, making it his first single to miss the top ten, due to being banned from some radio stations. I guess its message of love, forgiveness and tolerance was too much for the good, ol' white boy establishment.
Way to go, Garth!!
I could not find a clip of the actual video to post, but the song's words are powerful enough. You can view it on-line, but here is his performance of We Shall Be Free on the Muppet Show.
David Frizzell and Shelly West won the Academy of Country Music Award for Song of the Year for You're the Reason God Made Oklahoma, April 30, 1981. It was featured on the soundtrack of the Clint Eastwood movie Any Which Way You Can.
Trio, the collaboration of Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt, took home Album of the Year at the Academy of Country Music Awards April 6, 1987. The album was released March 2 of that year and peaked at #1 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart and stayed there for 5 consecutive weeks.
Trio also won a Grammy for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals.
Goddess of country and pop music Dolly Parton successfully makes her crossover debut with her son 9 to 5, which rose to #1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs in January and Billboard Hot 100 on February 21, 1981. She wrote for the movie of the same name with Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda. Dolly became the second woman to top both country singles and Hot 100 with the same song. (Jeannie C. Riley was the first in 1968 with Harper Valley PTA.)
It got her an Oscar nomination and four Grammy nominations. She won for Best Country Song and Best Country Vocal Performance, Female. It has become an anthem for office workers across the U.S. American Film Institute rated it #78 on its "100 years, 100 songs" list.
Charley Pride broke through a lot of barriers in the 1960s as he one of the first, if not THE first, African-American to enjoy success as a country music performer. He was the first solo African-American performer at the Grand Ol' Opry in 1967. (DeFord Bailey was the first African-American performer, but he was a harmonica player.) Charley had 8 simultaneous #1 hits on the Country Hit Parade and charted on the Billboard Hot 100.
His biggest hit Kiss and Angel Good Mornin' was a crossover hit and helped him win Country Music Association's Entertainer of the Year and Top Male Vocalist in 1971. He has won four Grammy Awards including Best Country Vocal Performance, Male in 1972 and the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017.
He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2000.
The Queen of country music, Patsy Cline released her first #1 hit I Fall to Pieces, January 30, 1961. It was mainly ignored by radio stations at first, but soon found an audience. It entered the Billboard Country charts in April and made a slow rise to #1, to #12 on the Billboard Pop chart and #6 on the Billboard Easy Listening chart. Cline proved that a female could have cross-over hits on both charts.
The success of I Fall to Pieces gained Cline an invitation to join the Grand Ol' Opry. Rolling Stone magazine ranked it #238 of the top 500 Songs of All Time. RIAA ranked it as 107 on the list of Songs of the Century.
The almighty Queen of Country Music and God's special angel, Dolly Parton, made her first appearance on the Porter Wagner Show September 25, 1967. Although she had been seen on television a few times prior, it was Porter Wagner who gave her her big break.
The rest is history.
She's won dozens of awards, inducted into every country music hall of fame there is, and appeared on-screen in movies and television.
You go, girl!
This isn't a clip from the first show, but it is from one of her earlier episodes.
A founding member of the Pointer Sisters (my girls!), Anita Pointer was born January 23, 1948, in Oakland, California. Although their music was most R&B, Anita wrote Fairytale, which won the group their first Grammy for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group. The song was also nominated for Best Country Song of the year for 1975.
She returned to the country charts in 1986 with her duet with Earl Thomas Conley Too Many Times which reached #2 on the U.S. Country charts.
My favorite song led by Anita is I'm So Excited from their Break Out album
Convoy, by C. W. McCall (Bill Fries and Chip Davis [of Mannheim Steamroller fame]), about a trucker who goes on a nation-wide rampage, reached #1 on both the country and pop charts January 10, 1976.
Convoy was made popular because of the trucking/CB mania that America was enjoying during the mid-70s. It's this kind of fun that made the 1970's one of the best decades. The website history.com introduces its article on the song that claims it celebrates the "exploits of a rebellious trucker with a reckless disregard for human life and highway safety codes".
Judgmental much? Name a current tune that has this much excitement without bad language and/or sex.
Although it was a flash-in-the-pan, it inspired Sam Peckinpah's movie Convoy. Rolling Stone magazine listed the song as 98th among the 100 Greatest Country Songs of All Time.
My boy Toby Keith released his eighth studio album Shock'n Y'all November 4, 2003. It reached #1 on both the Billboard Top Country Albums and Billboard 200 charts. It has been certified quadruple platinum in the U.S.!
Country music super-star Randy Travis, born in North Carolina May 4, 1959 as Randy Bruce Traywick, was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2016. Despite having suffered health issues in the past few years, he was able to perform "Amazing Grace" at his induction ceremony.
Reba McEntire, one of the goddesses of country music, celebrates her birthday today. Born March 28, 1955 in McAlester, Oklahoma, she graduated from Kiowa High School and attended Southeastern Oklahoma State University in Durant, before starting her music career.
To date she has released over 30 albums, won 7 Academy of Country Music awards for Top Female Vocalist, and 12 American Music Awards for Favorite Country Female Artist of the Year.
Beautiful and talented Anita Pointer, born January 23, 1948, is a founding member of the ultra-awesome band the Pointer Sisters, with June, Ruth and Bonnie. She helped her sisters blast onto the charts with a country music performance of "Fairytale" a song she co-wrote with sister Bonnie. They received their first Grammy (of many) for Best Country Performance by Duo or Group 1974 and nominated for Best Country Song.
They became the first all African-American female group to perform at the Grand Ol' Opry. Here are my girls singing "Fairytale"!
Randy Owen, lead singer for Alabama and silver fox, was born near Fort Payne, Alabama December 13, 1949. He and his cousins Teddy Gentry and Jeff Cook formed Alabama back in the late 60's but reached stardom and immortality in the 1980's and are still rockin' the country music scene!
I found a live performance of Christmas in Dixie. He was much younger then but he has aged very well! :)
