1969 - Bob Dylan released his ninth studio album Nashville Skyline. John Wesley Harding suggested country with its textures and structures, but Nashville Skyline was a full-fledged country album, complete with steel guitars and brief, direct songs. It's a warm, friendly album, particularly since Bob Dylan is singing in a previously unheard gentle croon -- the sound of his voice is so different it may be disarming upon first listen, but it suits the songs.
And there's no discounting that Nashville Skyline, arriving in the spring of 1969, established country-rock as a vital force in pop music, as well as a commercially viable genre. Highlights: "Lay Lady Lay", "Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You", and the duet with Johnny Cash on "Girl From the North Country". (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
1966 - Percy Sledge releases "When A Man Loves A Woman." As Sledge tells it, one night while performing with The Esquires Combo, he was upset about a woman - a broken relationship - so upset that he couldn't concentrate on the music he was supposed to sing. After a quick conference, the band started to play and Sledge vented in song for about six minutes. A producer was at the show and approached the band about polishing the song and recording it. Sledge says he worked on the lyrics and recorded it. It went to #1 later that year.
1970 - Paul McCartney announces a "temporary break with The Beatles", citing "personal differences" and adding that he will no longer record with John Lennon. When a reporter called Lennon to comment upon McCartney's resignation, John said, "Paul hasn't left. I sacked him." A week after McCartney's announcement he released his first solo album.
1984 - R.E.M. release Reckoning. Like the EP, Chronic Town, it's more of a jangly garage pop album than Murmur. Michael Stipe continues to sing powerful melodies without enunciating, but the band has a propulsive kick that makes the music vital and alive. And, if anything, the songwriting is more direct and memorable than before -- the interweaving melodies of "Pretty Persuasion" and the country rocker "(Don't Go Back To) Rockville" are as affecting as the melancholic dirges of "Camera" and "Time After Time". On the surface, Reckoning may not be as distinctive as Murmur, but the record's influence on underground American rock in the '80s was just as strong.
2016 - Fleetwood Mac announced that Lindsey Buckingham had been fired from the band and would be replaced by Crowded House's Neil Finn and Mike Campbell, former lead guitarist of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers on their upcoming tour. Describing Lindsey's departure as bittersweet, Stevie Nicks stated: "Our relationship has always been volatile."
Birthdays:
Carl Perkins was born on this day in 1932. One of the quintessential rockabilly performers, Carl Perkins was a singer, guitarist, and songwriter whose humble sharecropping roots informed his twangy, boogie rhythm style and innovative blend of country and R&B. Along with Elvis Presley, Perkins helped define the early rockabilly sound and put Memphis' Sun Records on the map in the process with classic songs like "Blue Suede Shoes," "Matchbox," "Honey, Don't," and "Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby," all included on 1957's Dance Album.
Paul McCartney once claimed that "if there were no Carl Perkins, there would be no Beatles."
Drummer Steve Gadd is 78. A highly regarded and in-demand drummer, Steve Gadd has remained in the top echelon of studio and touring musicians for over five decades. A virtuoso talent since his youth, Gadd is considered one of the premier jazz and fusion drummers of all time. His credits include Steely Dan, James Taylor, Paul Simon, Jim Croce, Aretha Franklin, Judy Collins, Bette Midler, and many more.
Albert Hammond, Jr. of The Strokes is 44. He is the son of singer-songwriter Albert Hammond, who had the 1973 hit, "It Never Rains in Southern California".
R.I.P.:
1988 - Soul singer Dave Prater of Sam & Dave died at age 50. With Sam Moore, as Sam & Dave, they recorded a string of hits, including "Soul Man," "Hold On! I'm Comin'," and "I Thank You," songs that survive as the very epitome of Southern soul.
1997 - Songwriter Mae Boren Axton died aged 82 Known as the 'Queen Mother of Nashville' she wrote over 200 songs including a co-writing credit on the Elvis Presley hit 'Heartbreak Hotel'. She was the mother of country singer, songwriter Hoyt Axton.
On This Day In Music History was sourced, curated, copied, pasted, edited, and occasionally woven together with my own crude prose, from This Day in Music, Music this Day, Allmusic, Classic Bands, Song Facts and Wikipedia.
KBCO