This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in the year 1941.
Events
* January 1 – Radio programmers begin a 10-month ban on the
ASCAP catalog when they fail to reach an agreement. Instead, disc jockeys begin to rely on
BMI and its catalog of "
hillbilly" music.
* October – The ''
Grand Ole Opry'' organizes a "Camel Country" tour in a show of support for American servicemen, many of whom would be off to war two months later.
Top Hillbilly (Country) Recordings
The following songs achieved the highest positions in
Billboard magazine
''Billboard'' (stylized as ''billboard'') is an American music and entertainment magazine published weekly by Penske Media Corporation. The magazine provides music charts, news, video, opinion, reviews, events, and style related to the musi ...
's '
Best Sellers in Stores
The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming in ...
' chart, monthly 'Hillbilly Hits' chart, supplemented by 'Joel Whitburn's Pop Memories 1890-1954' and record sales reported on the "
Discography of American Historical Recordings" website,
and other sources as specified, during 1941. Numerical rankings are approximate.
Births
* January 18 –
Bobby Goldsboro
Robert Charles Goldsboro (born January 18, 1941) is an American pop and country singer and songwriter. He had a string of pop and country hits in the 1960s and 1970s, including his signature No. 1 hit "Honey", which sold over 1 million copies in ...
, middle-of-the-road artist best known for 1968's "
Honey
Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of plants (primar ...
."
* February 8 –
Henson Cargill
Henson Cargill (February 5, 1941 – March 24, 2007) was an American country music singer best known for the socially controversial 1968 Country No. 1 hit " Skip a Rope". His music career began in Oklahoma in clubs around Oklahoma City and Tuls ...
, best known for 1968's "
Skip a Rope
"Skip a Rope' is a song written by Jack Moran and Glenn Douglas Tubb and recorded by American country music artist Henson Cargill, released in November 1967 as the first single and title track from the album ''Skip a Rope''. The song was Cargill ...
" (died
2007).
* March 28 –
Charlie McCoy
Charles Ray McCoy (born March 28, 1941) is a Grammy-winning American session musician, harmonica player, and multi-instrumentalist. In 2009, he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Based in Nashville, McCoy's playing is heard on r ...
, harmonica specialist.
* April 2 –
Sonny Throckmorton
James Fron "Sonny" Throckmorton (born April 2, 1941) is an American country music singer and songwriter. Known primarily for his songwriting, Throckmorton has had more than 1,000 of his songs recorded by various country singers. He has also had ...
, songwriter.
* May 31 –
Johnny Paycheck
Johnny Paycheck (born Donald Eugene Lytle; May 31, 1938 – February 19, 2003) was an American country music singer and Grand Ole Opry member notable for recording the David Allan Coe song " Take This Job and Shove It". He achieved his greate ...
,
outlaw country-styled singer best known for "
Take This Job and Shove It
"Take This Job and Shove It" is a 1977 country music song written by David Allan Coe and popularized by Johnny Paycheck, about the bitterness of a man who has worked long and hard with no apparent reward. The song was first recorded by Paycheck o ...
" (died
2003).
* June 8 —
Alf Robertson, Swedish country musician (died
2008
File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
).
* August 14 –
Connie Smith
Connie Smith (born Constance June Meador; August 14, 1941) is an American country music singer and songwriter. Her contralto vocals have been described by music writers as significant and influential to the women of country music. A similarity h ...
, female vocalist who grew to fame in the 1960s; ''
Grand Ole Opry'' mainstay.
* September 21 –
Dickey Lee
Royden Dickey Lipscomb (born September 21, 1936), known professionally as Dickey Lee (sometimes misspelled Dickie or Dicky), is an American pop/country singer and songwriter, best known for the 1960s teenage tragedy songs " Patches" and "Laurie ( ...
, pop-country singer-songwriter.
* September 26 –
David Frizzell
David Frizzell (born September 26, 1941) is an American country music singer. He is the younger brother of country musician, Lefty Frizzell. His career started in the late 1950s, but his biggest success came in the 1980s.
Biography
Frizzell wa ...
, brother of
Lefty Frizzell
William Orville "Lefty" Frizzell (March 31, 1928 – July 19, 1975) was an American country music singer-songwriter and honky-tonk singer.
He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1982. Frizzell released many songs that charted ...
who grew into a country star in his own right.
* October 17 –
Earl Thomas Conley
Earl Thomas Conley (October 17, 1941 – April 10, 2019)Wood, Gerry. (1998). "Earl Thomas Conley". In ''The Encyclopedia of Country Music''. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 108. was an American country music singer-songwriter. Between ...
, singer-songwriter who became one of country's biggest stars of the 1980s (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 ...
).
* November 6 –
Guy Clark
Guy Charles Clark (November 6, 1941 – May 17, 2016) was an American folk and country singer-songwriter and luthier. He released more than 20 albums, and his songs have been recorded by other artists, including Jerry Jeff Walker, Jimmy Buffet ...
, alternative-outlaw country singer-songwriter (died
2016
File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...
).
* November 27 –
Eddie Rabbitt, singer-songwriter who crossed over to pop in the early 1980s with hits such as "
I Love a Rainy Night
"I Love a Rainy Night" is a song co-written and recorded by American country music artist Eddie Rabbitt. It was released in November 1980 as the second single from his album '' Horizon''. It reached number one on the Hot Country Singles, ''Billb ...
" and "
Drivin' My Life Away" (died
1998
1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''.
Events January
* January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...
).
* November 29 –
Jody Miller
Myrna Joy "Jody" Miller (November 29, 1941 – October 6, 2022) was an American country music singer. "Home of the Brave" and "Queen of the House" are her well-known albums. She is a recipient of the Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal ...
, female vocalist best known for "
Queen of the House" (answer song to
Roger Miller's "
King of the Road").
Deaths
* November 7 –
Henry Whitter
William Henry Whitter (April 6, 1892 – November 17, 1941) was an early old-time recording artist in the United States. He first performed as a solo singer, guitarist and harmonica player, and later in partnership with the fiddler G. B. Grayso ...
, 49, early country musician.
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. "Joel Whitburn's Pop Memories 1890–1954: The History of American Popular Music," Record Research Inc., Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, 1986 ().
References
{{Reflist
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 ...
Country music by year