1954
Born on this day, was Ricky Skaggs, country and bluegrass singer, musician, producer, and composer, who was the 1982 Country Music Association singer of the year. He scored the US country #1 single ‘Crying My Heart Out Over You’.

Also on this day…

1980
The film Honeysuckle Rose, starring Willie Nelson, opened across America. The plot sees Buck Bonham (Willie Nelson) a country singer, with a good family, struggling to find national fame. He juggles his music career with his responsibilities to his wife and son. He has everything going his way until the daughter of his former guitarist joins his tour. The road leads to temptation, which leads to his downfall.

1982
Willie Nelson was at #1 on the country album chart with Always on My Mind, which became the Billboard #1 country album of the year. The album spent 22 weeks at the top of the charts and stayed for a total of 253 weeks on the Billboard Top Country Albums charts. The title track was originally recorded by Brenda Lee in 1972 and has since been recorded by dozens of performers including Elvis Presley in 1972 and John Wesley Ryles in 1979.

1990
Garth Brooks was at #1 on the Country singles chart with “The Dance.” Written by Tony Arata it is considered by many to be Brooks’ signature song.