This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in the year 1936.
Events
In
Knoxville, Tennessee
Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County, Tennessee, Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, Knoxville's population was 190,740, making it the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Di ...
the emerging media chain
Scripps-Howard
The E. W. Scripps Company is an American broadcasting company founded in 1878 as a chain of daily newspapers by Edward Willis "E. W." Scripps and his sister, Ellen Browning Scripps. It was also formerly a media conglomerate. The company is he ...
purchased the WNOX station in 1935, and then in 1936 the station launched its most popular program, the influential ''Mid-Day Merry-Go-Round,'' a live noontime performance show which highlighted hillbilly music artists.
Lee Roy "Lasses" White of Wills Point, TX, who was featured on the Nashville radio station WSM, with "Honey" Wilds, and they were featured in their own Friday night "minstrel show and on ''
The Grand Ole Opry
The ''Grand Ole Opry'' is a weekly American country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, founded on November 28, 1925, by George D. Hay as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM. Currently owned and operated by Opry Entertainment (a divis ...
'', left for Hollywood in May 1936. He found a career as a character actor in the B-Grade Western "horse operas".
Top Hillbilly (Country) Recordings
The following songs were extracted from records included in
Joel Whitburn's Pop Memories 1890-1954,
record sales reported on the "
Discography of American Historical Recordings
The Discography of American Historical Recordings (DAHR) is a database of master recordings made by American record companies during the 78rpm era. The DAHR provides some of these original recordings, free of charge, via audio streaming, along with ...
" website, and other sources as specified. Numerical rankings are approximate, they are only used as a frame of reference.
Births
* January 2 –
Roger Miller
Roger Dean Miller Sr. (January 2, 1936 – October 25, 1992) was an American singer-songwriter, widely known for his honky-tonk-influenced novelty songs and his chart-topping Country music, country and pop hits "King of the Road (song), Ki ...
, singer-songwriter best known for honky-tonk novelty songs, and the non-novelty "
King of the Road" (died
1992
File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...
).
* February 27 – Chuck Glaser, 83, member of
Tompall and the Glaser Brothers
Tompall & the Glaser Brothers were an American country music group composed of three brothers: Chuck (February 27, 1936 – June 10, 2019), Jim Glaser, Jim (December 16, 1937 – April 6, 2019), and Tompall Glaser, Tompall (September 3, 1933 – A ...
(died
2019
File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...
).
* March 9 –
Mickey Gilley, pianist and nightclub owner who enjoyed success throughout the 1970s and 1980s; cousin of
Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis (September 29, 1935October 28, 2022) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Nicknamed "The Killer", he was described as "rock & roll's first great wild man". A pioneer of rock and roll and rockabilly music, Lewis made ...
and
Jimmy Swaggart
Jimmy Lee Swaggart (; born March 15, 1935) is an American Pentecostalism, Pentecostal televangelism, televangelist, southern gospel, gospel music recording artist, pianist, and Christian author.
His television ministry, which began in 1971, an ...
.
* April 22 –
Glen Campbell, pop-country singer and guitarist, host of ''
The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour'' (died
2017
File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...
).
* May 25 –
Tom T. Hall
Thomas Hall (May 25, 1936 – August 20, 2021), known professionally as Tom T. Hall and informally nicknamed "the Storyteller," was an American country music singer-songwriter and short-story author. He wrote 12 No. 1 hit songs, with 26 more ...
, singer-songwriter who became known as "The Storyteller."
* June 22 –
Kris Kristofferson, singer-songwriter and actor who grew to fame in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
* July 24 –
Max D. Barnes
Max Duane Barnes (July 24, 1935 – January 11, 2004) was an American country singer and songwriter born in Hard Scratch, Iowa, United States. In 1973, Barnes moved with his family from Omaha, Nebraska to Nashville, Tennessee, where he di ...
, songwriter and record producer whose peak came in the 1980s and early 1990s (died
2004
2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO).
Events January
* January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...
).
* November 5 –
Billy Sherrill
Billy Norris Sherrill (November 5, 1936 – August 4, 2015) was an American record producer, songwriter, and arranger best known for his association with country artists, notably Tammy Wynette and George Jones. Sherrill and business partner Gle ...
, record producer for numerous acts in the 1960s through 1980s, most famously
Tammy Wynette
Tammy Wynette (born Virginia Wynette Pugh; May 5, 1942 – April 6, 1998) was an American country music artist, as well as an actress and author. She is considered among the genre's most influential and successful artists. Along with Loretta Ly ...
(died
2015
File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...
).
* December 12 –
Reggie Young
Reggie Grimes Young Jr. (December 12, 1936 – January 17, 2019) was an American musician who was lead guitarist in the American Sound Studio house band, The Memphis Boys, and was a leading session musician. He played on various recordings with ...
, session guitarist (died
2019
File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...
).
References
Further reading
* Kingsbury, Paul, "Vinyl Hayride: Country Music Album Covers 1947–1989," Country Music Foundation, 2003 ()
* Millard, Bob, "Country Music: 70 Years of America's Favorite Music," HarperCollins, New York, 1993 ()
* Whitburn, Joel. "Top Country Songs 1944–2005 – 6th Edition." 2005.
{{List of years in country music
Country
A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...
Country music by year