Country Music News

THIS DAY IN COUNTRY MUSIC HISTORY

(June 3)

Boots Randolph born in Paducah, Ky. (1927)

Donna Fargo's "The Happiest Girl in the Whole U.S.A." went to No. 1 (1972)

Wally Fowler, founder of the Oak Ridge Quartet dies (1994) age 77

Hank Williams gave his last performance on the Louisiana Hayride (1949) before moving to Nashville.

OF MUSIC AND MORE

WORLEY'S VIDEO HONORS HIS LATE "FRIEND"

Darryl Worley says filming the video for "I Miss My Friend," brought back sad memories, and helped him find peace of mind. Worley said that 16 years ago he was in a close relationship with a woman who had a 9-year-old daughter. "She and her daughter went away for a week, to Florida. The day before she was to come back home, I talked to her on the phone and told her I was going to take her to meet my mom. But they were killed in a car accident the next morning. There was no closure, no chance to say goodbye. She went away and left this feeling in my heart. It was horrible. It all came out the night we shot the video for 'I Miss My Friend'." He said the video's director sensed something and said to him "'You never got a chance to say goodbye, did you?' It made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. He said, 'This is your chance, once and for all. Tell her all the things you wished you could have told her.' Needless to say, there wasn't a whole lot of acting going on. It was an unbelievable experience."

PROMOTER ORDERED TO RETURN TAPE TO HAGGARD

A missing cassette tape containing new studio recordings by Merle Haggard must be returned to him, a Fredericksburg, Texas, judge ruled last week. Haggard alleges in a lawsuit that a central Texas concert promoter, Kathy Schroeder, swiped the tape from his bus in October 2001 after Haggard was too sick to perform. The recordings later appeared for sale on eBay. Schroeder did return a cassette to Haggard, but not the tape in question, according to Haggard's witnesses. The missing tape features Haggard's versions of songs by Nat "King" Cole, Hoagy Carmichael and others. Haggard told the San Antonio Express-News, "What's on the tape is a rough mix of an ongoing project. It's like she kidnapped my children."

STRAIT ANNOUNCES ARENA TOUR

George Strait's next tour, starting Sept. 12, will be held in arenas rather than stadiums. "We definitely had a great time doing the stadiums, but I'm excited about seeing some faces again," Strait said. "Not that 20,000-seat arenas are exactly intimate settings, but you can tell a difference, and I think it will be a fun change of pace."

The tour begins at the Palace of Auburn Hills in Detroit and after crisscrossing the country will close Nov. 2 in San Antonio, which will mark the first concert in the SBC Center.