July 24th: On this day

1922
Born on this day in Troy, Tennessee was country music singer and songwriter Lawton Williams. His major label debut, in 1951 on Coral, was "Everlastin' Love"/"Lovin' Overtime." He became in demand as a songwriter, Hank Locklin recorded his "Geisha Girl" and "Color Of The Blues", co-written with George Jones, was a country #10 for Jones. Williams died on July 27, 2007 age 85.

1926
American Old-time fiddle player and string band leader Sid Harkreader was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry. He was an early member of the Grand Ole Opry, at first accompanying banjoist Uncle Dave Macon and later performing on the program with his own band.

1948
American country music singer Roy Acuff announced his intention to run for governor of Tennessee. Running as the Republican candidate, he later lost to Democratic candidate Gordon Browning in the November election.

1957
Born on this day was Pam Tillis country music singer-songwriter and actress, (she is the daughter of country music singer Mel Tillis). Originally a demo singer in Nashville, Tennessee, she scored the 1991 hit "Don't Tell Me What to Do", and has since charted more than 30 singles on the US Billboard country charts, including her only #1 single, 1995's "Mi Vida Loca (My Crazy Life)".

1958
Johnny Cash started recoding session for his third album The Fabulous Johnny Cash which was released in November 1958 by the Columbia label, after Cash's departure from Sun Records.

1979
Born on this day, was Jerrod Niemann country music singer, songwriter, who charted with the single "I Love Women (My Momma Can't Stand)". He has also co-written three singles for Garth Brooks: the Chris LeDoux tribute "Good Ride Cowboy", as well as "That Girl Is a Cowboy" and "Midnight Sun".

1980
The Urban Cowboy soundtrack was certified platinum. The double album featured Anne Murray, Kenny Rogers, The Eagles, Johnny Lee, Mickey Gilley, Bonnie Raitt, Linda Ronstadt & J.D. Souther, Jimmy Buffett and The Charlie Daniels Band and others. The film is said to have started the 1980s boom in pop-country music known as the "Urban Cowboy Movement" also known as Neo-Country or Hill Boogie.

2003
Johnny Cash picked up six nominations in the MTV Video Music Awards for his remake of Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt" from his album, American IV: The Man Comes Around. The video, featuring images from Cash's life and directed by Mark Romanek, was also named the best video of the year by the Grammy Awards and CMA Awards, and the best video of all time by NME.

2013
"Cruise" by Florida Georgia Line was at #1 on the Country chart. "Cruise" became the best-selling country digital song of all time in the United States as of January 2014. On August 24, 2013, it logged its 24th week at #1, the longest run at #1 in the chart's 69-year history (the previous record was 21 weeks held jointly by three songs, the last of which was Webb Pierce's "In the Jailhouse Now").