The Birth of The Blues This Day in Country Music – August 16th (Video)

1969 - Merle Haggard's blue-collar anthem "Workin' Man Blues" goes to #1 on the Billboard country chart.

2005 - Arista releases Brad Paisley's "Time Well Wasted" album.

2003 - Daryle Singletary marries surgical nurse Holly Mercer at the Lovely Lanes Chapel in St. Simons, Georgia.

2000 - Mary Chapin Carpenter sings "Why Walk When You Can Fly" at the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles as the party nominates vice president Al Gore for president.

1980 - Alabama registers its first #1 single in Billboard with "Tennessee River".

1979 - The Charlie Daniels Band picks up its first platinum album, for "Million Mile Reflections".

1977 - Elvis Presley dies in his bathroom at Graceland Mansion in Memphis. The most significant pop artist of the 20th century, the beginning and end of his career are grounded in country. He enters the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1998.

1972 - Multi-instrumentalist Emily Robison born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. She becomes a member of The Dixie Chicks, who combine pop fashion with twangy country during a quick ascent to Entertainer of the Year, but are set back by a 2003 comment about the president.

1939 - Singer-songwriter Billy Joe Shaver born in Corsicana, Texas. His credits include Waylon Jennings' "You Ask Me To," Johnny Rodriguez's "I Couldn't Be Me Without You" and John Anderson's "I'm Just An Old Chunk Of Coal (But I'm Gonna Be A Diamond Someday)".

1935 - Patsy Montana records "I Wanna Be A Cowboy's Sweetheart" in New York.