50 Fun Facts About Classic Country

Which nickname is Jimmie Rodgers best known by?

He was also called the Singing Brakeman, after his years working on the Mobile and Ohio Railroad.

In which Tennessee city did the Carter Family make their first recordings in August 1927?

Jimmie Rodgers recorded for the same producer, Ralph Peer, the very next day.

Which member of the original Carter Family sang harmony and played lead guitar?

Sara sang lead and played rhythm guitar or autoharp; Maybelle was her first cousin and sister-in-law.

With which songwriter did Roy Acuff co-found Nashville's first major country publishing company in 1942?

Acuff-Rose signed Hank Williams, Roy Orbison and the Everly Brothers, and Acuff became the Hall of Fame's first living inductee in 1962.

Ernest Tubb's 1941 hit "Walking the Floor Over You" marked the rise of which country style?

Tubb was also the first to have a hit with "Blue Christmas", in 1948, a decade before Elvis.

Which 1952 hit made Kitty Wells the first female country singer to top the US country chart?

She won top female vocalist awards for 14 consecutive years and was called the Queen of Country Music.

Which blues musician taught Hank Williams to play guitar in Alabama?

Payne, known as Tee-Tot, and Roy Acuff were the two biggest influences on his style.

What was the name of Hank Williams's backing band?

His mother managed the band, and he dropped out of school to devote himself to the road.

How old was Hank Williams when he died in the back seat of a car on New Year's Day 1953?

He was on his way to a concert in Canton, Ohio, when his heart failed near Oak Hill, West Virginia.

Which 1948 cover became Hank Williams's first number one on the country chart?

He had joined the Louisiana Hayride radio show the year before, after his hit "Move It On Over".

What was the name of the backing band that gave Johnny Cash his train-like chugging rhythm?

Guitarist Luther Perkins and bassist Marshall Grant were the original Tennessee Two.

At which Memphis studio did Johnny Cash audition for Sam Phillips in the mid-1950s?

He sang mostly gospel and was told to come back with something more commercial.

Johnny Cash was born to poor cotton farmers in which Arkansas town?

His parents compromised on the initials J. R. because his mother wanted John and his father wanted Ray.

Which song became Patsy Cline's first major hit after she sang it on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts?

It charted on both the country and pop charts, an early example of her crossover appeal.

Which producer shaped Patsy Cline's Nashville sound after she moved to Decca Records in 1960?

Bradley's lush arrangements helped her achieve consistent success in her final years.

Which two fellow country stars died alongside Patsy Cline in the March 1963 plane crash?

Her manager and pilot Randy Hughes also died on the flight from Kansas City back to Nashville.

Which signature 1959 Marty Robbins song won the Grammy for Best Country and Western Recording?

It began his long association with Western balladry.

Which 1982 Eastwood film was named for a Marty Robbins song and featured his final screen role?

Robbins was also named the 1960s Artist of the Decade by the Academy of Country Music.

Buck Owens and the Buckaroos pioneered which sound, named for their California hometown?

Owens preferred to call it simply "American music", and co-hosted Hee Haw with Roy Clark from 1969.

Which guitarist supplied the high harmony vocals in Buck Owens's band until his death in 1974?

Owens's son said the loss of his closest friend impaired his creativity for years.

Loretta Lynn was born in which Kentucky community, immortalised in "Coal Miner's Daughter"?

Her father Ted Webb was a coal miner and subsistence farmer.

Which actress played Loretta Lynn in the 1980 film Coal Miner's Daughter?

Lynn went on to be the only female ACM Artist of the Decade, for the 1970s.

Which prison held the young Haggard, as inmate A45200, from 1958?

He had been caught trying to rob a roadhouse and attempted an escape from the county jail.

Which California governor granted Haggard a full pardon in 1972?

By then Haggard was a star with hits like "Okie From Muskogee".

Who topped Rolling Stone's 2017 list of the 100 Greatest Country Artists of All Time?

He beat Cash and Williams to the number one spot; he had 38 country number ones.

Which sparse 1975 Willie Nelson concept album did Columbia reluctantly release?

Its success came from a contract giving Nelson complete creative control.

Whose band did Willie Nelson join as a bassist after moving to Nashville in 1960?

He had already written future standards including "Crazy" and "Hello Walls" while working as a DJ.

What was country music's first platinum album, released in 1976?

It featured Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Jessi Colter and Tompall Glaser.

Whose band was Waylon Jennings playing bass in when he gave up his seat on the plane that crashed in 1959?

Holly had arranged Jennings's first recording session the year before.

Which 1959 Big Bopper song launched the career of the singer later nicknamed 'No Show Jones'?

His alcoholism later earned him the nickname "No Show Jones".

Which 1980 song by Braddock and Putman ended Jones's six-year drought of number ones and topped the chart for 18 weeks?

It is regularly voted the greatest country song ever recorded.

How many of Tammy Wynette's singles topped the US country chart?

Her signature song "Stand by Your Man" drew both acclaim and criticism.

Which producer released Tammy Wynette's first single, "Apartment No. 9", in 1966?

She had moved to Nashville in 1965 after cosmetology school and a divorce.

Which fellow country star did Tammy Wynette marry in 1969 and later record No. 1 duets with?

He was her third husband; the pair's stormy marriage became country legend.

Whose weekly syndicated TV show did Dolly Parton join in 1967, replacing singer Norma Jean?

Wagoner's audience was initially unhappy about the change, as she recounted in her 1994 autobiography.

How many Billboard country number ones does Dolly Parton have, a women's record shared with Reba McEntire?

She has written more than 3,000 songs, including "I Will Always Love You" and "Jolene".

What was the title of Parton's 1967 debut album?

She moved to Nashville the day after graduating from Sevier County High School in 1964.

Before country stardom, Charley Pride played professionally in which sport?

He played in the Negro leagues in the early 1950s and later outsold Elvis on RCA at his peak.

Harold Lloyd Jenkins picked his stage name from two towns on a map, in which two states?

Conway, Arkansas, and Twitty, Texas, gave the rockabilly singer his country identity in 1957.

Which singer collected a string of CMA duet awards with Loretta Lynn from 1971 to 1976?

He topped the country chart 40 times, a record that stood until George Strait passed it.

Before going solo, Glen Campbell was a session guitarist in which LA studio group?

He hosted The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour on CBS from 1969 to 1972.

Kris Kristofferson studied at Oxford's Merton College on which prestigious scholarship?

He later trained as an Army helicopter pilot before quitting to write songs in Nashville in 1965.

Who founded the Grand Ole Opry as the WSM Barn Dance in November 1925?

It took its current name in 1927 and is the longest-running radio broadcast in US history.

In what year did the Grand Ole Opry move into the Ryman Auditorium?

It stayed there until 1974, when it moved to the new Opry House.

Under what name did the Ryman Auditorium open in 1892?

Saloon owner Thomas Ryman built it for revivalist Samuel Porter Jones after being converted at one of his tent meetings.

Which network first carried the Grand Ole Opry nationally, in 1939?

By then WSM was broadcasting at 50,000 watts and reaching nearly 30 states on Saturday nights.

Bill Monroe's genre took its name from his band, which was named for what?

Monroe described the sound as Scottish bagpipes and old-time fiddling mixed with gospel, blues and jazz, with a 'high lonesome sound'.

Which Major League Baseball team did 'Singing Cowboy' Gene Autry own from 1961 to 1997?

Autry is the only person with a star in all five original categories of the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and he made 93 films between 1934 and 1953.

Which two hosts fronted the country variety show Hee Haw for most of its 1969-1993 run?

Inspired by Laugh-In, the show taped a whole season's recurring sketches in batches, setting up the cornfield one day and the joke fence the next.

Which guitarist's fingerpicking inspired the signature style of Chet Atkins?

Atkins went on to co-create the Nashville sound at RCA Victor, producing everyone from Elvis Presley to Waylon Jennings and winning 14 Grammys.