December 2nd: On this day

1950
Born on this day was American country music artist John Wesley Ryles. He made his debut in 1968 with the single "Kay", a Top Ten hit on the Billboard Hot Country Singles.

1957
"Jailhouse Rock" by Elvis Presley was at #1 on the Billboard magazine country charts. The Leiber and Stoller song which was from his third motion picture of the same name featured Mike Stoller as a piano player. "Jailhouse Rock" later became the first song to debut at #1 in Great Britain.

1964
Buck Owens and his Buckaroos were at the top of the US Country charts with Together Again. The album featured the chart topping single "My Heart Skips a Beat", Owen's third #1 hit.

1965
Born on this day was American country music songwriter Casey Beathard who has co-written singles for several country music recording artists, including Top Ten singles for Gary Allan, Billy Ray Cyrus, Trace Adkins, Kenny Chesney and Eric Church. In 2004 and 2008, he received Broadcast Music, Inc.'s Songwriter of the Year award for his contributions.

1975
Willie Nelson was at the top of the US Country charts with Red Headed Stranger. The album was inspired by the "Tale of the Red Headed Stranger", a song that Nelson used to play as a DJ on his program in Fort Worth, Texas.

1983
Born on this day in Washington, Michigan, was Jana Kramer actress and country music singer. She is best known for her role as Alex Dupre on the television series One Tree Hill. Kramer began a country music career in 2012 with the single "Why Ya Wanna", from her self-titled debut album.

1997
At a ceremony held in Los Angeles, Johnny Cash, along with Beach Boy Brian Wilson and Jeff Barry, were awarded the Songwriters Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Songwriters.

1998
Garth Brooks and First Lady Hillary Clinton switched on the Christmas tree lights at New York's Rockefeller Center.

2002
Kenny Chesney's No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems album was certified double-platinum in the US. His seventh album produced five chart singles on the Billboard country music charts between 2002 and 2003 and has now sold over 4m copies in the US alone.

2004
Lynn Anderson was charged with driving while intoxicated in Denton, Texas. A driver who was following Anderson called the police after noticing that her car was weaving in and out of lanes. After failing a field sobriety test, Anderson was arrested. She was later released on bond.

2009
Taylor Swift picked up eight nominations at the 52nd annual Grammy Awards, including Record and Song of the Year, for "You Belong With Me", and Album of the Year, for Fearless.

2014
Garth Brooks was at the top of the U.S. Country charts with Man Against Machine, his ninth studio album.

2016
Mark Gray died aged 64. He was a member of Exile between 1979 and 1982 and Gray's solo career includes three albums and eight Top 40 hits, of which the highest-peaking is the #6 Tammy Wynette duet "Sometimes When We Touch". Gray also co-wrote "Take Me Down" and "The Closer You Get", both of which became #1 hits for Alabama.