August 14th: On this day

1941
Born on this day in Elkhart, Indiana was singer Connie Smith. She began her career in 1963 after winning a local talent contest near Columbus, Ohio, which attracted the attention of country songwriter Bill Anderson. Her first #1 hit was with her debut single "Once A Day" released in 1964. Smith won Billboards Most Promising Female Country Artist in 1964.

1966
"Almost Persuaded" by David Houston was at #1 on the Country chart. The song spent nine weeks at #1 and has since gone on to become a country standard. For 46 years and two months, no #1 song matched the chart-topping longevity of "Almost Persuaded," until Taylor Swift's "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" notched its ninth week atop the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart the week of December 15, 2012.

1976
Waylon Jennings was at #1 on the US country album chart with Are You Ready for the Country. Its title track is a song from Neil Young's seminal 1972 album Harvest. Despite the title, this outlaw country album featured covers of rock songs, including "Can't You See" by the Marshall Tucker Band. MacArthur Park (Revisited)" and won Waylon his first Grammy Award in 1969.

1984
"That's the Thing About Love" written by Richard Leigh and Gary Nicholson gave Don Williams his sixteenth #1 on the country charts. It was released as the first single from his album Cafe Carolina.

1989
Sweet Sixteen the fifteenth studio album by Reba McEntire was at #1 on the Country charts. Four singles from the album entered the Billboard country charts including the #1 hit "Cathy's Clown" (a cover version of The Everly Brothers' song). The album stayed at #1 for 13 consecutive weeks and sold over 500,000 copies in its first 9 weeks.

1994
Clifton Clowers, the real-life Tennessee mountain man who was the subject of Claude King's 1964 country smash "Wolverton Mountain," died aged of 101, Clowers apparently couldn't keep suitors away from his daughters as well as the legend suggested, as he leaves behind 15 grandchildren, 27 great-grandchildren and five great-great-grandchildren.

1995
Garth Brooks' The Hits became the first best-of album by a country-based artist certified for shipments of 7 million units. In June 1995, the master copy of the album was buried under Garth's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

2001
Alison Krauss & Union Station released the album New Favorite which went on to win the Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album and the single "The Lucky One" won the Grammy Award for Best Country Performance by a Duo or group.

2003
Toby Keith and Scotty Emerick performed for 25,000 troops and president George W. Bush at Miramar Marine Air Corps Station near San Diego.

2007
Carrie Underwood released "So Small" as the first single from her 2007 album Carnival Ride. It became her fourth #1 single. "So Small" debuted at #20 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs making the highest chart entry by a solo country female artist in 43 years of Nielsen BDS history.

2007
After finding success as a songwriter in Nashville (Billy Currington's "Good Directions," and Travis Tritt's "My Honky Tonk History"), Luke Bryan released his debut album, I'll Stay Me. The album produced three singles with "All My Friends Say", "We Rode in Trucks", and "Country Man".

2017
Taylor Swift won her lawsuit against David Mueller, a DJ at KYGO in Denver who was fired after Swift accused him of groping her at a photo session in 2013. Swift, who in her hour of testimony said Mueller was "grabbing my ass against my will, underneath my skirt, and refusing to let go," was awarded $1 at her request. "My hope is to help those whose voices should also be heard," she says.