July 8th: On this day

1958
Born on this day was American drummer and singer Fred Young from country rock and Southern rock band The Kentucky Headhunters. Their 1989 album Pickin' on Nashville won a Grammy Award for Best Country Performance in 1991.

1961
Born on this day in Clinton, Oklahoma, was Toby Keith, country music singer-songwriter, record producer and actor. His debut "Should've Been a Cowboy", topped the US country charts and was the most played country song of the 1990s. The song has received three million spins since then. In June 2022, Keith announced that he had been diagnosed with stomach cancer, he died in his sleep in Oklahoma, on 5 February 2024, at the age of 62.

1970
Born on this day in Brownwood, Texas, was Drew Womack, singer, songwriter with Sons Of The Desert. Womack wrote Kenny Chesney's "She's Got It All", from his 1997 album I Will Stand, which became Chesney's first #1 single on the country charts.

1973
Kris Kristofferson was at #1 on the Country charts with "Why Me." The single features backing vocals by soon-to-be wife Rita Coolidge and up-and-coming singer-songwriter Larry Gatlin and was included on the album, Jesus Was a Capricorn. The song became the biggest hit of his career.

1985
Merle Haggard was at #1 on the Country charts with "Natural High", (which featured harmony vocals by Janie Fricke). It became Haggard's thirty-third #1 Country single.

1992
Garth Brooks and wife, Sandy, had their first child, Taylor Mayne Pearl Brooks. The couple first met in May 1986 when Garth was working as a bouncer at a bar.

1997
Connie Smith married 1990s country artist Marty Stuart. The couple met while writing songs together for Smith's 1998 comeback album.

2013
Country singer Steve Wariner asked for a restraining order against Linda Marie Shinn, who he claimed had been stalking him since 1989, when he performed at RodeoHouston. Wariner alleged that she had sent him countless letters he characterized as, "absurd and frightening" as well as emails and Facebook posts.

2022
Growin' Up the third studio album by American country music artist Luke Combs was at #1 on the Country chart. The album includes the singles "Doin' This", "The Kind of Love We Make" and "Going, Going, Gone" Growin' Up was nominated for Best Country Album at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards.