Gold Country NEWS

1903
Born on this day in Taylorsville, Kentucky, was Cliff Carlisle, American country and blues singer. Carlisle was a yodeler and was a pioneer in the use of the Hawaiian steel guitar in country music. He died on April 5th 1983.

1945
Born on this day in Amarillo, Texas, was Jimmie Dale Gilmore, country singer, songwriter. In 1994, Gilmore teamed up with Willie Nelson to contribute "Crazy" to the AIDS benefit album Red Hot + Country produced by the Red Hot Organization.

1970
Marty Robbins was at #1 on the US Country chart with, "My Woman, My Woman, My Wife", his fourteenth #1 hit on the country chart. The song won Robbins a Grammy Award for Best Country Song the following year.

1974
Merle Haggard appeared on the cover of Time Magazine in the US.

1978
Bob Kingsley took over hosting American Country Countdown, a stint that would last for 27 years. He had been a producer of the radio countdown show since 1974.

1982
Alabama released "Take Me Down" the second single from their album Mountain Music. Written by Exile band members Mark Gray and J.P. Pennington, the song was originally recorded by Exile in 1980 but failed to become a hit. The track was the seventh in a string of 21 consecutive #1 singles for Alabama in as many releases, a string that spanned from 1980 through 1987.

1985
Winners at the 20th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards hosted by Glen Campbell, Janie Frickie and Loretta Lynn included: Top Female Vocalist of the Year - Reba McEntire, Top Male Vocalist of the Year - George Strait, Top Vocal Group - Alabama, Top New Female Vocalist of the Year - Nicolette Larson, Top New Male Vocalist of the Year - Vince Gill and Single Record of the Year went to Julio Iglesias & Willie Nelson for "To All The Girls I've Loved Before."

1996
Canadian singer Shania Twain scored her third #1 country hit with "You Win My Love", the fifth single released from her 1995 album The Woman in Me. The song was written solely by producer Mutt Lange, making it one of the very few Shania songs which she did not co-write.

2002
Kenny Chesney released "The Good Stuff" which became his fifth #1 hit on the US Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks charts. The track stayed at the top of the charts for seven weeks.

2003
After the controversy regading Dixie Chicks member Natalie Maines' comments about President George W. Bush and the Iraq war, a Colorado radio station suspended two of its disc jockeys for playing music by Dixie Chicks.