Hoyt Axton (1938 - 1999)

Hoyt Axton His mother, Mae Boren Axton, co-wrote the classic rock ‘n’ roll song “Heartbreak Hotel“, which became the first major hit for Elvis Presley. Some of Hoyt’s own songs were also later recorded by Elvis. Axton’s father, John T. Axton, was a Naval officer stationed in Jacksonville, Florida; the family joined him there in […]

Danny Arnold (1925 - 1995)

Danny Arnold Arnold appeared in films as an actor opposite the comic duo Martin and Lewis, and also wrote the screenplay for the Martin and Lewis vehicle The Caddy (1953). In 1956, Arnold started writing for such television series as The Tennessee Ernie Ford Show and The Rosemary Clooney Show. In the 1960s, he began […]

Buddy Alda (1908 - 1960)

Buddy Alda Motion Picture Producer. Born E. Maurice Adler, he began his career writing short motion pictures for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer movie studios. He became a producer for Columbia Studios in 1947 and after Darryl Zanuck left 20th Century Fox studios Buddy Adler took over as head of production. He then served as Production chief at Fox […]

Dean Manuel (1934 - 1964)

Dean Manuel In 1964, country star Jim Reeves died when the plane he was piloting crashed near Nashville. His pianist, Dean Manuel, also was killed. Reeves died when the small aircraft he was piloting crashed during a thunderstorm near Nashville, Tennessee. His business partner and manager Dean Manuel (who was also the pianist in Reeves’ […]

Guy Madison (1922 - 1996)

Guy Madison Mr. Madison, who changed his name from Robert Moseley when he became an actor, was born in Pumpkin Center, Calif., and reared in nearby Bakersfield. His father was a machinist on the Santa Fe Railroad. He attended Bakersfield Junior College for two years, majoring in animal husbandry, and worked briefly as a telephone […]

Cousin Jody (1919 - 1975)

Cousin Jody Cousin Jody (real name Clell Summey, Dec. 11, 1919-Aug.17. 1975) was a virtuoso on dobro & lap steel, but is better remembered for his comedy and novelty material. He was in the music scene of Knoxville, TN in the 30`s where he got aquaintted with Roy Acuff becoming his first dobro player. They […]

Maybelle Carter (1909 - 1978)

Maybelle Carter Affectionately and even reverently known as “Mother” Maybelle, Maybelle Carter was one-third of country music’s original first family, the Carters. Born Maybelle Addington in May of 1909, she was related by marriage to A.P. and Sara Carter — she married A.P.’s brother Ezra. Maybelle Carter was the group’s guitarist and also played autoharp […]

John Sullivan (1919 - 1967)

John Sullivan John “Lonzo” Sullivan, of Lonzo & Oscar, is born in Edmonton, Kentucky. Brother of Rollin “Oscar” Sullivan, he becomes the second of three people to play Lonzo in the Grand Ole Opry musical comedy duo from 1950 until his death in 1967  

Michael Landon (1936 - 1991)

Michael Landon Television actor. Born Eugene Maurice Orowitz on October 31, 1936, in Queens, New York. His father, Eli Maurice Orowitz, was an actor and movie theater manager. Mother Peggy O’Neill was an actress. The family moved to the suburb of Collingswood, New Jersey, where the young Eugene grew up. Orowitz spent most of his […]

Audie Murphy (1924 - 1971)

Audie Murphy On 28 May 1971, Murphy was killed when the private plane in which he was a passenger crashed into Brush Mountain, near Catawba, Virginia, 20 miles (32 km) west of Roanoke in conditions of rain, clouds, fog and zero visibility. The pilot and four other passengers were also killed.[180] The aircraft was a twin-engine […]

Martha Carson (1921 - 2004)

Martha Carson Things began to change after Carson met Fred Rose in Nashville. He helped convince Capitol to let her record alone, and in 1951 she made her solo-single debut with “Satisfied”, a gospel song she had written in response to audience disapproval over her divorce. The combination of Carson’s powerful alto voice and the […]

John Hartman (1937 - 2001)

John Hartman John Hartford won Grammy awards in three different decades, recorded a catalog of more than 30 albums, and wrote one of the most popular songs of all time, Gentle On My Mind.  He was a regular guest and contributor on the Glen Campbell Good Time Hour and the Smothers Brothers Show.  He added […]

Roy Orbison (1936 - 1988)

Roy Orbison American singer-songwriter, best known for his trademark sunglasses, distinctive, powerful voice, complex compositions, and dark emotional ballads. Orbison grew up in Texas and began singing in a rockabilly/country and western band in high school until he was signed by Sun Records in Memphis. His greatest success came with Monument Records between 1960 and […]

Pete Drake (1932 - 1988)

Pete Drake Roddis Franklin “Pete” Drake was a record producer, record company founder, Charlie Rich’s “Behind Closed Doors,” Bob Dylan’s “Lay Lady Lay,” and Tammy Wynette’s “Stand by Your Man.” Drake played on thirty-eight of forty-eight BMI (Broadcast Music, Incorporated) award-winning recordings in 1966 alone. He also played his steel guitar on five of Elvis […]

Jack Anglin (1916 - 1963)

Jack Anglin The youngest of 10 children, Anglin learned to play guitar as a child and at an early age was singing in a trio with his brothers, Jim and Van (aka Red). Jack wrote songs, and the three began to appear at local venues and radio as the Anglin Brothers. He relocated to Nashville […]

Vestal Goodman (1929 - 2003)

Vestal Goodman Born Vestal Freeman, she grew up in Alabama, dreaming of a career as an opera singer. All that changed when she met Howard “Happy” Goodman at a revival in Albertville, Ala. The two were married Nov. 7, 1949 and were nearly inseparable until his death in November 2002 at 81. During the 50s, […]

Ernest Stoneman (1893 - 1968)

Ernest Stoneman Ernest “Pop” Stoneman was one of the first, and most popular, early country artists. He was born in Carroll Country, Virginia and raised by his father and three cousins, who taught him traditional Blue Ridge Mountain songs. He married as a young man and, when not working various odd jobs, played music for […]

Stoney Cooper (1918 - 1977)

Stoney Cooper Dale Troy “Stoney” Cooper and his wife Wilma Lee were one of the premier husband-and-wife duos in country music. Staples of the Grand Ole Opry for 20 years, they performed together for close to four decades, and helped old-time music evolve into modern country music. They were born four years apart on opposite […]

Clyde Moody (1915 - 1989)

Clyde Moody CLYDE LEONARD MOODY, known widely in the bluegrass music world as the “Hillbilly Waltz King”, was born 19 Sep 1915 in Haywood County, NC, and died 07 Apr 1989 in Ashland, Cheatham, TN. His musical career began in the 1930’s and spanned over 50 years. He wrote music and lyrics and performed with […]

Webb Pierce (1921 - 1991)

Webb Pierce Webb Pierce was one of the most popular honky tonk vocalists of the ’50s, racking up more number one hits than similar artists like Hank Williams, Eddy Arnold, Lefty Frizzell, and Ernest Tubb. For most of the general public, Pierce — with his lavish, flamboyant Nudie suits — became the most recognizable face […]

Tom Mix (1880 - 1940)

Tom Mix On October 12,1940, cowboy-movie star Tom Mix is killed when he loses control of his speeding Cord Phaeton convertible and rolls into a dry wash (now called the Tom Mix Wash) near Florence, Arizona. He was 60 years old. Today, visitors to the site of the accident can see a 2-foot–tall iron statue […]

Archie Moore (1916 - 1998)

Archie Moore He turned professional in 1938 and boxed all but one of his 12 bouts that year in San Diego. Moore had eight bouts in 1939, going 5–2 during that span, with one “no contest.” He lost to former Middleweight Champion and future Hall of Famer Teddy Yarosz during that time, and his no-contest […]

King George VI (1895 - 1952)

George VI was born at York Cottage, on the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk, during the reign of his great-grandmother Queen Victoria. His father was Prince George, Duke of York (later King George V), the second and eldest-surviving son of the Prince and Princess of Wales (later King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra). His mother was […]

Red Foley (1910 - 1968)

Red Foley Red Foley was one of the biggest stars in country during the post-war era, a silky-voiced singer who sold some 25 million records between 1944 and 1965 and whose popularity went far in making country music a viable mainstream commodity. Born Clyde Julian Foley on June 17, 1910, in Blue Lick, KY, he […]

Speck Rhodes (1915 - 2000)

Speck Rhodes was a country music comedian and entertainer. Rhodes was best known for his appearances on the Porter Wagoner television show. He came from a musical family and with his two brothers and sister, were known as Speck, Slim, Bea, and Dusty. 1934 they were touring the RKO vaudeville circuit as the Log Cabin […]

Henry Haynes (1920 - 1971)

Henry Haynes Haynes was born near Knoxville, Tennessee on July 29, 1920. He met Kenneth Burns during a WNOX-AM audition in 1936 when they were both 16 years old. Haynes strummed the guitar and Burns played the mandolin. Known as Junior and Dude (pronounced “dood’-ee”), the duo was rechristened Homer and Jethro when WNOX Program […]

Bill Carlisle (1908 - 2003)

Bill Carlisle Yodeling singer/songwriter/guitarist Bill Carlisle was the younger brother of popular 1930s country singer Cliff Carlisle. During the ’30s, Bill established himself as an expert purveyor of racy, blues-tinged country songs, but during the ’50s and ’60s, he was best-known for his novelty songs as he and his family band, the Carlisles, became regulars […]

Smiley Burnette (1911 - 1967)

Smiley Burnette Lester A. Burnett (he added the final “e” later in life) was born in Summum, Illinois, on March 18, 1911, and grew up in Ravenwood, Missouri. He began singing as a child and learned to play a wide variety of instruments by ear, yet never learned to read or write music. In his […]

Red Sovine (1918 - 1980)

Red Sovine In 1965 Sovine found his niche when he recorded “Giddyup Go“, which, like most of his other trucker hits, he co-wrote with Tommy Hill. It is spoken, rather than sung, as the words of an older long-distance truck driver who rediscovers his long-lost son driving another truck on the same highway. Minnie Pearl […]

Thomas Horn (1860 - 1903)

Known as “Tom,” he was born in 1860 to Thomas S. Horn, Sr. and Mary Ann Maricha (née Miller) on their family farm in rural northeastern Scotland County, Missouri. They had 600 acres (bisected by the South Wyaconda River), located between the towns of Granger and Etna. Tom was the fifth of twelve children. During […]