1949 - Hank Williams went into Herzog Studio in Cincinnati to record 'I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry'. Williams wrote the song originally intending that the words be spoken, rather than sung. The song about loneliness was largely inspired by his troubled relationship with wife Audrey Sheppard.
1969 - Santana release their self-titled debut. The group mix Latin percussion with driving rock grooves. Santana's unique guitar style, alternately biting and liquid, vies with the multiple percussionists for the sonic focus. Featured standout tracks "Evil Ways" and "Soul Sacrifice."
1968 - The Byrds released their sixth album Sweetheart of the Rodeo. No major band had gone so deep into the sound and feeling of classic country (without parody or condescension) as the Byrds did on Sweetheart; at a time when most rock fans viewed country as a musical "L'il Abner" routine, the Byrds dared to declare that C&W could be hip, cool, and heartfelt.
The album has proved to be a landmark for the entire nascent 1970s Los Angeles country rock movement and was also influential on the outlaw country and new traditionalist movements, as well as the so-called alternative country genre of the 1990s and 2000s.
1969 - The Birmingham band Earth changes its name when lead singer Ozzy Osbourne announces on stage that the band's new name is Black Sabbath.
1995 - Sterling Morrison founder member of the Velvet Underground died at his home in New York City two days after his 53rd birthday. The guitarist left the group in August 1971 and re-joined in 1992 for a European tour. During the 80s he became the Captain of a Houston tugboat.
2002 - Bruce Springsteen released The Rising, his first album with the E Street Band since 1987 and his first material since 9/11. The many voices that come out of the ether on Bruce Springsteen's The Rising all seem to have two things in common: the first is that they are writing from the other side, from the day after September 11, 2001, the day when life began anew, more uncertain than ever before. The other commonality that these voices share is the determination that life, however fraught with tragedy and confusion, is precious and should be lived as such. On this reunion with the E Street Band, Bruce Springsteen offers 15 meditations -- in grand rock & roll style -- on his own way of making sense of the senseless. (Photo by Anthony Correia/Getty Images)
2016 - The 2017 edition of Guinness World Records said that Ringo Starr's copy of The Beatles' White Album was officially the most expensive LP ever sold at an auction. Guinness confirmed that a December 2015 sale set a new high for album prices when the first-edition copy with the catalog number 0000001, which was kept in a vault in perfect condition by Starr for more than 35 years, sold for $790,000.
Birthdays:
Kitty Wells was born on this day in 1919. Her 1952 hit 'It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels', made her the first female country singer to top the US country charts, and turned her into the first female country star.
Influential British DJ John Peel was born today in 1939.
John Phillips of The Mamas and the Papas was born today in 1935.
Paul Oakenfold, producer, remixer, DJ, is 59.
Rachael Price of Lake Street Dive is 37.
On This Day In Music History was sourced from Allmusic, This Day in Music, Song Facts and Wikipedia.