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See also: 1920 in country music and the List of years in country music

Events

1900

• April 23 — The word hillbillie is printed for the first time in the New York Journal.

Notable recordings of the pre-1920s era

1917

• "Till the Clouds Roll By" - Vernon Dalhart

1919

• "Till We Meet Again" - Vernon Dalhart and Gladys Rice

Births

1848

• Uncle Jimmy Thompson - first person to appear on the Grand Ole Opry (d. 1931)

1868

• March 23 – Fiddlin' John Carson, one of radio's first country music stars, recorded "The Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane." (d. 1949)

1870

• October 7 – Uncle Dave Macon, "The Dixie Dewdrop" and country music pioneer who combined banjo playing, singing and comic talents to be one of the Grand Ole Opry's first stars (d. 1952)

1883

• April 6 – Vernon Dalhart, early 1900s singer whose "The Prisoner's Song" became country music's first million-selling single in 1925. (d. 1948)

1887

• November 20 – A.C. "Eck" Robertson, fiddle player whose "Sally Gooden" became the first recording in the country music genre. (d. 1975)

1891

• August 25 - Tom Darby, singer, guitar player and partner of Jimmie Tarlton (as Darby and Tarlton). (d. 1971)
• December 15 - A. P. Carter, member of the legendary and original "Carter Family". (d. 1960).

1892

• March 22 - Charlie Poole, singer, banjo player and leader of the "North Carolina Ramblers". (d. 1931).
• April 6 - Henry Whitter, singer and one of the first recorded country musicians. (d. 1941)
• May 8 - Jimmie Tarlton, singer, steel guitar player and partner of Tom Darby (as Darby and Tarlton). (d. 1979).

1893

• May 25 - Ernest "Pop" Stoneman, singer, multi-instrumentalist and country musician. (d. 1968).

1894

• May 7 - Riley Puckett, singer, guitarist and member of the "Skillet Lickers. (d. 1946).

1895

• January 5 - Elizabeth Cotten, left-handed guitarist and folk musician. (d. 1987).
• May 10 - Carl T. Sprague, "The Original Singing Cowboy". (d. 1979).
• July 13 - Bradley Kincaid, early country musician and folk singer. (d. 1989)
• September 29 - Clarence Ashley, banjoist, guitarist and early country musician. (d. 1967).
• November 9 - George D. Hay, "The Solemn Old Judge", legendary announcer, first on WLS and later on WSM Grand Ole Opry. (d. 1968).

1896

• August 23 - Wendell Hall, "The Red Headed Music Maker", early country music singer. (d. 1969).

1897

• March 20 - Frank Hutchison, early country blues singer and slide guitar player. (d. 1945).
• September 8 - Jimmie Rodgers, "The Singing Brakeman", "America's Blue Yodeler", legendary country singer famous for his "Blue Yodels." (d. 1933).

1898

• February 7 - Dock Boggs, old time country singer. (d. 1971).
• July 20 - J. E. Mainer, old time fiddle player of the Mountaineers and brother to Wade Mainer. (d. 1971).
• July 21 - Sara Carter, member of the legendary and original "Carter Family". (d. 1979).

1910

• June 17 – Red Foley, guitarist and songwriter, one of country music's top stars of the 1940s and 1950s (d. 1968).

1911

• January 19 – Ken Nelson, American record producer and music executive; associated with acts including Merle Haggard, Buck Owens and Hank Thompson (d. 2008)

1914

• February 9 – Ernest Tubb, the Texas Troubadour;" singer-songwriter and one of the pioneers of the honky tonk sound of country music. (d. 1984)

1915

• June 9 – Les Paul, one of the most important persons in the development of modern electric instruments (the electric guitar) and recording techniques (multitrack recording), which came into extensive use in country music starting in the 1950s. (d. 2009)

1918

• May 15 – Eddy Arnold, the "Tennessee Plowboy"; a pioneer in crossover music, his recording career spanned from the 1940s through 1990s. (d. 2008)

1919

• August 30 – Kitty Wells, "The Queen of Country Music;" first major female country star, best known for "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels."

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. "Joel Whitburn's Pop Memories 1890-1954: The History of American Popular Music," Record Research Inc., Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, 1986 (ISBN 0-89820-083-0).