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This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in the year 1963.

List of years in country music (Table)
1953195419551956195719581959 •   
196019611962 1963 196419651966
   1967196819691970197119721973
Related time period or subjects
1960196119621963196419651966
1930s1940s1950s1960s1970s1980s1990s
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Contents

Events

  • March — The month marks a dark time for country music, as it lost no less than five people in a seemingly endless string of tragedies.
* On March 5, three of the genre's top stars - Patsy Cline, Hawkshaw Hawkins and Cowboy Copas - are killed in a small plane crash near Camden, Tennessee, while on their way to Nashville from Kansas City, Kansas. The pilot, Cline's manager and Copas' son-in-law, Randy Hughes, is also killed.
* En route to Cline's funeral, Jack Anglin - one half of the duo Johnnie and Jack - is killed in a car accident.
* On March 29, Texas Ruby, of the duo Curly Fox and Texas Ruby, is killed in a trailer fire while Fox was performing on the Grand Ole Opry.
  • July — The first issue of the Music City News is published. Its publisher is country music star Faron Young.
  • September 19 — The Jimmy Dean Show begins a three-year primetime run on ABC. The show — Dean's second go-around on television, following his 1950s series on CBS — is widely hailed by critics for its class treatment of top country stars of the day, many of whom were getting their first true national exposure.

Top hits of the year

Number one hits

United States

(as certified by Billboard)

Date Single name Artist Wks. No.1 Notes
January 5 Ruby Ann Marty Robbins 2
January 19 The Ballad of Jed Clampett Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs 12
April 13 Still Bill Anderson 3 [1]
May 4 Lonesome 7-7203 Hawkshaw Hawkins 6 [B]
  • After this song first appeared on the Billboard charts on March 2, it remained absent for 2 weeks, following his death March 5. The song reappeared March 23 and spent 25 weeks on the chart before reaching Number One.
June 15 Act Naturally Buck Owens 6 [A]
July 27 Ring of Fire Johnny Cash 7
  • Cash's first Billboard Number One since "Don't Take Your Guns to Town" in 1959.
September 14 Abilene George Hamilton IV 4 [A]
October 12 Talk Back Trembling Lips Ernest Ashworth 1 [B]
October 19 Love's Gonna Live Here Buck Owens 16
Notes
  • 1^ No. 1 song of the year, as determined by Billboard.
  • A^ First Billboard No. 1 hit for that artist.
  • B^ Only Billboard No. 1 hit for that artist to date.

Other major hits

Top new album releases

Other top albums

Births

Deaths

  • March 5 — Patsy Cline, 30, premiere female country vocalist who became even more legendary after her death (plane crash).
  • March 5 — Cowboy Copas, 49, country singer from the 1940s through 1960s, best known for his 1960 hit, "Alabam" (plane crash).
  • March 5 — Hawkshaw Hawkins, 41, country singer since the 1940s, best known for his pothsumous No. 1 hit, "Lonesome 7-7203" (plane crash).
  • March 8 — Jack Anglin, 47, country entertainer since the 1930s, late of the duo Johnnie and Jack (with Johnnie Wright) (car accident).
  • March 29 — Texas Ruby, 52, half of the comedy-old-time country duo Curly Fox and Texas Ruby (mobile home fire).

Country Music Hall of Fame Inductees

Major awards

Grammy Awards

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

External links








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