May 21st: On this day

1951
Hank Williams was admitted to North Louisiana Sanitarium in Shreveport for treatment of his alcoholism and his back problem. He released three days later. Years of back pain, alcoholism, and prescription drug abuse severely compromised Williams' health.

1964
Buck Owens was at #1 on the country charts with "My Heart Skips a Beat", Owens's third chart topper. "My Heart Skips a Beat" spent seven non-consecutive weeks at the top with a total of twenty-six weeks on the chart. The B-side, "Together Again", also hit #1 on the country chart both replacing and being replaced by "My Heart Skips a Beat" from the top spot.

1977
Taken from his album Ol' Waylon, Waylon Jennings started a six week run at #1 on the US Country charts with "Luckenbach, Texas (Back to the Basics of Love)."

1982
Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson were at #1 on the Country charts with "Just to Satisfy You" a song written by Jennings and Don Bowman in 1963. Jennings included the song in his performing repertoire, and on radio. In 1982 he recorded a duet version along with Willie Nelson, that peaked at #1 for two weeks on Billboard Hot Country Singles.

1987
Born on this day in East Texas was singer-songwriter Cody Johnson. His seventh album Ain't Nothin' to It reached #1 on Billboard country albums chart.

1988
Alabama, The Judds, George Strait and Randy Travis all appeared at a Country Music Stars Concert at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

1994
Trisha Yearwood married Robert "Bobby" Reynolds, the bass player for the country music group The Mavericks. The couple divorced in 1999, (she married her current husband Garth Brooks in 2005).

2003
Winners at the 38th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards hosted by Reba McEntire included: Entertainer of the Year - Toby Keith, Top Male Vocalist - Kenny Chesney, Top Female Vocalist - Martina McBride, Top New Male Vocalist - Joe Nichols, Top Vocal Group - Rascal Flatts, Video of the Year went to Alan Jackson for "Drive (For Daddy Gene)" and Single Record of the Year was won by Kenny Chesney "The Good Stuff."

2006
Billy Walker the country music singer and guitarist was killed in a car accident when the van he was driving back to Nashville after a performance in Foley, Alabama veered off Interstate 65 in Fort Deposit and overturned. He is best-known for his 1962 hit, "(I'd Like to Be In) Charlie's Shoes".

2014
Crash My Party the fourth studio album by Luke Bryan was at #1 on the country chart. Its first single, the title track, reached #1 on the Billboard Country Airplay chart and the album went onto sell over 2 million in sales in the United States by the summer of this year.

2017
American singer-songwriter Jimmy LaFave died of cancer age 61. He was a founding father of Red Dirt music and became one of Oklahoma's most celebrated folk artists alongside Woodie Guthry. LaFave moved to Austin, Texas and continued to inspire a wealth of the scene's Americana, country and folk acts.