Your daily look at this day in country history, from classic Opry nights to the newest No. 1 hits.
On January 16, 2006, "Walk the Line," the Johnny Cash movie, won three Golden Globes. In 2014, Four members of Luke Bryan's road crew suffered minor injuries in Columbus, Ohio, when a forklift struck the back of his stage during teardown at Ohio State's Schottenstein Center. It’s also Ronnie Milsap’s birthday.
"Walk the Line," the Johnny Cash movie, won three Golden Globes. It took Best Musical or Comedy, and Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon won for playing Johnny and June.
Ronnie Milsap was born in Robbinsville, North Carolina. Nearly blind from birth, he became one of country's great crossover stars with hits like "Smoky Mountain Rain." He won six Grammys and joined the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2014.
Sandy Pinkard of the duo Pinkard & Bowden was born in Abbeville, Louisiana. He co-wrote hits like "You're the Reason God Made Oklahoma," "Coca Cola Cowboy" for Mel Tillis and "Blessed Are the Believers" for Anne Murray.
Rascal Flatts released "Banjo," the lead single off Changed, the group's eighth studio album. By May the song had climbed to No. 1 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart, giving the trio their 12th chart-topper there.
Four members of Luke Bryan's road crew suffered minor injuries in Columbus, Ohio, when a forklift struck the back of his stage during teardown at Ohio State's Schottenstein Center. No fans were in the building at the time.
Source: 710keel.com"Harper Valley P.T.A." premiered as a TV series on NBC, based on the Jeannie C. Riley hit and the 1978 movie. Barbara Eden came back to play Stella Johnson. The show ran two seasons.
Johnny Cash first appeared on CBS's "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman" in the episode "Law of the Land." He played the gunfighter Kid Cole and returned for three more episodes.
Carl Smith, known as "Mister Country," died at 82 in Franklin, Tennessee. He was one of the biggest stars of the 1950s, with 30 Top 10 hits, 21 of them in a row. He was the father of Carlene Carter.
Dixie Hall, a bluegrass songwriter married to Hall of Fame legend Tom T. Hall, died at 80. She wrote Dave Dudley's "Truck Drivin' Son-of-a-Gun," and she and Tom T. won many bluegrass songwriting awards together.
Ronnie Milsap (1943) was born on this date.
Every entry is checked by the Country Thang Daily editors. Spot something we got wrong? Let us know and we’ll fix it and note the change.