Country Music News

TODAY IN COUNTRY MUSIC HISTORY

(Mon., April 22)

Glen Campbell was born in 1936.

Ray Griff was born in 1940.

Pat Enright, lead singer for the Nashville Bluegrass Band, was born in 1945.

Cleve Francis was born in 1946.

Eddy Arnold's Top 5 single, "Why Should I Cry?," debuted on the chart in 1950.

Lucky Oceans of Asleep at the Wheel was born in 1951.

The first annual Country Music Festival opened in Jacksonville, Fla., in 1961. It featured Webb Pierce, Faron Young, Porter Wagoner, Flatt and Scruggs, Patsy Cline and Mel Tillis, among others.

Liz Anderson charted her first Top 10 single, "Mama Spank," in 1967.

The 4 Guys joined the Grand Ole Opry, also in 1967.

A 1998 Harris poll found Barbra Streisand was the most popular singer among adult Americans. Country's Garth Brooks came in second, Whitney Houston and Frank Sinatra tied for third, and Alan Jackson was fifth. The Beatles and Alabama tied for sixth place, followed by George Strait, Reba McEntire and Boyz II Men.

MUSIC AND MORE

GEORGE JONES LAID UP BY BROKEN FOOT

A misstep at a Nashville area fast food restaurant has sidelined George Jones.

CMT.com reports the musician broke his right foot last Thursday when he slipped and twisted his ankle during lunch. Jones didn't realize he had broken the foot until several hours later, when pain and swelling prompted him to have it x-rayed.

Doctors have ordered the Country Music Hall of Fame member to stay off his feet for a few days. He'll wear a foam boot brace for the next six weeks.

Concerts slated for Friday (April 19) in Tyler, Texas, and Saturday (April 20) in Muskogee, Okla., were rescheduled for May 4 and May 12, respectively. Jones resumes his regular touring schedule next Friday and Saturday (April 26-27) at the Alabama Theatre in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

NEW LUCINDA WILLIAMS ALBUM IN THE WORKS

Lucinda Williams has written 10 songs for a new album that's expected out by year's end. Once notorious for long delays between albums -- six years passed between 1992's "Sweet Old World" and the follow-up, "Car Wheels on a Gravel Road" -- Williams wrote her last CD, 2001's Grammy-winning "Essence" in two weeks.

"You get up, make coffee, start writing," she told Rolling Stone magazine. "I enjoyed it. Then I started playing the demos for close friends, getting reactions. A couple of people said, 'Why don't you just put the demos out?' People say that because they're always complaining that I take so long (between records). I proved them wrong this time."

Williams will begin recording the still-untitled album after finishing her spring tour May 5.

Upcoming tour dates:

4/22: Santa Cruz, Calif., Catalyst

4/23: San Luis Obispo, Calif., Pac San Luis Obispo

4/25: Los Angeles, Wiltern Theater

4/26: Tucson, Ariz., Rialto Theater

4/27: Santa Fe, N.M., Santa Fe Opera

4/29: Austin, Texas, Stubbs

4/30: Houston, Texas, Verizon Wireless Theater

5/1: New Orleans, La., House of Blues

5/3: St. Louis, Mo., The Pageant

5/4: Tulsa, Okla., Oklahoma Blues Festival

5/5: Memphis, Tenn., Beale Street Music Festival

TAMMY'S DAUGHTERS SETTLE WITH DOCTOR

Tammy Wynette's daughters reportedly have reached an out-of-court settlement of their lawsuit against the doctor who treated their mother for six years before her death.

The Tennessean newspaper reports Tina Jones, Jackie Daly, Georgette Smith and Gwen Nicholas had sued Dr. Wallis Marsh, a Pennsylvania physician, for $50 million in damages. No word on terms of the settlement and neither side is talking. Wynette died in 1998 at age 55.