August 13th: On this day

1951
Hank Williams was at #1 on Billboard's country chart with "Hey, Good Lookin'". His version of the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2001. Since its original 1951 recording it has been covered by a variety of artists including, Ray Charles, Jo Stafford, The Mavericks and Jimmy Buffett.

1951
Born on this day near Louisville, Kentucky was fiddle player, multi-instrumentalist, and country music and bluegrass artist Hoot Hester. Hester had played backup for a number of country music artists, among them Alabama, Hank Williams Jr., Conway Twitty, Randy Travis, Bill Monroe, Vern Gosdin, and Ricky Van Shelton as well as a longtime member of the Grand Ole Opry's staff band. He died on August 30, 2016 age 65.

1973
Born on this day in West Monroe, Louisiana, was Andy Griggs country music artist who scored "You Won't Ever Be Lonely" and "She's More", both of which peaked at #2 on the Country music charts. He also charted "Grow Young With You," a cut from the soundtrack to the film Where the Heart Is.

1973
Loretta Lynn released her twenty-third solo studio Love Is the Foundation which went on the peak at #1 on the Country album chart. The album's first single, "Love Is the Foundation", released in April 1973 peaked at #1 on the US Hot Country Singles chart.

1994
John Michael Montgomery was at #1 on the Billboard country singles chart with "Be My Baby Tonight", the third single from Montgomery's 1994 album Kickin' It Up.

2011
Seven people were killed and more than 45 people injured when an outdoor stage collapsed at the Indiana State Fair due to high winds at a concert featuring Sugarland. Neither the duo or their opening act, Sara Bareilles, were onstage at the time of the collapse.

2011
The Farm Aid 2011, benefit concert took place at the Livestrong Sporting Park, Kansas City, Kansas. Held to raise money for family farmers in the US, the concerts were organized by Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp and Neil Young. Artists who appeared included: Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp, Neil Young, Dave Matthews, Jason Mraz, Jamey Johnson, Jakob Dylan, Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real, Will Dailey & the Rivals, Billy Joe Shaver, Robert Francis, Ray Price, Rebecca Pidgeon, Hearts of Darkness, John Trudell, The Blackwood Quartet.

2012
Taylor Swift released "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" which became a #1 hit on the US Hot Country Songs. The song was released as the lead single from her album Red and was Swift's first #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States.

2013
Tompall Glaser, who recorded as a solo artist and with his brothers Chuck and Jim in the trio Tompall & the Glaser Brothers died in Nashville, Tennessee, aged 79, after a long illness. He scored the 1975 solo hit with Shel Silverstein's "Put Another Log on the Fire", which peaked at #21 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles and appeared with Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, and Jessi Colter on the album Wanted! The Outlaws.

2013
Songwriter and musician Gene Price died. He is noted for his songwriting association with Buck Owens and was also a member of Merle Haggard's backing band The Strangers. He played on the 1969 Merle Haggard album Okie from Muskogee which won the Academy of Country Music award for Album of the Year in 1969. It also received the CMA Award for Album of the Year in 1970.

2023
Morgan Wallen was at #1 on the Country charts with "Last Night" a song written by John Byron, Ashley Gorley, Jacob Kasher Hindlin, and Ryan Vojtesak the third single from his 2023 album One Thing at a Time. In July 2023, "Last Night" became the first song to accrue one billion on-demand streams in the United States in a single year.

2025
American country music singer, songwriter, George Strait is announced as one of the recipients of the 2025 Kennedy Center Honors. Strait is the 12th best-selling album recording artist in the United States overall selling over 70 million records across the United States.