Country Music News

TODAY IN COUNTRY MUSIC HISTORY

(Monday, Dec. 9)

Red Foley records "Old Shep," 1935.

Eddy Arnold's Top Ten single "Prison Without Walls" charted, 1950.

Merle Haggard records No. 1 single "Hungry Eyes," 1969.

Fiddler Tommy Jackson died at 53 in Nashville, 1979.

MUSIC AND MORE

MCGRAW'S BOOK NO. 19 ON TIMES LIST

"Tim McGraw and the Dancehall Doctors: This Is Ours," a book about the creation of McGraw's new album, is No. 19 on the New York Times bestseller list.

The book chronicles how McGraw chose his road band over Nashville session musicians to back him up on the album, and recorded it in a farmhouse studio in rural New York state.

The album debuted at No. 2 on the all-genre Billboard 200 and Billboard's country albums chart on first-week sales of 602,000.

HILL'S 'CRY' PASSES 2 MILLION IN SALES

Faith Hill's "Cry" became her fifth consecutive multi-platinum album last month on sales of more than 2 million.

Hill has sold more than 20 million albums since her debut in 1993. "Cry" is No. 3 on the Billboard country album chart.

Toby Keith's "Unleashed," now No. 6 on the country chart, also reached the 2 million sales mark.

Country legend George Jones achieved the first multi-platinum certification of his career when his "Super Hits" album went double-platinum.

TRACE ADKINS REFLECTS ON USO TOUR

Trace Adkins already knew living in the Middle East is much different than life in the United States, but his Thanksgiving trip to the region was a real eye-opener.

Adkins, on a USO tour to play for U.S. troops, says the trip made him appreciate the U.S. way of life.

"Although I knew their culture would be drastically different, the way the women were treated over there was especially disturbing to me," Adkins says in a message on his Web site traceadkins.net.

Adkins performed on a Navy aircraft carrier and at a U.S. military base in Bahrain. His next show in the United States is a Dec. 14 Grand Ole Opry performance.