ROOTS of Country Music

Smoky Mountain Boys (L-R) Lonnie Wilson, Jess Easterday, Roy Acuff, Rachel Veach, Pete "Oswald" Kirby. Circa 1950.

Wanda Jackson & the Party Timers (1966)

(L-R) Buck Owens, Lisa Todd, Roy Clark

(L-R) Don Law, Ray Price

Columbia recording artist Ray Price led a contengent  of fellow golphers to victory in the third annual Music City Pro-Celebrity Golf Tournament in October 1967.

The rest of the winning foursome consisted of PGA pro Billy Maxwell, Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Jim Bunning and attorney John J. Hooker Jr., a business partner of Minnie Pearl.

(L-R) Jud Collins (announcer), Margie Bowes (singer), Snookie Lanson (Your Hit Parade)

(L-R) Patsy Cline, Eddie Hill, Dottie Dillard (singer)

(L-R) Harry Silverstein, Owen Bradley, Smiley Wilson, Benny Birchfield, Bobby Osborne, Sonny Osborne. Photo taken after the Osborne Brothers cut their first Decca Records session. The other gentlemen are Decca executives. Bradley was Decca's chief A&R Executive. Sep. 1963

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(L-R) Ott Devine, Maxine Brown, Bonnie Brown, Jim Ed Brown. Newest members of the Grand Ole Opry in Sep. 1963. At the time, Ott Devine was the Opry manager.

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(L-R) Bob Luman, Stan Hitchcock, Jim & Jesse, Lois Johnson, Lucille Starr 

All Epic recording artists in the late 1960s.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------Country Music Association (CMA) Facts

Don Rich, the late guitarist for Buck Owens' Buckaroos, was the only performer in a regular musical category ever to win a CMA award posthumously. In 1974, the year of his death, Rich was voted Instrumentalist of the Year by CMA.

On Nov. 21, 1970, the Country Music Hall of Fame logged its 500,000th visitor: Durward Williams of Niagra Falls, Ontario, Canada.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------Researched and compiled by Richard Bell, Roots of Country Music, Dec. 2, 2010.