1950 in country music
This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in the year 1950.
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Events
- February 14 — "Chattanoogie Shoe Shine Boy" by Red Foley #1 selling Country record becomes first Country cross over on Pop Best Seller chart.[citation needed]
- August 19 — Hank Snow begins a 21-week run at No. 1[citation needed] on the Billboard country charts with his landmark "I'm Movin' On." Until 2013 (when changes to chart methodology will result in longer chart runs), the song – a 12-bar blues song metaphorically using a train trip to describe a young man's breakup with a high-class girlfriend – is one of just three that will stay as long atop the charts in chart history.
- September 30 — The Grand Ole Opry is televised for the first time.[citation needed]
Top hits of the year
Number one hits
(As certified by Billboard magazine)
| US | Single | Artist |
|---|---|---|
| January 7 | "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer", 7,000,000 sold by 1969[1] | Gene Autry |
| January 7 | "Blue Christmas" | Ernest Tubb |
| January 14 | "I Love You Because" | Leon Payne |
| January 14 | "Blues Stay Away From Me" | Delmore Brothers |
| January 21 | "Chattanoogie Shoe Shine Boy" | Red Foley |
| January 28 | "Take Me in Your Arms and Hold Me" | Eddy Arnold |
| April 22 | "Long Gone Lonesome Blues" | Hank Williams with His Drifting Cowboys |
| May 27 | "Birmingham Bounce" | Red Foley |
| June 17 | "Why Don't You Love Me" | Hank Williams with His Drifting Cowboys |
| June 17 | "I'll Sail My Ship Alone" | Moon Mullican |
| July 15 | "M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I" | Red Foley |
| August 19 | "I'm Movin' On" | Hank Snow and His Rainbow Ranch Boys |
| August 26 | "Goodnight Irene" | Red Foley and Ernest Tubb |
| December 23 | "If You've Got the Money I've Got the Time" | Lefty Frizzell |
| December 3 | "Moanin' the Blues" | Hank Williams with His Drifting Cowboys |
- Note: Several songs were simultaneous No. 1 hits on the separate "Most Played Juke Box Folk (Country & Western) Records," "Best Selling Retail Folk (Country & Western) Records" and "Country & Western Records Most Played by Folk Disk Jockeys" charts.
Other major hits
| US | Single | Artist |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | Ain't Nobody's Business by My Own | Kay Starr and Tennessee Ernie Ford |
| 6 | A-Sleeping at the Foot of the Bed | Little Jimmy Dickens |
| 7 | Beyond the Sunset | The Three Suns with Elton Britt and Rosalie Allen |
| 4 | Bloodshot Eyes | Hank Penny |
| 7 | Blues, Stay Away from Me | Owen Bradley Quintet |
| 10 | Bonaparte's Retreat | Pee Wee King |
| 2 | Broken Down Merry-Go-Round | Margaret Whiting and Jimmy Wakely |
| 6 | A Bushel and a Peck | Margaret Whiting and Jimmy Wakely |
| 8 | Careless Kisses | Red Foley |
| 5 | Choc'late Ice Cream Cone | Red Foley |
| 8 | Choc'late Ice Cream Cone | Kenny Roberts |
| 2 | Cincinnati Dancing Pig | Red Foley |
| 7 | Cry of the Dying Duck in a Thunder-Storm | Cactus Pryor |
| 2 | The Cry of the Wild Goose | Tennessee Ernie Ford |
| 2 | Cuddle Buggin' Baby | Eddy Arnold |
| 6 | Daddy's Last Letter | Tex Ritter |
| 7 | Don't Be Ashamed of Your Age | Ernest Tubb and Red Foley |
| 6 | Enclosed, One Broken Heart | Eddy Arnold |
| 8 | Faded Love | Bob Wills |
| 4 | Frosty the Snow Man | Gene Autry |
| 9 | Give Me a Little Old Fashioned Love | Ernest Tubb |
| 9 | God Please Protect America | Jimmie Osborne |
| 3 | The Gods Were Angry with Me | Margaret Whiting and Jimmy Wakely |
| 5 | Goodnight, Irene | Moon Mullican |
| 3 | Hillbilly Fever | Little Jimmy Dickens |
| 9 | Hillbilly Fever No. 2 | Ernest Tubb and Red Foley |
| 4 | I Gotta Have My Baby Back | Floyd Tillman |
| 10 | I Gotta Have My Baby Back | Red Foley |
| 5 | I Just Don't Like This Kind of Livin' | Hank Williams |
| 2 | I Love You Because | Ernest Tubb |
| 8 | I Love You Because | Clyde Moody |
| 3 | (I Won't Go Huntin', Jake) But I'll Go Chasin' Women | Stuart Hamblen |
| 2 | I'll Never Be Free | Kay Starr and Tennessee Ernie Ford |
| 8 | I'll Take a Back Seat for You | Ernest Tubb |
| 10 | Ida Red Likes the Boogie | Bob Wills |
| 9 | Just a Closer Walk with Thee | Red Foley |
| 2 | Let's Go to Church (Next Sunday Morning) | Margaret Whiting and Jimmy Wakely |
| 2 | Letters Have No Arms | Ernest Tubb |
| 3 | Little Angel with the Dirty Face | Eddy Arnold |
| 7 | Lose Your Blues | Red Kirk |
| 8 | Love Song in 32 Bars | Johnny Bond |
| 2 | The Lovebug Itch | Eddy Arnold |
| 6 | Mama and Daddy Broke My Heart | Eddy Arnold |
| 4 | Mona Lisa | Moon Mullican |
| 10 | Mona Lisa | Jimmy Wakely |
| 9 | My Son Calls Another Man Daddy | Hank Williams |
| 9 | Nobody's Lonesome for Me | Hank Williams |
| 8 | Our Lady of Fatima | Red Foley |
| 7 | Pan American Boogie | The Delmore Brothers |
| 3 | Peter Cottontail | Gene Autry |
| 6 | Peter Cottontail | Mervin Shiner |
| 7 | Peter Cottontail | Jimmy Wakely |
| 7 | Peter Cottontail | Johnnie Lee Wills |
| 10 | A Prison Without Walls | Eddy Arnold |
| 3 | Quicksilver | Elton Britt and Rosalie Allen |
| 2 | Rag Mop | Johnnie Lee Wills |
| 2 | (Remember Me) I'm the One Who Loves You | Stuart Hamblen |
| 5 | (Remember Me) I'm the One Who Loves You | Ernest Tubb |
| 5 | Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer | Gene Autry |
| 7 | Slippin' Around with Jole Blon | Bud Messner |
| 8 | Stampede | Roy Rogers |
| 9 | Steal Away | Red Foley |
| 4 | Sugarfoot Rag | Red Foley |
| 3 | Sunday Down in Tennessee | Red Foley |
| 2 | Tennessee Border – No. 2 | Red Foley and Ernest Tubb |
| 6 | There's No Wings on My Angel | Eddy Arnold |
| 5 | They'll Never Take Her Love from Me | Hank Williams |
| 3 | Throw Your Love My Way | Ernest Tubb |
| 8 | Unfaithful One | Ernest Tubb |
| 3 | Why Should I Cry? | Eddy Arnold |
| 9 | Why Should We Try Anymore | Hank Williams |
| 10 | You Don't Have to Be a Baby to Cry | Ernest Tubb |
Births
- January 1 – Steve Ripley, leader/producer of The Tractors (died 2019).[2]
- February 16 — Paul Worley, record producer whose success dates from the mid-1980s onward.
- March 26 — Ronnie McDowell, male vocalist of the 1970s and 1980s, who first rose to fame with his Elvis Presley tribute "The King Is Gone".
- August 7 — Rodney Crowell, singer-songwriter who enjoyed mainstream fame in the late 1980s before becoming a leader in the alternative country movement; ex-husband of Rosanne Cash.
- September 16 — David Bellamy, of The Bellamy Brothers.
Deaths
Further reading
- Kingsbury, Paul, "Vinyl Hayride: Country Music Album Covers 1947–1989," Country Music Foundation, 2003 (ISBN 0-8118-3572-3)
- Millard, Bob, "Country Music: 70 Years of America's Favorite Music," HarperCollins, New York, 1993 (ISBN 0-06-273244-7)
- Whitburn, Joel. "Top Country Songs 1944–2005 – 6th Edition." 2005.
References
- ^ Murrells, Joseph (1978). The book of golden discs. Internet Archive. London : Barrie & Jenkins. ISBN 978-0-214-20512-5.
- ^ Oklahoma music artist Steve Ripley dies