This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in the year 1968.

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Contents 1 Events 2 Top hits of the year 2.1 Number one hits 2.1.1 United States 2.1.2 Canada 2.2 Other major hits 2.2.1 Singles released by American artists 2.2.2 Singles released by Canadian artists 3 Top new album releases 4 Births 5 Deaths 6 Country Music Hall of Fame Inductees 7 Major awards 7.1 Grammy Awards 7.2 Academy of Country Music 7.3 Country Music Association 8 Further reading 9 Other links 10 External links

[edit] Events

• January 13 — Johnny Cash records his legendary concert at Folsom State Prison. The resulting album, At Folsom Prison, becomes a huge international success and a cornerstone of his music catalog; the lead single, "Folsom Prison Blues" (an update of his 1956 hit) becomes one of the most famous recordings of his career.
• February 1 — Elvis Presley's only child, Lisa Marie, is born in Memphis, Tennessee.
• March 1 — Johnny Cash and June Carter are married.
• November — The Country Music Association Awards are aired on television for the first time. Hosted by Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, the awards show is taped in October and aired on NBC a month later.
• December 3 — Elvis Presley's '68 Comeback Special airs on NBC. Although this special focuses more on the pop/rock side of his musical talents, the special will reinvigorate Presley's career in both the country and mainstream pop genres.

[edit] Top hits of the year

[edit] Number one hits

[edit] United States

(as certified by Billboard)

Date	Single Name	Artist	Wks. No.1	Spec. Note
January 20	Sing Me Back Home	Merle Haggard	2
February 3	Skip a Rope	Henson Cargill	5	[C]
March 9	Take Me to Your World	Tammy Wynette	1
March 16	A World of Our Own	Sonny James	3
April 6	How Long Will My Baby Be Gone	Buck Owens	1
April 13	You Are My Treasure	Jack Greene	1
April 20	Fist City	Loretta Lynn	1
April 27	The Legend of Bonnie and Clyde	Merle Haggard	2
May 11	Have a Little Faith	David Houston	1
May 18	I Wanna Live	Glen Campbell	3	[2], [A] Returned to Number One on June 15.
May 25	Honey	Bobby Goldsboro	3	[C] Also peaked at Number One on the Billboard Pop and Adult Contemporary charts.
June 29	D-I-V-O-R-C-E	Tammy Wynette	3
July 20	Folsom Prison Blues	Johnny Cash	4	[1] Originally the B-side single of "So Doggone Lonesome" in 1956, "Folsom Prison Blues" was re-released as a live cut, becoming the more-remembered version of the song.
August 17	Heaven Says Hello	Sonny James	1
August 24	Already It's Heaven	David Houston	1
August 31	Mama Tried	Merle Haggard	4
September 28	Harper Valley PTA	Jeannie C. Riley	3	[C] Also peaked at Number One on the Billboard Pop and Adult Contemporary charts.
October 19	Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye	Eddy Arnold	2	[B] Cover of The Casinos' 1967 doo-wop hit.
November 2	Next in Line	Conway Twitty	1	[A] Originally known as a Rock & Roll singer in the early 60s, Conway Twitty crossed over into country music in the mid-60s, with this song becoming the first of 45 Number One hits of his career.
November 9	I Walk Alone	Marty Robbins	2
November 23	Stand by Your Man	Tammy Wynette	3	Released during the height of the women's rights movement, "Stand by Your Man" was often derided by many feminist supporters.
December 14	Born to Be with You	Sonny James	1
December 21	Wichita Lineman	Glen Campbell	2	Also reached Number One on the Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart.

[edit] Canada

(as certified by RPM)

Date	Single Name	Artist	Wks. No.1	Spec. Note
May 4	You Are My Treasure	Jack Greene	1	[C]
May 11	Fist City	Loretta Lynn	1	[A]
May 18	Have a Little Faith	David Houston	1	[A]
May 25	Wild Weekend	Bill Anderson	1	[A]
June 1	Honey	Bobby Goldsboro	2	[A]
June 15	I Wanna Live	Glen Campbell	2	[A]
June 29	D-I-V-O-R-C-E	Tammy Wynette	3	[A]
July 20	Folsom Prison Blues	Johnny Cash	2	[A] RPM didn't publish on July 27 or August 12.
August 19	What's Made Milwaukee Famous (Has Made a Loser Out of Me)	Jerry Lee Lewis	1	[A]
August 26	Already It's Heaven	David Houston	1
September 2	Dreams of the Everyday Housewife	Glen Campbell	2
September 16	Harper Valley PTA	Jeannie C. Riley	2	[A]
September 30	Only Daddy That'll Walk the Line	Waylon Jennings	1	[A]
October 7	Applesauce	Lynn Jones	2	[C]
October 21	Big Girls Don't Cry	Lynn Anderson	1	[A]
October 28	I Just Came to Get My Baby	Faron Young	1	[A]
November 4	Happy State of Mind	Bill Anderson	1
November 11	Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye	Eddy Arnold	1	[C]
November 18	When You Are Gone	Jim Reeves	1
November 25	Mama Tried	Merle Haggard	1	[A]
December 2	Where Love Used to Live	David Houston	1
December 9	Stand by Your Man	Tammy Wynette	1
December 16	Little Arrows	Leapy Lee	1	[C]
December 23	I Take a Lot of Pride in What I Am	Merle Haggard	3	[2] Fell to #2 on the week of January 13, 1969.

[edit] Other major hits

[edit] Singles released by American artists

• "Another Place Another Time" - Jerry Lee Lewis
• "As Long As I Live" - George Jones
• "Baby's Back Again" - Connie Smith
• "Big Girls Don't Cry" - Lynn Anderson
• "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" – Glen Campbell
• "Country Girl" - Dottie West
• "The Country Hall of Fame" - Hank Locklin
• "The Day the World Stood Still" - Charley Pride
• "Dreams of the Everyday Housewife" – Glen Campbell
• "The Easy Part's Over" – Charley Pride
• "Flattery Will Get You Everywhere" - Lynn Anderson
• "Happy State of Mind" - Bill Anderson
• "Here Comes Heaven" - Eddy Arnold
• "Here Comes the Rain, Baby" - Eddy Arnold
• "Holdin' On to Nothin' - Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton
• "I Got You" - Waylon Jennings and Anita Carter
• "I've Got You on My Mind Again" - Buck Owens
• "The Image of Me" – Conway Twitty
• "It Takes People Like You (To Make People Like Me)" - Buck Owens
• "It's All Over" - David Houston and Tammy Wynette (Different song than the song below)
• "It's All Over But the Crying" - Hank Williams Jr.
• "It's Over" - Eddy Arnold
• "Just Because I'm a Woman" - Dolly Parton
• "Just For You" - Ferlin Husky
• "The Last Thing on My Mind" – Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton
• "Let the Chips Fall" - Charley Pride
• "Let the World Keep On A-Turnin' - Buck Owens and Buddy Alan
• "Little Arrows" - Leapy Lee
• "Little Green Apples" - O. C. Smith, Roger Miller and Patti Page
• "Love Takes Care of Me" - Jack Greene
• "Milwaukee, Here I Come" - George Jones and Brenda Carter
• "No Another Time" - Lynn Anderson
• "On Tap, In the Can, Or in the Bottle" - Hank Thompson
• "The Only Daddy That'll Walk the Line" - Waylon Jennings
• "Plastic Saddle" - Nat Stuckey
• "Promises, Promises" - Lynn Anderson
• "Roseanna's Going Wild" - Johnny Cash
• "Run Away Little Tears" - Connie Smith
• "Say It's Not You" - George Jones
• "She Still Comes Around (To Love What's Left of Me)" - Jerry Lee Lewis
• "She Wears My Ring" - Ray Price
• "Sweet Rosie Jones" - Buck Owens
• "Take Me As I Am (Or Let Me Go)" - Ray Price
• "Undo the Right" - Johnny Bush
• "We'll Get Ahead Someday" - Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton
• "What's Made Milwaukee Famous (Has Made a Loser Out of Me)" - Jerry Lee Lewis
• "Wild Weekend" – Bill Anderson
• "With Pen in Hand" - Johnny Darrell also covered in the same year by Conway Twitty, Dottie West, and the song's writer, Bobby Goldsboro
• "You Just Stepped In (From Stepping Out on Me)" - Loretta Lynn
• "Your Squaw's on the Warpath" – Loretta Lynn

[edit] Singles released by Canadian artists

US	CAN	Single	Artist
	3	Calgary	Gary Buck
	4	Changing of the Seasons	Myrna Lorrie
20	5	The Late and Great Love (Of My Heart)	Hank Snow
	19	Such a Lovely Day	Jeanie Ward
50	14	The Sugar from My Candy	Ray Griff
	2	Turn Down the Music	Myrna Lorrie
	13	The Wife You Save May Be Your Own	Dianne Leigh

[edit] Top new album releases

• The Best of Bobby Bare Vol. 2 - Bobby Bare (RCA)
• The Bottom of the Bottle – Porter Wagoner (RCA)
• Country Girl - Dottie West (RCA)
• D-I-V-O-R-C-E - Tammy Wynette (Epic)
• Glen Campbell and Bobbie Gentry - Glen Campbell and Bobbie Gentry (Capitol)
• Harper Valley PTA - Jeannie C. Riley (Plantation)
• Honey - Bobby Goldsboro (United Artists)
• Just Because I'm a Woman - Dolly Parton (RCA)
• Liz Anderson Sings Her Favorites - Liz Anderson (RCA)
• Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison - Johnny Cash (Columbia)
• Promises, Promises - Lynn Anderson (Chart)
• Walking in Love Land - Eddy Arnold (RCA)

[edit] Births

• January 27 — Tracy Lawrence, singer with a string of hits in the 1990s and 2000s ("Sticks and Stones", "Alibis", "Find Out Who Your Friends Are", and others)
• March 26 — Kenny Chesney, became one of the genre's leading superstars from the late 1990s onward.
• June 3 — Jamie O'Neal, Australian-born female vocalist of the 2000s.
• August 5 — Terri Clark, Canadian-born female vocalist since the mid-1990s.
• November 10 — Chris Cagle, contemporary-styled singer of the 2000s

[edit] Deaths

• June 14 — Ernest "Pop" Stoneman, 75, country music pioneer and leader of the Stoneman Family.
• September 19 — Red Foley, 58, one of country music's top stars of the 1940s and 1950s (respiratory failure).

[edit] Country Music Hall of Fame Inductees

• Bob Wills (1905-1975)

[edit] Major awards

[edit] Grammy Awards

• Best Female Country Vocal Performance — "Harper Valley PTA," Jeannie C. Riley
• Best Male Country Vocal Performance — "Folsom Prison Blues," Johnny Cash
• Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal — "Foggy Mountain Breakdown," Flatt & Scruggs
• Best Country Song — "Little Green Apples," Bobby Russell (Performer: Roger Miller)

[edit] Academy of Country Music

• Single of the Year — "Little Green Apples," Roger Miller
• Album of the Year — Bobbie Gentry & Glen Campbell, Bobbie Gentry and Glen Campbell
• Top Male Vocalist — Glen Campbell
• Top Female Vocalist — Cathie Taylor
• Top Vocal Duo — Johnny Mosby and Jonie Mosby
• Top New Male Vocalist — Ray Sanders
• Top New Female Vocalist — Cheryl Poole

[edit] Country Music Association

• Entertainer of the Year — Glen Campbell
• Song of the Year — "Honey," Bobby Russell (Performer: Bobby Goldsboro)
• Single of the Year — "Harper Valley PTA," Jeannie C. Riley
• Album of the Year — At Folsom Prison, Johnny Cash
• Male Vocalist of the Year — Glen Campbell
• Female Vocalist of the Year — Tammy Wynette
• Vocal Group of the Year — Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton
• Instrumentalist of the Year — Chet Atkins
• Instrumental Group of the Year — The Buckaroos
• Comedian of the Year — Ben Colder

[edit] 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.

[edit] Other links

• Country Music Association
• Inductees of the Country Music Hall of Fame

[edit] External links

• Country Music Hall of Fame