February 8 – This Day in Country Music

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1948
Born on this day in McCamey, Texas, was Dan Seals, (the younger brother of Seals & Crofts member Jim Seals), who first gained fame as the “England Dan” half of the soft rock duo England Dan and John Ford Coley. After the duo disbanded, Seals began a solo career in country music and throughout the 1980s and into the early 1990s, released 16 studio albums and charted more than 20 singles on the country charts, eleven of which reached #1, including: “Meet Me in Montana” (with Marie Osmond), “Bop”, “You Still Move Me”, “I Will Be There”, “Three Time Loser”, and “Good Times”. He died on March 25, 2009.

1960
Jim Reeves was at #1 on the country singles Billboard chart with “He’ll Have To Go”. Reeves recorded what became one of country music’s biggest hits ever after listening to a version recorded by singer Billy Brown. The song, written by Joe and Audrey Allison, was inspired after the couple were having difficulty communicating by telephone. The first verse set the tone: “Put your sweet lips a little closer to the phone/Let’s pretend that we’re together all alone/I’ll tell the man to turn the juke box way down low/And you can tell your friend there with you he’ll have to go.”

1984
Kenny Rogers was at #1 on the US Country music chart with Eyes That See in the Dark, his 12th solo studio album and first released by RCA Records in August 1983. This album has now sold over 15 million copies world-wide.

1990
Travis Tritt released “Help Me Hold On”, the second single from his 1990 debut album Country Club. It reached #1 in both the United States and Canada, thus becoming Travis Tritt’s first #1 hit.

2001

Lonestar was at #1 with their song “Tell Her”. The song was the fifth single from the album Lonely Grill. It became Lonestar’s sixth #1 hit on the Country Chart.