Neha Patil (Editor)

1973 in country music

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This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in the year 1973.

Contents

Events

  • July — The Dean Martin Show becomes known as Dean Martin Presents Music Country for the longtime variety show's summer broadcasts. Country music becomes a staple of Martin's show for the 1973-1974 season — its last on the air, as it turns out.
  • July 4 — Willie Nelson hosts his first Fourth of July picnic.
  • July 14 — Billboard increases the number of positions for its Hot Country Singles chart to 100 (up from 75), which it would keep until January 1990. The expansion comes at a time when the number of No. 1 songs in a given year continues to increase; for the first time in history, there are at least 35 No. 1 songs in one year.
  • September — Jimmy Dean's third country music TV series, The Jimmy Dean Show, premieres in syndication for what will be a two-season run.
  • October 6 — Country music's most successful syndicated radio countdown program to date, "American Country Countdown," makes its debut. The three-hour program is created by Casey Kasem and Don Bustany, and is modeled after American Top 40 (which Kasem also hosted). Comedian Don Bowman is the original host, but by 1978, he would be replaced by Bob Kingsley.
  • October — The new Radio & Records magazine includes a 50-position country singles chart.
  • November 10 — One of Nashville's most notorious murders makes national headlines when David Akeman (aka Stringbean) and his wife, Estelle, are killed when they interrupt a burglary after returning home. Their bodies are found the next day. Their assailants—brothers John and Marvin Douglas—are later captured, convicted and sentenced to prison. Stringbean, who was 58, was best known to his audiences for his role on the syndicated series "Hee Haw."

    • No dates

  • A reported 51 percent of new single records are country.

    • United States

    (as certified by Billboard)

    Canada

    (as certified by RPM)

    Top new album releases

  • Bill — Bill Anderson (MCA)
  • Bubbling Over — Dolly Parton (RCA)
  • Country Sunshine - Dottie West (RCA)
  • Entertainer of the Year — Loretta Lynn (Decca)
  • Full Moon — Kris Kristofferson and Rita Coolidge (A&M)
  • Honky Tonk Heroes — Waylon Jennings (RCA)
  • Kid Stuff — Barbara Fairchild (Columbia)
  • Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man — Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn (MCA)
  • Love and Music — Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton (RCA)
  • Love Is the Foundation — Loretta Lynn (MCA)
  • My Second Album — Donna Fargo (Dot)
  • My Tennessee Mountain Home — Dolly Parton (RCA)
  • Satin Sheets — Jeanne Pruett (MCA)
  • Shotgun Willie — Willie Nelson (Atlantic)
  • Top of the World - Lynn Anderson (Columbia)
  • We Found It — Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton (RCA)
  • What's Your Mama's Name — Tanya Tucker (Columbia)

    • Other top new albums

  • Cheating Game — Susan Raye (Capitol)
  • Daisy a Day — Jud Strunk (MGM)
  • Entertainer of the Year - Loretta — Loretta Lynn (MCA)
  • Keep Me in Mind — Lynn Anderson (Columbia)
  • Let Me Be There — Olivia Newton-John (MCA)
  • The Midnight Oil — Barbara Mandrell (Columbia)
  • Rub it In — Billy "Crash" Craddock (ABC-Dot)
  • Where My Heart Is — Ronnie Milsap (RCA)

    • Births

  • March 6 — Trent Willmon, rising country music star of the early- to mid-2000s (decade).
  • June 6 — Lisa Brokop, Canadian country star of the 1990s and early-2000s (decade).
  • June 26 — Gretchen Wilson, singer-songwriter and key member of the MuzikMafia of the 2000s (decade).
  • July 29 — James Otto, rising male vocalist of the 2000s (decade).
  • August 8 — Mark Wills, country star of the mid-to-late-1990s and early-2000s (decade) ("19-Something," "Wish You Were Here").
  • August 13 — Andy Griggs, country music star of late-1990s and early-2000s (decade).
  • November 19 — Billy Currington, rising star of the mid-2000s (decade).

    • Deaths

  • March 26 - Don Messer, 63, Canadian Fiddler and Folk Music Icon, began his radio career over the CBC network in 1933. Moving to Television in 1956, his "Don Messer's Jubilee" was Canada's top rated program for almost its entire run. In a still-controversial decision, the CBC cancelled the program in 1969, but Messer moved the series to syndication where it continued until his death (Heart Attack).
  • September 19 — Gram Parsons, 26, influential country rock and alt-country singer-songwriter-guitarist who was a member of such bands as The Byrds and The Flying Burrito Brothers, and also recorded a critically acclaimed body of solo recordings (drug overdose).
  • November 10 — Stringbean, 58, banjo player and comedian on the TV series Hee Haw (homicide).

    • Country Music Hall of Fame Inductees

  • Chet Atkins (1924–2001)
  • Patsy Cline (1932–1963), first female to be inducted as a solo act.

    • Grammy Awards

  • Best Female Country Vocal Performance — "Let Me Be There", Olivia Newton-John
  • Best Male Country Vocal Performance — "Behind Closed Doors", Charlie Rich
  • Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal — "From the Bottle to the Bottom", Kris Kristofferson and Rita Coolidge
  • Best Country Instrumental Performance — "Dueling Banjos", Eric Weissberg and Steve Mandell
  • Best Country Song — "Behind Closed Doors", Kenny O'Dell (Performer: Charlie Rich)

    • Juno Awards

  • Country Male Vocalist of the Year — Stompin' Tom Connors
  • Country Female Vocalist of the Year — Shirley Eikhard
  • Country Group or Duo of the Year — Mercey Brothers

    • Academy of Country Music

  • Entertainer of the Year — Roy Clark
  • Song of the Year — "Behind Closed Doors", Kenny O'Dell (Performer: Charlie Rich)
  • Single of the Year — "Behind Closed Doors", Charlie Rich
  • Album of the Year — Behind Closed Doors, Charlie Rich
  • Top Male Vocalist — Charlie Rich
  • Top Female Vocalist — Loretta Lynn
  • Top Vocal Group — Brush Arbor
  • Top New Male Vocalist — Dorsey Burnette
  • Top New Female Vocalist — Olivia Newton-John

    • Country Music Association

  • Entertainer of the Year — Roy Clark
  • Song of the Year — "Behind Closed Doors", Kenny O'Dell (Performer: Charlie Rich)
  • Single of the Year — "Behind Closed Doors", Charlie Rich
  • Album of the Year — Behind Closed Doors, Charlie Rich
  • Male Vocalist of the Year — Charlie Rich
  • Female Vocalist of the Year — Loretta Lynn
  • Vocal Duo of the Year — Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn
  • Vocal Group of the Year — The Statler Brothers
  • Instrumentalist of the Year — Charlie McCoy
  • Instrumental Group of the Year — Danny Davis and the Nashville Brass
  • Country Music Association
  • Inductees of the Country Music Hall of Fame

    • References

    1973 in country music Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA


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