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This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in the year 1958.

Events

• January 1 — Johnny Cash performs at San Quentin Prison. One of the audience members is Merle Haggard, in the midst of a two-year prison term for burglary.
• February — Struggling singer-songwriter Don Gibson finally gets a career break when his first major hit, " Oh Lonesome Me" reaches No. 1 on Billboard's "C&W Best Sellers in Stores" and "Most Played C&W by Jockeys" charts. The flip side of the single is " I Can't Stop Loving You," which went on to be recorded more than 700 times. Gibson is considered by many to be one of the originators of the Nashville Sound, a form of country music that uses pop music-styled arrangements (such as orchestrated strings) rather than traditional honky-tonk sounds.
• March — BMI opens its Nashville office, headed by Frances Preston.
• March 24 — Elvis Presley is inducted into the United States Army at the Memphis Draft Board, thus beginning his two years of service.
• May — The fledgling career of Jerry Lee Lewis is rocked by scandal when his marriage to second cousin Myra Gale Brown becomes public. A British tour is cancelled, and Lewis' career goes into decline until 1968, when he begins concentrating on country music.
• October 13 — Billboard discontinues the "C&W Best Sellers in Stores" and "Most Played C&W by Jockeys" charts. Starting with the October 20 issue, there is one all-encompassing "Hot C&W Sides" chart. The new chart has 30 positions, and " City Lights" by Ray Price is the first No. 1 song.
• November — The Country Music Association is founded to promote country music. Harry Stone, the former station manager of WSM, is named executive director.
• November — Conway Twitty begins a remarkable career ... in rock and roll, with his hit, " It's Only Make Believe." The song – which contains all the Twitty hallmarks – skyrockets to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the fall, and begins a string of hits that continues through the early 1960s. Twitty makes the switch to country in the mid-1960s. Although "... Make Believe" is never a country hit, the song has become a country standard in the years since Twitty became a country giant.
• December 26 — Johnny Cash tops a country and western concert at the Showboat Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada; also appearing are Tex Ritter and the Sons of the Pioneers. ^[1]

Top hits of the year

Number-one hits

United States

(as certified by Billboard)

Note: Through October 13, several songs were simultaneous No. 1 hits on the separate "Most Played C&W by Jockeys" and "C&W Best Sellers in Stores" charts. Only one No. 1 per week is possible starting with the "Hot C&W Sides" chart, which begins October 20.

Other major hits

Top new album releases

• Foreign Love – Hank Locklin (RCA Victor)
• Sings the Songs that Made Him Famous – Johnny Cash (Sun)

Births

• February 21 — Mary Chapin Carpenter, folk-styled country singer of the 1990s.
• February 24 — Sammy Kershaw, neotraditionalist of the 1990s and beyond.
• March 28 — Elisabeth Andreassen, Norwegian female country singer.
• May 23 — Shelly West, country singer of the 1980s, daughter of Dottie West.
• July 3 — Aaron Tippin, honky-tonk styled singer-songwriter of the 1990s and 2000s (decade).
• July 29 — Bobby Jensen, keyboardist from the Western Underground.
• July 30 — Neal McCoy, Asian country singer of the 1990s.
• September 6 — Jeff Foxworthy, comedian best known for "You Must Be a Redneck If ..." tagline; host of eponymously named countdown and " Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?" game show.
• September 16 — Terry McBride, lead singer of the 1990s trio McBride & the Ride.
• September 30 — Marty Stuart, neotraditionalist and Grand Ole Opry stalwart.
• October 10 — Tanya Tucker, teen-aged country star of the 1970s, who continued to be a major country star during the 1980s and 1990s.
• October 17 — Alan Jackson, neotraditionalist singer since the 1990s.
• October 25 — Mark Miller, lead singer of Sawyer Brown.
• December 28 — Joe Diffie, honky tonk-styled singer of the 1990s and early 2000s (decade) (d. 2020).

Deaths

• September 12 – Rod Brasfield, 48, comedian who was immensely popular with Grand Ole Opry audiences (heart failure).

Further reading

• Kingsbury, Paul, "The Grand Ole Opry: History of Country Music. 70 Years of the Songs, the Stars and the Stories," Villard Books, Random House; Opryland USA, 1995
• Kingsbury, Paul, "Vinyl Hayride: Country Music Album Covers 1947–1989," Country Music Foundation, 2003 ( ISBN  0-8118-3572-3)
• Millard, Bob, "Country Music: 70 Years of America's Favorite Music," HarperCollins, New York, 1993 ( ISBN  0-06-273244-7)
• Whitburn, Joel, "Top Country Songs 1944–2005 – 6th Edition." 2005.

Other links

• Country Music Association

References