March 20th: On this day

1937
Born on this day in Atlanta, Georgia, was Jerry Reed, country music singer, guitarist, songwriter, and actor who appeared in more than a dozen films. His signature songs included "Guitar Man,", "A Thing Called Love," (both of which were covered by Elvis Presely), "When You're Hot, You're Hot" "Ko-Ko Joe", "East Bound and Down" (the theme song for the 1977 blockbuster Smokey and the Bandit, in which Reed co-starred), and "She Got the Goldmine (I Got the Shaft)". Reed died on Aug 31st 2008.

1937
Born on this day in London, Ontario, was Tommy Hunter, Canadian country music performer, known as "Canada's Country Gentleman". Hunter was inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame in 1984 and in 1986, he was made a Member of the Order of Canada.

1946
Born on this day was Douglas B. Green, American musician, arranger, award-winning Western music songwriter, and Grand Ole Opry member. He has worked with many artists from Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys to Miranda Lambert.

1949
During sessions at Castle Studios in Nashville Hank Williams recorded "Wedding Bells" which later peaked at #2 on the country singles chart in 1949.

1971
Janis Joplin started a two week run at #1 on the US singles chart with her version of the Kris Kristofferson and Fred Foster song "Me And Bobby McGee." Joplin, who was a lover and a friend of Kristofferson's from the beginning of her career to her death, changed the sex and a few of the lyrics in her cover. Kristofferson states he did not write this song for her, but the song is associated with her - especially, he has said, in the line "Somewhere near Salinas, Lord, I let her slip away." Joplin died of a drug overdose the year before on 4th October aged 27.

1978
Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson had "Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys" at #1 on the country charts. The song was first recorded by Ed Bruce, written by him and wife Patsy Bruce. Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson won the 1979 Grammy Award for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for the song.

1989
Ricky Van Shelton was at #1 on the Country charts with his own version of "From a Jack to a King." Shelton's version became his fifth consecutive #1 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles charts. Originally the song was a crossover hit for artist Ned Miller, first released in 1957 and was also recorded in 1962 by Jim Reeves and Elvis Presley.

1991
At Reba McEntire's request, Johnny Cash gave a speech during the service held for the eight band members and two pilots killed in an air crash on 16th March. He opened his speech by singing the song "Jim I Wore A Tie Today" and when it came time to say the name in the song, Cash replaced it with the name of each band member - "Jim, Chris, Kirk, Joey, Paula, Terry, Tony and Mike, I wore a tie today." He ended his part of the service with the rendition of the Hank Williams recitation "Negro Funeral."

2011
American steel guitar player and songwriter Ralph Mooney died of complications from cancer. He was inducted into the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame in 1983 and was the original steel guitarist in Merle Haggard's band, The Strangers and Waylon Jennings's band, The Waylors. Mooney co-wrote "Crazy Arms" with Chuck Seals; the song was Ray Price's first #1 country hit in 1956.

2018
Chris Janson was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry. His Top 10 hits include "Buy Me a Boat", "Fix a Drink", "Drunk Girl", and "Good Vibes".

2020
American country music legend Kenny Rogers died aged 81. Rogers topped pop and country charts during the 1970s and 1980s, and won three Grammy awards. He was known for his husky voice and ballads including “The Gambler”, “Lucille” and “Coward Of The County”. Rogers charted more than 120 hit singles across various music genres, and topped the country and pop album charts for more than 200 individual weeks in the United States alone. He sold over 100 million records worldwide during his lifetime, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time.