1974 in country music
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
See also: 1973 in country music, 1974 in music, other events of 1974, 1975 in country music, 1970s in music and the List of years in Country Music
Contents |
[edit] Events
- March 16 – The Grand Ole Opry moves from the Ryman Auditorium, its home of the past 41 years, to the newly constructed 4,400 Grand Ole Opry House, on the Opryland complex. President Richard Nixon is a guest at the Ryman's last show. The Ryman would essentially sit vacant for the next two decades before being renovated in the early 1990s as a historical landmark and concert hall.
- December – The proliferation of No. 1 hits, as certified by Billboard magazine, extends into 1974, when 40 songs reach the top of the Hot Country Singles chart. In fact, just nine songs - 10, if one counts Merle Haggard's "If We Make it Through December," which spent two of its four weeks at No. 1 in January - remain at the top spot for more than one week.
[edit] No dates
- Country purists - long troubled by a growing trend of pop music-influenced country - have an ACE up their sleeves, when they form the Association of Country Entertainers. The group forms as a result of an outcry over the 1974 Country Music Association awards program, where pop diva Olivia Newton-John won Female Vocalist of the Year, and Danny Davis & the Nashville Brass was awarded another Instrumental Group of the Year.
[edit] Top hits of the year
[edit] No. 1 hits
(As certified by Billboard magazine)
- January 19 - “I Love” — Tom T. Hall
- February 2 - “Jolene” — Dolly Parton
- February 9 - “World of Make Believe” — Bill Anderson
- February 16 - “That’s the Way Love Goes” — Johnny Rodriguez
- February 23 - “Another Lonely Song” — Tammy Wynette
- March 9 - “There Won’t Be Anymore” — Charlie Rich
- March 23 - “There’s a Honky Tonk Angel (Who’ll Take Me Back In)” — Conway Twitty
- March 30 - “Would You Lay With Me (In a Field of Stone)” — Tanya Tucker
- April 6 - “A Very Special Love Song” — Charlie Rich
- April 27 - “Hello Love” — Hank Snow
- May 4 - “Things Aren’t Funny Anymore” — Merle Haggard and the Strangers
- May 11 - “Is it Wrong (For Loving You)” — Sonny James
- May 18 - “Country Bumpkin” — Cal Smith
- May 25 - “No Charge” — Melba Montgomery
- June 1 - “Pure Love” — Ronnie Milsap
- June 8 - “I Will Always Love You” — Dolly Parton
- June 15 - “I Don’t See Me in Your Eyes Anymore” — Charlie Rich
- June 22 - “This Time” — Waylon Jennings
- June 29 - “Room Full of Roses” — Mickey Gilley
- July 6 - “He Thinks I Still Care” — Anne Murray
- July 20 - “Marie Laveux" — Bobby Bare
- July 27 - “You Can’t Be a Beacon if Your Light Don’t Shine” — Donna Fargo
- August 3 - “Rub it In” — Billy “Crash” Craddock
- August 17 - “As Soon as I Hang Up the Phone” — Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn
- August 24 - “The Old Man From the Mountain” — Merle Haggard and the Strangers
- August 31 - “The Grand Tour” — George Jones
- September 7 - “Please Don’t Tell Me How the Story Ends” — Ronnie Milsap
- September 21 - “I Wouldn’t Want to Live If You Didn’t Love Me” — Don Williams
- September 28 - “I’m a Ramblin’ Man” — Waylon Jennings
- October 5 - “I Love My Friend” — Charlie Rich
- October 12 - “Please Don’t Stop Lovin’ Me” — Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton
- October 19 - “I See the ‘Want-To’ In Your Eyes” — Conway Twitty
- November 2 - “I Overlooked an Orchid” — Mickey Gilley
- November 9 - “Love Is Like A Butterfly” — Dolly Parton
- November 16 - “Country Is” — Tom T. Hall
- November 23 - “Trouble in Paradise” — Loretta Lynn
- November 30 - “Back Home Again” — John Denver
- December 7 - “She Called Me Baby” — Charlie Rich
- December 14 - “I Can Help” — Billy Swan
- December 28 - “What a Man My Man Is” — Lynn Anderson
[edit] Other major hits
- “A Mi Esposa Con Amor (To My Wife With Love)” — Sonny James
- “After the Fire is Gone” — Willie Nelson and Tracy Nelson
- "Annie's Song" — John Denver
- "Big Game Hunter" - Buck Owens
- “Big Four Poster Bed” — Brenda Lee
- “Bloody Mary Mornin’” — Willie Nelson
- "Bonaparte's Retreat" – Glen Campbell
- "Boney Fingers" — Hoyt Axton
- "Bring Back Your Love to Me" - Don Gibson
- "Can't You Feel It" — David Houston
- "Come Monday" – Jimmy Buffett
- "Daddy, What If?" — Bobby Bare with Bobby Bare Jr.
- "Dance With Me (Just One More Time)" - Johnny Rodriguez
- "Hey Loretta" - Loretta Lynn
- “Honeymoon Feelin’” — Roy Clark
- “I Honestly Love You” — Olivia Newton-John
- "I Never Go Around Mirrors" — Lefty Frizzell
- "I Love You, I Love You" — David Houston and Barbara Mandrell
- “I’ll Think of Something” — Hank Williams Jr.
- "I'll Try a Little Bit Harder" — Donna Fargo
- "I'm Not Through Loving You Yet" — Conway Twitty
- “If You Love Me (Let Me Know)” — Olivia Newton-John
- "It'll Come Back" - Red Sovine
- "(It's a) Monster's Holiday" – Buck Owens
- "It's That Time of the Night" — Jim Ed Brown
- "Last Time I Saw Him" – Dottie West
- "A Love Song" – Anne Murray
- “The Man That Turned My Mama On” — Tanya Tucker
- “Memory Maker” — Mel Tillis and the Statesiders
- “Midnight, Me and the Blues” — Mel Tillis and the Statesiders
- "Mississippi Cotton-Pickin' Delta Town" - Charley Pride
- “The Older the Violin the Sweeter the Music” — Hank Thompson
- "Old Home Fill-er Up An' Keep On A-Truckin' Café" — C.W. McCall
- “Once You’ve Had the Best” — George Jones
- "One Day at a Time" - Don Gibson
- “Ragged Old Flag” — Johnny Cash
- "Some Kind of Woman" – Faron Young
- “Something” — Johnny Rodriguez
- "Sometime Sunshine" - Jim Ed Brown
- “Somewhere Between Love and Tomorrow” — Roy Clark
- "The South's Gonna Do it Again" — Charlie Daniels Band
- “Song and Dance Man” — Johnny PayCheck
- “Stomp Them Grapes” — Mel Tillis and the Statesiders
- "The Streak" – Ray Stevens
- "Sundown" — Gordon Lightfoot
- “Sweet Magnolia Blossom” — Billy “Crash” Craddock
- "That Girl Who Waits on Tables" – Ronnie Milsap
- "That Song is Driving Me Crazy" – Tom T. Hall
- “They Don’t Make ‘Em Like My Daddy” — Loretta Lynn
- "We Could" - Charley Pride
- “We Should Be Together” — Don Williams
- “(We’re Not) the Jet Set” — George Jones and Tammy Wynette
- "We're Over" - Johnny Rodriguez
- "When the Morning Comes" — Hoyt Axton
- “Who Left the Door to Heaven Open” — Hank Thompson
- “Wrong Ideas” — Brenda Lee
[edit] Top new album releases
- Jolene - Dolly Parton (RCA)
- Back Home Again — John Denver (RCA)
- Honky Tonk Amnesia — Moe Bandy
- Phases and Stages — Willie Nelson (Atlantic)
- Pure Love – Ronnie Milsap (RCA)
- Sundown – Gordon Lightfoot
- This Time — Waylon Jennings (RCA)
[edit] Births
- February 17 – Bryan White, singer-songwriter from the 1990s.
- September 12 – Jennifer Nettles, lead singer of Sugarland.
- October 14 - Natalie Maines, lead singer of the Dixie Chicks.
[edit] Deaths
- January 2 – Tex Ritter, 68, silver screen cowboy and western artist (heart attack).
- July 17 – Don Rich, 32, right-hand man of Buck Owens and key member of the Buckaroos (motorcycle crash).
[edit] Country Music Hall of Fame Inductees
[edit] Major Awards
[edit] Grammy awards
- Best Country Vocal Performance, Female -- "Love Song" - Anne Murray
- Best Country Vocal Performance, Male -- "Please Don't Tell Me How The Story Ends" - Ronnie Milsap
- Best Country Vocal Performance By A Duo Or Group -- "Fairytale" - The Pointer Sisters (Anita Pointer, Ruth Pointer, June Pointer Whitmore)
- Best Country Instrumental Performance -- "The Atkins-Travis Traveling Show" - Chet Atkins and Merle Travis
- Best Country Song -- "A Very Special Love Song" - Billy Sherrill and Norris Wilson, songwriters
[edit] Academy of Country Music
- Entertainer Of The Year -- Mac Davis
- Song Of The Year -- "Country Bumpkin" - Cal Smith - Don Wayne
- Single Of The Year -- "Country Bumpkin" - Cal Smith
- Album Of The Year -- Back Home Again - John Denver
- Top Male Vocalist -- Merle Haggard
- Top Female Vocalist -- Loretta Lynn
- Top Vocal Duo -- Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn
- Top New Male Vocalist -- Mickey Gilley
- Top New Female Vocalist -- Linda Ronstadt
[edit] Country Music Association
- Entertainer of the Year -- Charlie Rich
- Male Vocalist of the Year -- Ronnie Milsap
- Female Vocalist of the Year -- Olivia Newton-John
- Instrumental Group of the Year –- Danny Davis & the Nashville Brass
- Vocal Group of the Year -- The Statler Brothers
- Vocal Duo of the Year -- Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn
- Single of the Year -- "Country Bumpkin," Cal Smith
- Song of the Year -- "Country Bumpkin," Don Wayne
- Album of the Year -- A Very Special Love Song, Charlie Rich
- Instrumentalist of the Year -- Don Rich
[edit] Further reading
- Kingsbury, Paul, "The Grand Ole Opry: History of Country Music. 70 Years of the Songs, the Stars and the Stories," Villard Books, Random House; Opryland USA, 1995
- Kingsbury, Paul, "Vinyl Hayride: Country Music Album Covers 1947-1989," Country Music Foundation, 2003 (ISBN 0-8118-3572-3)
- Millard, Bob, "Country Music: 70 Years of America's Favorite Music," HarperCollins, New York, 1993 (ISBN 0-06-273244-7)
- Whitburn, Joel, "Top Country Songs 1944-2005 - 6th Edition." 2005.