1995 in country music
This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in the year 1995.
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Events
- February - Western Flyer releases "Cherokee Highway", a song against interracial violence. While the song does not chart, Martin Luther King Jr.'s widow Coretta Scott King invites the band to perform at his birthday celebration in Atlanta, Georgia.[1]
- June - Ty Herndon is arrested for indecent exposure in Fort Worth, Texas, by an undercover police officer.[2]
- December 31: Great American Country is launched by the Jones Radio Network. With a heavy emphasis on country music videos, the network is the first major rival to CMT.
Top hits of the year
Singles released by American artists
Singles released by Canadian artists
| US | CAN | Single | Artist | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Any Man of Mine | Shania Twain | |
| — | 20 | Better Off Blue | Rena Gaile | |
| 3 | 3 | Better Things to Do | Terri Clark | |
| — | 7 | Black-Eyed Susan | Prairie Oyster | |
| — | 1 | Bringing Back Your Love | One Horse Blue | |
| — | 15 | Broken String of Pearls | Prescott-Brown | |
| — | 6 | Chevy Coupe | Jim Witter | |
| — | 1 | Don't Cry Little Angel | Prairie Oyster | |
| — | 15 | Family Love | Farmer's Daughter | |
| — | 1 | First Comes Love | George Fox | |
| — | 10 | The Girl Is on a Roll Tonight | Terry Kelly | |
| — | 4 | Head Over Heels | Blue Rodeo | |
| — | 19 | Hina Na Ho (Celebration) | Susan Aglukark | |
| — | 1 | Hopeless Love | One Horse Blue | |
| — | 1 | (I Do It) For the Money | Charlie Major | |
| — | 8 | I Don't Wanna Be the One | Patricia Conroy | |
| — | 9 | I Really Dug Myself a Hole | The Goods | |
| — | 1 | I'm Here | Charlie Major | |
| — | 1 | Learning a Lot About Love | Jason McCoy | |
| — | 9 | Life Is Just a Dream | Joel Feeney | |
| — | 16 | Light in My Life | The Johner Brothers with Lisa Brokop | |
| — | 20 | Listen to the Radio | Rebecca Miller | |
| — | 18 | Missing You | Calvin Wiggett | |
| — | 1 | O Siem | Susan Aglukark | |
| — | 1 | Only One Moon | Prairie Oyster | |
| — | 20 | Radioland | South Mountain | |
| — | 18 | Roy Orbison Came On | Ron Hynes | |
| — | 4 | Safe in the Arms of Love | Michelle Wright | |
| — | 18 | Starting Right Now | The Johner Brothers | |
| — | 18 | This Old Guitar | Jim Matt | |
| — | 1 | This Used to Be Our Town | Jason McCoy | |
| — | 10 | Time of My Life | George Fox | |
| — | 16 | Two Broken Hearted Fools | Rick Tippe | |
| — | 19 | Walkin' That Line | Tineta | |
| — | 4 | The Wall | Michelle Wright | |
| — | 1 | What Else Can I Do | Patricia Conroy | |
| — | 1 | What's Holding Me | George Fox | |
| — | 1 | What Kind of Man | Joel Feeney | |
| 11 | 1 | Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under? | Shania Twain | |
| 14 | 1 | The Woman in Me (Needs the Man in You) | Shania Twain | |
| — | 5 | You Can't Resist It | Patricia Conroy | |
| — | 14 | You Feel the Same Way Too | The Rankin Family |
Top new album releases
Other top albums
| US | CAN | Album | Artist | Record Label |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 39 | All I Need to Know | Kenny Chesney | BNA | |
| 41 | 27 | Amazing Grace: A Country Salute to Gospel | Various Artists | Sparrow |
| 43 | Any Way the Wind Blows | Brother Phelps | Asylum | |
| 73 | Born That Way | Boy Howdy | Curb | |
| 69 | Country Dance Super Hits | Various Artists | K-Tel | |
| 44 | Daryle Singletary | Daryle Singletary | Giant | |
| 48 | Days Gone By | James House | Epic | |
| 45 | Faith in Me, Faith in You | Doug Stone | Epic | |
| 28 | Fire to Fire | Tanya Tucker | Liberty | |
| 36 | A Gene MacLellan Tribute | John Gracie | Atlantica | |
| 57 | George Ducas | George Ducas | Liberty | |
| 61 | Heart and Soul | Elvis Presley | RCA | |
| 48 | Junior High | Junior Brown | Curb | |
| 72 | Kim Richey | Kim Richey | Mercury/PolyGram | |
| 61 | Labor of Love | Radney Foster | Arista Nashville | |
| 68 | Letter to Laredo | Joe Ely | MCA Nashville | |
| 37 | The Marty Party Hit Pack | Marty Stuart | MCA Nashville | |
| 44 | The Moffatts | The Moffatts | Polydor Nashville | |
| 27 | The Original Volume 79 | Jeff Foxworthy | Laughing Hyena | |
| 72 | Restless | Shelby Lynne | Magnatone | |
| 35 | Sold Out Volume 80 | Jeff Foxworthy | Laughing Hyena | |
| 54 | Super Hits | Roy Orbison | Columbia | |
| 64 | Super Hits | Ricky Van Shelton | Columbia | |
| 26 | Ten More Miles | The Johner Brothers | Warner | |
| 66 | Today's Pure Country | Various Artists | K-Tel | |
| 63 | Today's Sizzlin' Country | Various Artists | K-Tel | |
| 37 | Under the Big Sky | Hemingway Corner | Epic | |
| 26 | We All Get Lucky Sometimes | Lee Roy Parnell | Career |
Births
- July 7 — Taylor Kerr, member of Maddie & Tae.
- August 11 – Priscilla Block, 2020s country singer-songwriter ("Just About Over You").
- September 18 — Maddie Font, member of Maddie & Tae.
Deaths
- May 25 – Dick Curless, 63, best known for his hit "A Tombstone Every Mile" (stomach cancer)[3]
- July 25 — Charlie Rich, 62, Grammy Award winning singer and songwriter ("Behind Closed Doors", The Most Beautiful Girl") (pulmonary embolism)
- November 10 — Curly Fox, 85, fiddler and one half of country-comedy duo Curly Fox and Texas Ruby.
Hall of Fame inductees
Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame inductees
Country Music Hall of Fame inductees
- Roger Miller (1936–1992)
- Jo Walker-Meador (born 1924)
Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame inductees
Major awards
Grammy Awards
- Best Female Country Vocal Performance — "Baby, Now That I've Found You", Alison Krauss
- Best Male Country Vocal Performance — "Go Rest High on That Mountain", Vince Gill
- Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal — "Here Comes the Rain", The Mavericks
- Best Country Collaboration with Vocals — "Somewhere in the Vicinity of the Heart", Shenandoah and Alison Krauss
- Best Country Instrumental Performance — "Hightower," Asleep at the Wheel, Béla Fleck and Johnny Gimble
- Best Country Song — "Go Rest High on That Mountain", Vince Gill
- Best Country Album — The Woman in Me, Shania Twain (Producer: Robert John "Mutt" Lange)
- Best Bluegrass Album — Unleashed, The Nashville Bluegrass Band
Juno Awards
- Country Male Vocalist of the Year — Charlie Major
- Country Female Vocalist of the Year — Shania Twain
- Country Group or Duo of the Year — Prairie Oyster
Academy of Country Music
- Entertainer of the Year — Brooks & Dunn
- Song of the Year — "The Keeper of the Stars", Dickey Lee, Karen Staley, Danny Mayo (Performer: Tracy Byrd)
- Single of the Year — "Check Yes or No", George Strait
- Album of the Year — The Woman in Me (Shania Twain)
- Top Male Vocalist — Alan Jackson
- Top Female Vocalist — Patty Loveless
- Top Vocal Duo — Brooks & Dunn
- Top Vocal Group — The Mavericks
- Top New Male Vocalist — Bryan White
- Top New Female Vocalist — Shania Twain
- Top New Vocal Duo or Group — Lonestar
- Video of the Year — "The Car" – Jeff Carson (Director: Michael Salomon)
ARIA Awards
(presented in Sydney on October 20, 1995)
Canadian Country Music Association
- Bud Country Fans' Choice Award — Michelle Wright
- Male Artist of the Year — Charlie Major
- Female Artist of the Year — Shania Twain
- Group or Duo of the Year — Prairie Oyster
- SOCAN Song of the Year — "Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under?", Shania Twain
- Single of the Year — "Any Man of Mine", Shania Twain
- Album of the Year — The Woman in Me, Shania Twain
- Top Selling Album — The Hits, Garth Brooks
- Video of the Year — "Any Man of Mine", Shania Twain
- Vista Rising Star Award — Farmer's Daughter
- Vocal Collaboration of the Year — Jim Witter and Cassandra Vasik
Country Music Association
- Entertainer of the Year — Alan Jackson
- Song of the Year — "Independence Day", Gretchen Peters (Performer: Martina McBride)
- Single of the Year — "When You Say Nothing at All", Alison Krauss & Union Station
- Album of the Year — When Fallen Angels Fly, Patty Loveless
- Male Vocalist of the Year — Vince Gill
- Female Vocalist of the Year — Alison Krauss
- Vocal Duo of the Year — Brooks & Dunn
- Vocal Group of the Year — The Mavericks
- Horizon Award — Alison Krauss
- Music Video of the Year — "Baby Likes to Rock It", The Tractors (Director: Michael Salomon)
- Vocal Event of the Year — "Somewhere in the Vicinity of the Heart", Shenandoah and Alison Krauss
- Musician of the Year — Mark O'Connor
RPM Big Country Awards
- Canadian Country Artist of the Year — Charlie Major
- Best Country Album — Only One Moon, Prairie Oyster
- Best Country Single — "Such a Lonely One", Prairie Oyster
- Male Artist of the Year — Charlie Major
- Female Artist of the Year — Michelle Wright
- Group of the Year — Prairie Oyster
- Outstanding New Artist — Shania Twain
- Top Country Composer(s) — Jim Witter and Johnny Douglas
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
- Whitburn, Joel, "Top Country Songs 1944–2005 – 6th Edition." 2005.
References
- ^ "Country song dares to tackle racism head-on". Deseret News. February 18, 1995. Archived from the original on September 23, 2015. Retrieved 2008-08-04.
- ^ "Ty Herndon arrested for indecent exposure". Reading Eagle (Pa.). June 16, 1995. Retrieved November 20, 2014.
- ^ "Dick Curless, 63, A Country Singer". The New York Times. 28 May 1995.