COUNTRY MUSIC 50'S NEWS

The Decade of Change from 78 rpm to 45 rpm.

1950

Homer and Jethro begin appearing on WLS National Barn Dance in Chicago

Rex Allen signs with Republic Pictures

Hank Snow and the Carter Family join the Grand Ole Opry

1951

Floyd Cramer and Johnny Horton join the Louisiana Hayride

Dick Curless joins the Armed Forces Radio Network as "The Rice-Paddy Ranger"

Buck Owens moves to Bakersfield

Martha Carson joins the Grand Ole Opry

1952

Archie Campbell begins his own TV show on WATE,Knoxville

Johnnie and Jack join the Grand Ole Opry

Hank Williams is fired from the Grand Ole Opry

Hank Williams marries Billie Jean Jones Eshliman

The Riders of the Purple Sage break-up

Rabon Delmore and Uncle Dave Macon die

1953

Jim Ed Brown and his sister Maxine record as a duet

Bill Carlisle,Del Wood and the Wilburn Brothers join the Grand Ole Opry

Flatt and Scruggs start their own radio series,"Martha White Biscuit Time" on WSM

Jim Reeves joins the Louisiana Hayride

Tex Ritter becomes co-host of Town Hall Party on radio and TV

Marty Robbins becomes a regular on the Grand Ole Opry

Hank Williams dies

Virginia Patterson marries Gerald Cline and begins performing on the Louisiana Hayride under the nick-name,Patsy

1954

Rex Allen makes his last singing cowboy movie,"Phantom Stallion"

"Frontier Doctor",starring Rex Allen starts on TV

Pat Boone marries Shirley Foley

After quitting the Grand Ole Opry,Red Foley starts hosting"Ozark Jubilee Show" on ABC

Charley Pride plays baseball for theMemphis Red Sox in the Negro American League(until 1956)

Elvis Presley makes his first and last appearance on the Grand Ole Opry

Fred Rose dies

Ernest Ashworth records for MGM as "Billy Worth"

Country music DJ's announce they will no longer play 78 rpm records,which have been replaced by the new 45 rpm format

1955

Webb Pierce,Hawkshaw Hawkins,Jean Shepard,Jim Reeves and Flatt and Scruggs join the Grand Ole Opry

The Louvin Brothers join the Grand Ole Opry ( they leave in 1957 and rejoin in 1959)

The Statler Brothers are formed as the Kingsmen

"The Patti Page Show" airs on TV(through 1958)

Earl Scruggs is critically injured in a car crash

1956

Elvis Presley makes his first movie,"Love Me Tender"(originally called "The Reno Brothers")

George Morgan starts his own show on WLAC-TV(which runs through 1959)

Jimmy C. Newman,Johnny Cash and George Jones join the Grand Ole Opry

Faron Young appears in the movie"Hidden Guns",which led to his nick-name "The Young Sheriff"

1957

The Oak Ridge Quartet is re-formed

Patsy Cline appears on "Arthur Godfrey Talent Scouts" TV show

Porter Wagoner,The Everly Brothers,Ferlin Husky,Doug and Rusty Kershaw,and Wilma Lee and Stoney Cooper join the Grand Ole Opry

Ferlin Husky appears in the movie"Mr. Rock and Roll"

Merle Haggard goes to San Quentin on a burglary conviction(he's released in 1960 with a full pardon in 1972

Carl Smith marries Goldy Hill

Harold Jenkins becomes Conway Twitty(and records for Sun Records)

1958

Margie Bowes and Don Gibson join the Grand Ole Opry

Ferlin Husky appears in the movie"Country Music Holiday"

Comic Rod Brasfield dies

Elvis Presley goes into the U.S.Army(until 1960)

Johnny Cash quits the Grand Ole Opry

Leon Rausch joins Bob Wills Texas Playboys

Waylon Jennings tours with Buddy Holly as his bass player(through 1959)

The Country Music Association is founded

Johnny Cash performs his first free concert for the inmates at San Quentin Prison.In the audience is Merle Haggard

1959

Buddy Holly,Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens are killed in a plane crash near Mason City, Iowa

Billy Grammer,Hawkshaw Hawkins and Skeeter Davis join the Grand Ole Opry

Information for this page from "Country Song Roundup"