March 10th: On this day

1920
Born on this day in Conasauga, Tennessee, was Kenneth C. "Jethro" Burns, American country musician, comedian, and mandolin player. He was better known by his stage name Jethro from his years with Henry D. Haynes as part of the comedic musical duo Homer and Jethro. In 2001, Burns and Haynes were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

1933
Born on this day, was Ralph Emery a country music disc jockey and television host from Nashville, Tennessee. He gained national fame hosting the syndicated television music series, Pop! Goes the Country, from 1974 to 1980 and the nightly Nashville Network television program, Nashville Now, from 1983 to 1993.

1938
Born on htis day in Chattanooga, Tennessee was Norman Blake a traditional stringed instrument artist and songwriter. He is half of the eponymous Norman & Nancy Blake band with his wife, Nancy Blake. For ten years, he toured and recorded with Johnny Cash and became a member of the house band on Johnny Cash's TV show. Blake played on the album Raising Sand by Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, which won five Grammy Awards, and on the soundtrack O Brother, Where Art Thou?, which won a Grammy for Album of the Year.

1963
Born on this day, was Frederick Jay "Rick", Rubin, American record producer. Rubin was the co-founder of Def Jam Records and also established American Recordings who released Johnny Cash's American Recordings (1994), a record including six cover songs and new material written by others for Cash at Rubin's request. The album was a critical and commercial success, and helped revive Cash's career. Rubin introduced Cash to Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt", and the resulting cover version of it on The Man Comes Around would become a defining song of Cash's later years.

1971
Born on this day in Cairo Georgia was Daryle Singletary, country music singer. Singletary entered the top 40 of the Hot Country Songs charts five times in the 90's, reaching #2 with "I Let Her Lie" and "Amen Kind of Love", and #4 with "Too Much Fun". He died on February 12, 2018 age 46.

1979
Soul singer James Brown appeared at The Grand Ole Opry. Brown (who was in Nashville recording new tracks), was not the first non-country act to perform at the Opry, and wouldn't be the last, but Brown's appearance caused an immediate media frenzy during which several Opry regulars expressed their disdain at the Soul singers appearance.

1983
Born on this day, was Carrie Underwood, country singer, songwriter and actress who rose to fame as the winner of the fourth season of American Idol, in 2005. With eleven #1 hits on Billboard Hot Country Songs, Underwood is listed in the 2012 Guinness Book Of World Records as the Female Country Artist with Most #1 hits on such chart from 1991 to present, tied with Reba McEntire. She is the first-ever female artist to win back-to-back Academy of Country Music (ACM) Awards for Entertainer of the Year (2009/10). Forbes reported that Underwood earned over $20 million between May 2010 and May 2011.

1986
Waylon Jennings released his album Will the Wolf Survive, his debut for MCA Records which became his sixth Country #1 album.

2000
Vince Gill married contemporary Christian music singer Amy Grant following her divorce from singer Gary Chapman. Gill and Grant both live in Nashville, Tennessee, where he also owns a recording studio.

2003
Johnny Cash was admitted to Baptist Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee to undergo treatment for pneumonia.

2003
During a concert in London, England, Dixie Chicks lead singer Natalie Maines said that the band was "ashamed the President of the United States is from Texas" (referring to Maines' hometown of Lubbock and President Bush hailing from the same state). This was during the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, the comment sparked intense controversy and outrage among Americans, including a large share of country music fans.

2022
Bobbie Lee Nelson died in Austin, Texas at the age of 91. The American pianist and singer was the elder sister of Willie Nelson, and a member of his band, Willie Nelson and Family. When she was five, her grandmother taught her to play keyboards with a pump organ.

2023
American comedian and country musician Gary Mule Deer was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry. During a career spanning six decades, Gary Mule Deer has made over 350 television appearances, including many on both The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson and the Late Show with David Letterman, both of whose hosts he had met early in his career at The Comedy Store in Los Angeles.

2024
The UK Country Airplay chart, the first ever genre-specific radio chart in the United Kingdom, debuts its inaugural list, with "Creek Will Rise" by Conner Smith claiming the title of first #1 single.