Your daily look at this day in country history, from classic Opry nights to the newest No. 1 hits.
On November 5, 2003, the 37th CMA Awards were held at the Grand Ole Opry House with Vince Gill as host. In 2014, At the 48th CMA Awards, Vince Gill received the Irving Waugh Award for excellence in country music. It’s also Gram Parsons’ birthday.
The 37th CMA Awards were held at the Grand Ole Opry House with Vince Gill as host. Johnny Cash, who had died that September, won Album, Single and Music Video of the Year. Alan Jackson took Entertainer and Male Vocalist, and his duet with Jimmy Buffett, "It's Five O'Clock Somewhere," also won.
Roy Rogers, the singing cowboy, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. Riding his palomino Trigger, he made almost 90 movies. The Roy Rogers Show ran nine years on radio before moving to TV from 1951 to 1957.
Billy Sherrill, the producer behind Tammy Wynette's records, was born in Phil Campbell, Alabama. With partner Glenn Sutton, he shaped the smooth countrypolitan sound of the late 1960s and 1970s. He co-wrote "Stand By Your Man" and died in 2015 at 78.
Gram Parsons was born in Winter Haven, Florida. He played in The International Submarine Band, The Byrds and The Flying Burrito Brothers. He died in 1973 at 26, and his album Grievous Angel came out the next year.
At the 48th CMA Awards, Vince Gill received the Irving Waugh Award for excellence in country music. Miranda Lambert won four trophies, including Female Vocalist, Single for "Automatic" and Album for Platinum. That night she became the most-awarded woman in CMA history.
Johnny Cash put out Unchained, the second record in his American Recordings series, with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers playing behind him. He covered songs by Petty, Soundgarden and Beck, plus "I've Been Everywhere," a 1962 Hank Snow song written by Geoff Mack.
Johnny Cash released American IV: The Man Comes Around in the U.S. It won Album of the Year at the 2003 CMA Awards. The video for his cover of "Hurt" won Best Cinematography at the MTV Video Music Awards.
Johnny Horton died at 35 in a car wreck near Milano, Texas. He is best remembered for "The Battle of New Orleans," the Jimmy Driftwood song that won him a Grammy for Best Country & Western Recording.
Gram Parsons (1946) was born on this date.
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