Your daily look at this day in country history, from classic Opry nights to the newest No. 1 hits.
On January 3, 1970, the Best of Charley Pride sat at No. 1 on the country albums chart for a third straight week. In 1967, Jack Greene held the top spot on the country chart with "There Goes My Everything." It’s also Nikki Nelson’s birthday.
The Best of Charley Pride sat at No. 1 on the country albums chart for a third straight week. The hits collection held on until Merle Haggard's Okie from Muskogee finally took its place.
Steel guitar great Leon McAuliffe was born in Houston, Texas. He played with Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys from 1935 to 1942 and later had a hit of his own with "Panhandle Rag."
Nikki Nelson was born in La Mesa, California. In 1991 she stepped in for Paulette Carlson as lead singer of Highway 101, and her first album with the band was Bing Bang Boom.
Jack Greene held the top spot on the country chart with "There Goes My Everything." The song stayed at No. 1 for seven weeks. Later that year it won Single of the Year and Song of the Year at the very first CMA Awards.
C. W. McCall had the No. 1 country album with Black Bear Road. The record carried his trucker hit "Convoy," the song that got folks all over America talking on CB radios.
John Anderson was on top of the country chart with "Wild and Blue," written by John Scott Sherrill. It was the first of five No. 1 hits for the Florida singer.
Taylor Swift's Fearless spent a sixth week at No. 1 on the country albums chart. A year later it won the Grammy for Album of the Year, making Swift, then 20, the youngest winner of that award at the time.
Sam Phillips opened the Memphis Recording Service at 706 Union Avenue in Memphis, Tennessee. Later known as Sun Studio, it is where Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Elvis Presley made some of their first records.
Phil Everly of the Everly Brothers died in Burbank, California, at 74, just shy of his 75th birthday. The brothers' close harmonies earned them a place in the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2001.
Sam Lovullo, the longtime producer of Hee Haw, died at 88 at his home in Encino, California. He helped create the show, which started on CBS in 1969 and went on to a long run in syndication with Buck Owens and Roy Clark.
Source: legacy.comSteve Ripley, leader of the Oklahoma band The Tractors, died of cancer at 69 at his home in Pawnee, Oklahoma. He had turned 69 just two days earlier.
Nikki Nelson (1969) was born on this date.
It depends on the year. In 1967, Jack Greene held the top spot on the country chart with "There Goes My Everything." In 1970, The Best of Charley Pride sat at No. 1 on the country albums chart for a third straight week.
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.