History Highlight:

Today in 1988, Kacey Musgraves was born in the town of Golden in northeast Texas. She turns 36 today. Musgraves grew up in a creative family and became interested in music as a young child. In 2008, she moved to Nashville and signed a publishing deal with Warner/Chappell. She released her debut studio album, Same Trailer Different Park, in 2013, immediately showcasing her independent spirit in the lyrics of songs like “Follow Your Arrow” and “Merry Go ‘Round.” The album would go on to win a Grammy for Best Country Album in 2014. Two albums later, with 2018’s Golden Hour, Musgraves took home Grammys for Best Country Album and Album of the Year, plus two additional statuettes for tracks on the record. Musgraves’ latest album is 2024’s Deeper Well, which debuted at No. 2 in Billboard’s Top Album Sales Chart. Inspired by artists like Loretta Lynn, John Prine and Willie Nelson, Musgraves has built a career by refusing to compromise to the demands of the music industry. “I'm really grateful that I had this unrelenting vision,” Musgraves told The Bitter Southerner in July 2024, “because it's now allowed me to do exactly what I want to do. This business can be so hard in so many ways that there's no way I would be doing it if I didn't have that total freedom of expression.”

Also, Today In:

1961 - Elvis Presley started a three-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. album chart with Something For Everybody, his sixth No. 1 album. 

1961 - Patsy Cline recorded the classic Willie Nelson song "Crazy". Cline was still on crutches after being in a car accident two months earlier and struggled at first to reach the high notes of the song due to her broken ribs. 

1965 - The Beatles played their one and only concert in Minnesota. Having played in Chicago the night before, the Beatles arrived at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport at 4:15 p.m., and they were taken to Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington, Minn., (now the site of the Mall of America) for a press conference, where George Harrison was presented a new 12-string Rickenbacker guitar by the employees of B-Sharp Music. Following the press meeting and a sit in the sauna in the Twins' locker room, the Beatles performed a set of 11 songs from a stage near the baseball diamond's second base to a crowd of 30,000 screaming fans, still in the height of Beatlemania. After spending the night in the Leamington Motor Inn in downtown Minneapolis (razed in 2008), the Beatles left the next day for Portland, Ore., which was the next stop on their tour. (See Andrea Swensson's feature about this historic concert.) 

1965 - The Rolling Stones started a three-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. album chart with Out of Our Heads, their first U.S. No. 1 album. 

1967, The Doors began recording their sophomore record, Strange Days, at Sunset Sound Studios in Hollywood. The album was released the following month and included two Top 30 singles, “People Are Strange” and “Love Me Two Times.” It peaked at No. 3 on the US album chart and, 34 years later, received a platinum certification from the RIAA. 

1972 - Grace Slick, Paul Kantner and Jack Casady were sprayed with mace by police after a rather boisterous Jefferson Airplane concert in Akron, Ohio. 

1982 - U2 singer Bono married Alison Stewart, his girlfriend since 1975, at All Saints Church in a northern suburb of Dublin. U2 bassist Adam Clayton was Bono's best man. The two are married to this day. 

1984 - The Psychedelic Furs released their fourth studio album, Mirror Moves. It features “Heaven,” “The Ghost in You,” “Here Come the Cowboys,” and “Heartbeat.”

1984 - Scandal (featuring Patty Smyth) released their debut studio album, Warrior. It features “The Warrior,” “Hands Tied,” and “Beat of a Heart.”

1987 The film Dirty Dancing is released. In November, the soundtrack goes to #1 in America, where it sells over 11 million copies. 

1990 - Alice in Chains release their debut album, Facelift, one of the first grunge albums to gain widespread popularity. 

1993 - For one week, standards outsell rap as the soundtrack to the hit romantic comedy Sleepless In Seattle knocks Cypress Hill's Black Sunday off the top of the Billboard 200. 

1997 - Oasis released their third album, Be Here Now. It quickly became one of the fastest-selling albums ever, moving over 350,000 units on its release day 

2005 - Synthesizer pioneer Robert A. Moog died at age 71 at his home in Asheville, N.C., due to complications from brain cancer. The Moog synthesizer was made popular by '70s progressive rock bands like Manfred Mann, Yes, Pink Floyd and Emerson, Lake and Palmer; The Beatles used a Moog synthesizer on Abbey Road and a Moog was used to create the eerie sounds on the soundtrack to the 1971 film A Clockwork Orange. 

2006 - A man surfing the Internet in the U.S. foiled three men who broke into a shop in Liverpool, England. The man had logged onto a site streaming live footage of a forthcoming Beatles festival when he saw the men smashing the window of a shop and climb inside. He phoned Merseyside police who arrested the men. 

2008 - Drummer Buddy Harman died of congestive heart failure at the age of 79. Harman worked with Elvis Presley ("Little Sister"), Patsy Cline ("Crazy"), Roy Orbison ("Pretty Woman"), Johnny Cash ("Ring Of Fire") and Tammy Wynette ("Stand By Your Man"). He was also the first house drummer for The Grand Ole Opry. 

2012 - Lynyrd Skynyrd release Last of a Dyin' Breed, their 14th studio album. Guitarist John Lowery, better known by stage name "John 5," contributes to a couple of the tracks. 

2012 - With 623,000 digital copies sold, Taylor Swift's hit "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" becomes the single with the most digital sales for a female artist. 

2013 - Legendary concert promoter Sid Bernstein, best known for booking The Beatles at Carnegie Hall and later Shea Stadium, died at the age of 95. Bernstein changed the American music scene in the 1960s by bringing The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Herman's Hermits, The Moody Blues, and The Kinks to America. He was the first promoter to organize rock concerts at sports stadiums. 

2014 - Sir Paul McCartney topped a list of the richest bassists in the world with an estimated wealth of $1.2 billion according to the website therichest.com. Coming in at No. 2 were Sting and Gene Simmons, both with a net worth of $300 million, followed by Pink Floyd's Roger Waters, U2's Adam Clayton and Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers. 

2016 - The Tragically Hip drew a sellout crowd to a show in Kingston, Ontario, as Gord Downie, failing in health, bid Canada farewell. The show was broadcast live across Canada and was shown at hundreds of public screenings across the country in bars and outdoor venues. 

2017 - During a historic solar eclipse, Bonnie Tyler sings "Total Eclipse Of The Heart," while Ozzy Osbourne performed "Bark At The Moon." 

2021 - Don Everly of The Everly Brothers dies of a heart attack at 84. 

Birthdays: 

Count Basie was born today in 1904. 

Jazz musicians Art and Addison Farmer were born today in 1928.

Kenny Rogers was born today in 1938. 

James Burton — Rock and Roll Hall of Fame guitarist for Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Elvis Costello, Roy Orbison, Joni Mitchell, and many more — is 85.

Jackie DeShannon ("Put A Little Love In Your Heart") is 83. 

Carl Giammarese of the Buckinghams is 77.

Glenn Hughes of Deep Purple and Black Sabbath is 73.

Joe Strummer of The Clash was born today in 1952. 

Steve Smith, drummer for Journey, is 70.

Peter “Budgie” Clarke of Siouxsie and the Banshees is 67. 

Kim Sledge of Sister Sledge is 67. 

Serj Tankian of System of a Down is 57. 

Liam Howlett of the Prodigy is 53.

Kelis is 45.

Bo Burnham is 34.

Highlights for Today in Music History are gathered from This Day in Music, Paul Shaffer's Day in Rock, Song Facts and Wikipedia.