March — In a span of two days, two major cable networks signed on the air. Country Music Television (aka CMT) went on-the-air March 6, while The Nashville Network (TNN) came on one day later. CMT was chiefly video-oriented, while TNN offered more feature-oriented programming.
Written by fellow country singer Deborah Allen, her then-husband Rafe VanHoy,
and Kix Brooks, who would later become one half of the biggest-selling country duo Brooks & Dunn.
October 20 – Merle Travis, 65, singer and composer of classic songs such as "Sixteen Tons", "Dark as a Dungeon", "So Round, So Firm, So Fully Packed" and "Smoke, Smoke, Smoke that Cigarette." (heart attack)
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.