COUNTRY DATEBOOK: OCTOBER 9

• 1970: CONWAY TWITTY and LORETTA LYNN recorded their first duet After The Fire is Gone.

• 1978: DOLLY PARTON was named CMA Entertainer of the Year.

• 2000: GARTH BROOKS told Billboard Magazine he and his wife Sandy were planning to divorce.

• 2008: WYNONNA made a surprise appearance when the rock band Foreigner played Nashville’s Wildhorse Saloon.

• 2016 Former STEEL MAGNOLIA singer Meghan Linsey wrote on Facebook that a music industry figure groped her sexually and threatened to ruin her career if she shared that info.

• 2016: LUKE BRYAN had a metal plate installed during surgery on his collarbone three days after breaking it in a bicycle accident.

• 2017: DIERKS BENTLEY visited survivors from the Route 91 Harvest music festival at the University Medical Center of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas.

• 2020: Elle King got engaged to boyfriend Dan Tooker while the couple was panning for gold on a mountain in New Mexico. The moment came weeks after Elle won an ACM award for participating in MIRANDA LAMBERT’s cover of Fooled Around And Fell In Love.

BRANDY CLARK is 48 (in 2023).

SCOTTY McCREERY is 30 (in 2023).

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COUNTRY MUSIC NEWS

With Watermelon Moonshine, LAINEY WILSON is only the third solo female country artist this decade to spend multiple weeks at the top of the Billboard Country Airplay chart. The tune logs its second week in the top position, joining GABBY BARRETT’s The Good Ones (three weeks) and MAREN MORRIS’ The Bones (two weeks) in the multi-week category.

RUSSELL DICKERSON and wife Kailey welcomed their second son on October 1. Radford Arthur Dickerson joins 3-year-old big brother Remington.

… RUSSELL DICKERSON’s son came a bit earlier than expected, so, after dad wrapped up a show in Kansas City, he was dropped off at the hospital by his tour bus to be there in time for the boy’s arrival.

CARLY PEARCE gave fans a surprise new track with Heels Over Head. The track follows Country Music Made Me Do It and the CHRIS STAPLETON collaboration We Don’t Fight Anymore as previews of her forthcoming album.

DIERKS BENTLEY’s Up On The Ridge (10th Anniversary) and WILLIE NELSON’s Shotgun Willie (50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) are two of the titles being released on vinyl this year on Record Store Day Black Friday, November 24. For a list of releases and participating independent record stores, check out recordstoreday.com.

A documentary on the 40-year career of SAWYER BROWN, titled Get Me To The Stage On Time, made its premiere at the Nashville Film Festivala week ago. The documentary tells the story of the band, from winning Star Search through the making of their upcoming album, Desperado Troubadours.

CHRIS LANE and wife, Lauren have modified the middle name of their youngest son, Baker. Originally named Baker Weston, his name has been changed to Baker West as that’s what the family calls him.

41-years ago, WILLIE NELSON’s Always On My Mind held the top spot on the Country Albums Chart. It would go on to become the top country album of 1982 and spend 22 weeks in the top spot while logging 253 total weeks on the chart. The title track, a number one for Willie, was originally recorded by BRENDA LEE in 1972.

JASON ALDEAN has offered up another preview of h is Highway Desperado album with the release of Whiskey Drink. The album is out November 3.