May 11th: On this day

1964
Hank Williams Jr. begins three days of recording with MGM labelmate Connie Francis at Nashville's Columbia Recording Studio. The first song they tackle was "Wolverton Mountain," written by Bocephus' future manager, Merle Kilgore.

1965
Johnny Cash was arrested and held overnight at the city jail in Starkville, Mississippi. The event inspired Cash to write the song "Starkville City Jail".

1969
Glen Campbell was at #1 on the Billboard country album chart with Galveston. The singers thirteenth studio album spent 11 weeks at #1 and 26 weeks on the chart. The title track written by Jimmy Webb, describes a soldier waiting to go into battle who thinks of the woman he loves and his hometown of Galveston, Texas.

1979
Lester Raymond Flatt the bluegrass musician died. Best known for his work in the Bluegrass duo The Foggy Mountain Boys he was also known as "Flatt and Scruggs," with banjo picker Earl Scruggs who performed "The Ballad of Jed Clampett", which was used as the theme for the television show The Beverly Hillbillies. He also released many solo and collaboration works and hed been a member of Bill Monroe's band during the 1940s.

1981
Linda Ronstadt receives a Tony nominaton in New York for Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Musical, recognizing her work in "Pirates Of Penzance".

1982
Actor Jonathan Jackson was born in Orlando, Florida. He played feisty singer Avery Barkley on the ABC-TV drama Nashville and performed on six Top 10 country albums in the soundtrack series "The Music Of Nashville".

1993
Winners at the 28th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards hosted by George Strait, Reba McEntire and Randy Owen included: Pioneer Award - George Jones, Top Female Vocalist of the Year - Mary Chapin Carpenter, Top Male Vocalist of the Year - Vince Gill, Top Vocal Group - Diamond Rio, Song of the Year went to Vince Gill for "I Still Believe in You" and Country Music Video of the Year was won by Tanya Tucker for "Two Sparrows in a Hurricane."

1997
Trace Adkins married Rhonda Forlaw at Nashville's Belle Meade Mansion in front of over 800 guests. Adkins performed a song he wrote for his bride: "The Rest Of Mine."

2001
The indie film "Sordid Lives" debuts in U.S. theaters, with Olivia Newton-John singing "Will The Circle Be Unbroken." The movie also features Tammy Wynette's "Stand By Your Man," "'Til I Can Make It On My Own" and "Your Good Girl's Gonna Go Bad".

2004
Gretchen Wilson released her debut album Here for the Party, which featured her breakthrough single, "Redneck Woman." The album received four Grammy nominations: Best New Artist, Best Country Album, Best Country Song ("Redneck Woman") and Best Female Country Vocal Performance ("Redneck Woman"). Gretchen Wilson won Best Female Country Vocal Performance.

2010
Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert became engaged after five years of dating.

2011
The Marshall Tucker Band returns from a Middle East tour where it performed for American troops. The group received a Grammy nomination in the country field in 1977 for "Long Hard Ride".

2015
Little Big Town were at #1 on the country singles chart with "Girl Crush", (which topped the chart for 13 weeks). Some radio stations were reported to have pulled "Girl Crush" from their playlists, in response to concerns from listeners who interpreted the song to be about lesbianism.

2017
Vivian J. "Corki" Ray Casey O'Dell died age 80. She was a trailblazing female instrumentalist and In 2014, was inducted alongside Barbara Mandrell as one of the first female inductees into the Musicians Hall of Fame.