This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in the year 1988. [edit] Events [edit] No dates - Time-Life Records releases the first volume of its "Country USA" series. The series, which would eventually include 23 volumes, each chronicles one year per volume - 1950 through 1972. Each volume - offered on two record albums, or one cassette or compact disc - contains liner notes from some of country music's most respected historians. In many cases, the songs offered on each volume represented the first time they had ever been re-released on compact disc. "Country USA" was offered through television and magazine advertisements.
- The Country Music Association Awards introduced a new award, Vocal Event of the Year, awarding collaborative efforts by two or more artists who normally don't work together. (Previously such efforts had to be included with Best Duo or Group nominations.) The first recipient was the group of Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton, and Linda Ronstadt for their Trio album.
[edit] Top hits of the year [edit] Number one hits [edit] United States (as certified by Billboard) | Date | Single Name | Artist | Wks. No.1 | CAN peak | Spec. Note | | January 9 | I Can't Get Close Enough | Exile | 1 | | [B] | | January 16 | One Friend | Dan Seals | 1 | | | | January 23 | Where Do the Nights Go | Ronnie Milsap | 1 | | | | January 30 | Goin' Gone | Kathy Mattea | 1 | 3 | [A] | | February 6 | Wheels | Restless Heart | 1 | | | | February 13 | Tennessee Flat Top Box | Rosanne Cash | 1 | | - A cover of a song her legendary father Johnny Cash made famous in 1962.
| | February 20 | Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Star | Merle Haggard | 1 | | [B] | | February 27 | I Won't Take Less Than Your Love | Tanya Tucker, Paul Davis and Paul Overstreet | 1 | 10 | [A] - Paul Overstreet
[B] - Paul Davis | | March 5 | Face to Face | Alabama | 1 | | | | March 12 | Too Gone Too Long | Randy Travis | 1 | | | | March 19 | Life Turned Her That Way | Ricky Van Shelton | 1 | | | | March 26 | Turn It Loose | The Judds | 1 | 5 | | | April 2 | Love Will Find Its Way to You | Reba McEntire | 1 | | | | April 9 | Famous Last Words of a Fool | George Strait | 1 | | | | April 16 | I Wanna Dance With You | Eddie Rabbitt | 1 | | | | April 23 | I'll Always Come Back | K. T. Oslin | 1 | | | | April 30 | It's Such a Small World | Rodney Crowell with Rosanne Cash | 1 | | [A] - Rodney Crowell - This was the lead-off single to Crowell's Diamonds & Dirt album, which sprouted five No. 1 hits in 1988-1989, and represented the peak of this alternative country singer's mainstream popularity.
| | May 7 | Cry, Cry, Cry | Highway 101 | 1 | | | | May 14 | I'm Gonna Get You | Eddy Raven | 1 | | | | May 21 | Eighteen Wheels and a Dozen Roses | Kathy Mattea | 2 | | | | June 4 | What She is (is a Woman in Love) | Earl Thomas Conley | 1 | 2 | | | June 11 | I Told You So | Randy Travis | 2 | | | | June 25 | He's Back and I'm Blue | The Desert Rose Band | 1 | | [A] | | July 2 | If It Don't Come Easy | Tanya Tucker | 1 | — | | | July 9 | Fallin' Again | Alabama | 1 | | | | July 16 | If You Change Your Mind | Rosanne Cash | 1 | | | | July 23 | Set 'Em Up Joe | Vern Gosdin | 1 | 2 | | | July 30 | Don't We All Have the Right | Ricky Van Shelton | 1 | | | | August 6 | Baby Blue | George Strait | 1 | 3 | | | August 13 | Don't Close Your Eyes | Keith Whitley | 1 | 2 | [1], [A] | | August 20 | Bluest Eyes in Texas | Restless Heart | 1 | 2 | | | August 27 | The Wanderer | Eddie Rabbitt | 1 | | - A cover of the classic Dion pop standard.
| | September 3 | I Couldn't Leave You If I Tried | Rodney Crowell | 1 | | | | September 10 | (Do You Love Me) Just Say Yes | Highway 101 | 1 | | | | September 17 | Joe Knows How to Live | Eddy Raven | 1 | | | | September 24 | Addicted | Dan Seals | 1 | | | | October 1 | We Believe in Happy Endings | Earl Thomas Conley with Emmylou Harris | 1 | | [B] - Emmylou Harris | | October 8 | Honky Tonk Moon | Randy Travis | 1 | ? | | | October 15 | Streets of Bakersfield | Dwight Yoakam with Buck Owens | 1 | ? | [A] - Dwight Yoakam
[B] - Buck Owens - This song represented a (temporary, as it turned out) resurgence in groundbreaking artist Buck Owens' mainstream popularity, after hitting his peak in the 1960s and early 1970s.
| | October 22 | Strong Enough to Bend | Tanya Tucker | 1 | ? | [B] | | October 29 | Gonna Take a Lot of River (Mississippi, Monongahela, Ohio) | The Oak Ridge Boys | 1 | ? | - The first No. 1 Oak Ridge Boys song to feature new member Steve Sanders, who had replaced William Lee Golden a year earlier.
| | November 5 | Darlene | T. Graham Brown | 1 | ? | [B] | | November 12 | Runaway Train | Rosanne Cash | 1 | ? | | | November 19 | I'll Leave This World Loving You | Ricky Van Shelton | 2 | ? | | | December 3 | I Know How He Feels | Reba McEntire | 1 | ? | | | December 10 | If You Ain't Lovin' (You Ain't Livin') | George Strait | 1 | ? | | | December 17 | A Tender Lie | Restless Heart | 1 | ? | [B] | | December 24 | When You Say Nothing at All | Keith Whitley | 2 | ? | | - Notes
- 1^ No. 1 song of the year, as determined by Billboard.
- A^ First Billboard No. 1 hit for that artist.
- B^ Last Billboard No. 1 hit for that artist.
[edit] Canada (as certified by RPM). Note: Charts from October 1988-April 1989 are missing from the RPM archives. - Notes
- A^ First RPM No. 1 hit for that artist.
- B^ Last RPM No. 1 hit for that artist.
- C^ Only RPM No. 1 hit for that artist.
[edit] Other major hits [edit] Singles released by American artists [edit] Singles released by Canadian artists [edit] Top new album releases [edit] Other top albums [edit] On television [edit] Regular series [edit] Specials [edit] Births [edit] Deaths [edit] Hall of Fame inductees [edit] Country Music Hall of Fame inductees [edit] Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame inductees [edit] Major awards [edit] Grammy Awards [edit] Juno Awards [edit] Academy of Country Music [edit] Canadian Country Music Association [edit] Country Music Association [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 [edit] External links |
