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This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in the year 1958.

Events

• January 1 — Johnny Cash performs at San Quentin Prison. One of the audience members is Merle Haggard, in the midst of a two-year prison term for burglary.
• February — Struggling singer-songwriter Don Gibson finally gets a career break when his first major hit, "Oh Lonesome Me" reaches No. 1 on Billboard's "C&W Best Sellers in Stores" and "Most Played C&W by Jockeys" charts. The flip side of the single is "I Can't Stop Loving You," which went on to be recorded by more than 700 times. Gibson is considered by many to be one of the originators of the Nashville Sound, a form of country music that uses pop music-styled arrangements (such as orchestrated strings) rather than traditional honky-tonk sounds.
• March — BMI opens its Nashville office, headed by Frances Preston.
• March 24 — Elvis Presley is inducted into the United States Army at the Memphis Draft Board, thus beginning his two years of service.
• May — The fledgling career of Jerry Lee Lewis is rocked by scandal when his marriage to second cousin Myra Gale Brown becomes public. A British tour is cancelled, and Lewis' career goes into decline until 1968, when he begins concentrating on country music.
• October 13 — Billboard discontinues the "C&W Best Sellers in Stores" and "Most Played C&W by Jockeys" charts. Starting with the October 20 issue, there is one all-encompassing "Hot C&W Sides" chart. The new chart has 30 positions, and "City Lights" by Ray Price is the first No. 1 song.
• November — The Country Music Association is founded to promote country music. Harry Stone, the former station manager of WSM, is named executive director.
• November — Conway Twitty begins a remarkable career ... in rock and roll, with his hit, "It's Only Make Believe." The song – which contains all the Twitty hallmarks – skyrockets to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the fall, and begins a string of hits that continues through the early 1960s. Twitty makes the switch to country in the mid-1960s, and the rest is history. Although "... Make Believe" is never a country hit, the song has become a country standard in the years since Twitty became a country giant.

Top hits of the year

Number one hits

United States

(as certified by Billboard)

Note: Through October 13, several songs were simultaneous No. 1 hits on the separate "Most Played C&W by Jockeys" and "C&W Best Sellers in Stores" charts. Only one No. 1 per week is possible starting with the "Hot C&W Sides" chart, which begins October 20.

Other major hits

• "Big River" - Johnny Cash
• "Blue Boy" – Jim Reeves
• "Breathless" – Jerry Lee Lewis
• "Crying Over You" – Webb Pierce
• "Curtain in the Window" – Ray Price
• "Devoted to You" – Everly Brothers
• "Don't" – Elvis Presley
• "Falling Back to You" – Webb Pierce
• "Give Myself A Party"-Don Gibson
• "Half a Mind" – Ernest Tubb
• "Hard-Headed Woman" – Elvis Presley
• "Hey, Mister Bluebird" – Ernest Tubb and The Wilburn Brothers
• "High School Confidential" – Jerry Lee Lewis
• "I Beg of You" – Elvis Presley
• "I Can't Stop Loving You" – Don Gibson
• "I Can't Stop Loving You" – Kitty Wells
• "Invitation to the Blues" – Ray Price
• "It's a Little More Like Heaven" – Hank Locklin
• "Oh-Oh, I'm Falling In Love Again" – Jimmie Rodgers
• "Pick Me Up on Your Way Down" – Charlie Walker
• "Poor Little Fool" – Ricky Nelson
• "Secretly" – Jimmie Rodgers
• "Send Me the Pillow You Dream On" – Hank Locklin
• "She's No Angel" – Kitty Wells
• "Should We Tell Him" – Everly Brothers
• "Squaws Along the Yukon" – Hank Thompson
• "This Little Girl of Mine" – Everly Brothers
• "Treasure of Love" – George Jones
• "Tupelo County Jail" – Webb Pierce
• "Wear My Ring Around Your Neck" – Elvis Presley
• "You Win Again" – Jerry Lee Lewis
• "You'll Come Back" – Webb Pierce
• "Stop The World (And Let Me Off")- Johnny & Jack
• "The Ways Of A Woman In Love" - Johnny Cash
• "Your Name Is Beautiful"-Carl Smith

Top new album releases

Births

• February 21 — Mary Chapin Carpenter, folk-styled country singer of the 1990s.
• February 24 — Sammy Kershaw, neotraditionalist of the 1990s and beyond.
• May 23 — Shelly West, country singer of the 1980s, daughter of Dottie West.
• July 3 — Aaron Tippin, honky-tonk styled singer-songwriter of the 1990s and 2000s.
• July 30 — Neal McCoy, Asian country singer of the 1990s.
• September 6 — Jeff Foxworthy, comedian best known for "You Must Be a Redneck If ..." tagline; host of eponymously named countdown and "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?" game show.
• September 16 — Terry McBride, lead singer of the 1990s trio McBride & the Ride.
• September 30 — Marty Stuart, neotraditionalist and Grand Ole Opry stalwart.
• October 10 — Tanya Tucker, teen-aged country star of the 1970s, who continued to be a major country star during the 1980s and 1990s.
• October 17 — Alan Jackson, neotraditionalist singer since the 1990s.
• October 25 — Mark Miller, lead singer of Sawyer Brown.
• December 28 — Joe Diffie, honky tonk-styled singer of the 1990s and early 2000s.

Deaths

Further reading

• Kingsbury, Paul, "The Grand Ole Opry: History of Country Music. 70 Years of the Songs, the Stars and the Stories," Villard Books, Random House; Opryland USA, 1995
• 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.

Other links

• Country Music Association