1960 in country music

1960 in country music
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "1960_in_country_music".

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1 Events
- 1.1 No dates
2 Top hits of the year
- 2.1 Number one hits
- 2.2 Other major hits
3 Top new album releases
4 Births
5 Deaths
6 Major Awards
- 6.1 Grammy awards
7 Further reading
8 Other links

Events

March 29 — Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge, destined to become one of the most prominent of the honky tonk bars in Nashville, Tennessee, opens.
August 27 - The Louisiana Hayride put on its final performance
September 4 - Final telecast of ABC-TV's Jubilee USA
November 5 - Johnny Horton is killed in a car accident near Milano, Texas, while returning from a concert in nearby Austin. Other passengers in his car - manager Tillman Franks and guitarist Tommy Tomlinson - are injured but survive.

No dates

Just four songs - five, if one counts "El Paso" by Marty Robbins, which spent five of its seven weeks at No. 1 in 1960 - ascend to the No. 1 spot on Billboard magazine's Hot C&W Sides chart. Those songs - listed below - would spend 14, 14, 12 and 10 weeks at No. 1.

Compare that to 10 No. 1 songs in 1959 and eight for all of 1961. Just a quarter of a century later, it was common for 50 songs per year to play musical chairs atop Billboard's Hot Country Singles chart.

The Porter Wagoner Show, one of the most successful country music television programs, premieres late in the year. Norma Jean (Beasler) and comedian Speck Rhodes were the regulars, with guest performers appearing each week. The show ran in syndication for 21 years, and at its peak ran in more than 100 markets, and is largely credited for breaking the career of a young singer named Dolly Parton (who replaced Norma Jean in 1967).

Top hits of the year

Number one hits

(As certified by Billboard magazine)

February 8 - "He'll Have to Go" - Jim Reeves
May 16 - "Please Help Me, I'm Falling" - Hank Locklin
August 22 - "Alabam" - Cowboy Copas
November 14 - "Wings of a Dove" - Ferlin Husky

Other major hits

"Above and Beyond" - Buck Owens
"Am I That Easy to Forget" - Skeeter Davis
"Amigo's Guitar" - Kitty Wells
"Another" - Roy Drusky
"Anymore" - Roy Drusky
"Big Iron" - Marty Robbins

"Each Moment Spent With You" - Ernest Ashworth
"Excuse Me (I Think I've Got a Heartache)" - Buck Owens
"Fallen Angel" - Webb Pierce
"Family Bible" - Claude Gray
"Heart to Heart Talk" - Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys
"He'll Have to Stay" - Jeanne Black
"Honky Tonk Girl" – Loretta Lynn
"Hot Rod Lincoln" - Charlie Ryan
"(I Can't Help You) I'm Falling Too - Skeeter Davis
"I Know One" - Jim Reeves
"I Missed Me" - Jim Reeves
"I'm Getting Better" - Jim Reeves

"Just One Time" - Don Gibson
"The Key's in the Mailbox" - Freddie Hart
"Left to Right" - Kitty Wells
"Let's Think About Living" - Bob Luman
"Miller's Cave" - Hank Snow
"No Love Have I" - Webb Pierce
"The Old Lamplighter" – The Browns
"One More Time" - Ray Price
"Scarlet Ribbons (For Her Hair)" - The Browns
"Sink the Bismark" - Johnny Horton
"A Six Pack to Go" - Hank Thompson and His Brazos Valley Boys
"Stuck On You" - Elvis Presley
"The Tip of My Fingers" - Bill Anderson
"Wishful Thinking" – Wynn Stewart
"You Can't Pick a Rose in December" - Ernest Ashworth
"Your Old Used to Be" - Faron Young
"You're the Only Good Thing (That's Happened to Me)" – George Morgan

Births

Deaths

January 19 - Ralph Peer, 67, pioneer in record engineering and production (pneumonia).
May 13 - Gid Tanner, 74, fiddler and leader of pioneering country group the Skillet Lickers.
November 5 - Johnny Horton, 35, "The Singing Fisherman" and best known for his Americana-styled hits (car accident).
November 7 - A.P. Carter, 68, a member of The Original Carter Family, one of country music's all-time pioneers (heart disease).

Major Awards

Grammy awards

Best Country and Western Performance - "El Paso," Marty Robbins

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