Country Music 1988

Events

May 21 - A major country music concert will be held at Madison Square Garden , New York . Participants are: Alabama , The Judds , George Strait and Randy Travis .
Time-Life Records releases the first part of the "Country USA" series. The series should ultimately include 23 years from 1950 to 1972.

Top hits of the year

Number 1 hits

January 9 - I Can't Get Close Enough - Exile
January 16 - One Friend - Dan Seals
January 23rd - Where Do the Nights Go - Ronnie Milsap
January 30 - Goin 'Gone - Kathy Mattea
February 6 - Wheels - Restless Heart
February 13 - Tennessee Flat Top Box - Rosanne Cash
February 20 - Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Star - Merle Haggard
February 27 - I Won't Take Less Than Your Love - Paul Davis , Tanya Tucker , and Paul Overstreet
March 5 - Face to Face - Alabama featuring KT Oslin
March 21 - Too Gone Too Long - Randy Travis
March 19 - Life Turned Her That Way - Ricky Van Shelton
March 26th - Turn It Loose - The Judds
April 2 - Love Will Find Its Way to You - Reba McEntire
April 19 - Famous Last Words of a Fool - George Strait
April 16 - I Wanna Dance With You - Eddie Rabbitt
April 23 - I'll Always Come Back - KT Oslin
April 30th - It's Such a Small World - Rodney Crowell with Rosanne Cash
May 7 - Cry, Cry, Cry - Highway 101
May 14 - I'm Gonna Get You - Eddy Raven
May 21 - Eighteen Wheels and a Dozen Roses - Kathy Mattea
June 4th - What She is (is a Woman in Love) - Earl Thomas Conley
June 11 - I Told You So - Randy Travis
June 25th - He's Back and I'm Blue - Desert Rose Band
July 2nd - If It Don't Come Easy - Tanya Tucker
July 9 - Fallin 'Again - Alabama
July 16 - If You Change Your Mind - Rosanne Cash
July 23 - Set 'Em Up Joe - Vern Gosdin
July 30th - Don't We All Have the Right - Ricky Van Shelton
August 6 - Baby Blue - George Strait
August 13 - Don't Close Your Eyes - Keith Whitley
August 20 - Bluest Eyes in Texas - Restless Heart
August 27 - The Wanderer - Eddie Rabbitt
September 3 - I Couldn't Leave You If I Tried - Rodney Crowell
September 10 - (Do You Love Me) Just Say Yes - Highway 101
September 17 - Joe Knows How to Live - Eddy Raven
September 24th - Addicted - Dan Seals
October 1 - We Believe in Happy Endings - Earl Thomas Conley with Emmylou Harris
October 8 - Honky Tonk Moon - Randy Travis
October 15th - Streets of Bakersfield - Dwight Yoakam with Buck Owens
October 22 - Strong Enough to Bend - Tanya Tucker
October 29 - Gonna Take a Lot of River - The Oak Ridge Boys
November 5 - Darlene - T. Graham Brown
November 12th - Runaway Train - Rosanne Cash
November 19 - I'll Leave This World Loving You - Ricky Van Shelton
December 3rd - I Know How He Feels - Reba McEntire
December 10 - If You Ain't Lovin '(You Ain't Livin') - George Strait
December 17th - A Tender Lie - Restless Heart
December 24th - When You Say Nothing at All - Keith Whitley

More bigger hits

"A Little Bit Closer" - Tom Wopat (# 18)
"A Little Bit in Love" - Patty Loveless (# 2)
"Always Late (With Your Kisses)" - Dwight Yoakam (# 9)
"Americana" - Moe Bandy (# 8)
"Another Place, Another Time" - Don Williams (# 5)
"Baby I'm Yours" - Steve Wariner (# 2)
"The Best I Know How" - The Statler Brothers (# 15)
"Blue Love" - The O'Kanes (# 10)
"Blue to the Bone" - Sweethearts of the Rodeo (# 5)
"Boogie Woogie Fiddle Country Blues" - Charlie Daniels Band (# 10)
"Button Off My Shirt" - Ronnie Milsap (# 4)
"Chill Factor" - Merle Haggard (# 9)
"Chiseled in Stone" - Vern Gosdin (# 6)
"Crying Shame" - Michael Johnson (# 4)
"Desperately" - Don Williams (# 7)
"Do You Believe Me Now?" - Vern Gosdin (# 4)
"Don't Give Candy to a Stranger" - Larry Boone (# 10)
"Early in the Morning and Late at Night - Hank Williams Jr. (# 13)
"Everybody's Sweetheart" - Vince Gill (# 11)
"The Factory" - Kenny Rogers (# 6)
"The Gift" - The McCarters (# 4)
"Give a Little Love" - The Judds (# 2)
"Givers and Takers" - Schuyler, Knobloch and Bickhardt (# 8)
"Goodbye Time" - Conway Twitty (# 7)
"Heaven Can't Be Found" - Hank Williams, Jr. (# 4)
"High Ridin 'Heroes" - David Lynn Jones and Waylon Jennings (# 14)
"I Didn't (Every Chance I Had)" - Johnny Rodriguez (# 12)
"I Don't Have Far to Fall" - Skip Ewing (# 8)
"I Have You" - Glen Campbell (# 7)
"I Loved You Yesterday" - Lyle Lovett (# 24)
"I Prefer the Moonlight" - Kenny Rogers (# 2)
"I Should Be With You" - Steve Wariner (# 2)
"I Still Believe" - Lee Greenwood (# 12)
"I Will Whisper Your Name" - Michael Johnson (# 7)
"I Wish That I Could Fall in Love Today - Barbara Mandrell (# 5)
"I Wouldn't Be a Man" - Don Williams (# 9)
"I'll Give You All My Love Tonight" - The Bellamy Brothers (# 6)
"I'll Pin a Note on Your Pillow" - Billy Joe Royal (# 5)
"I'm Down to My Last Cigarette" - kd lang (# 21)
"I'm Gonna Love Her on the Radio" - Charley Pride (# 13)
"I'm Gonna Miss You, Girl" - Michael Martin Murphey (# 3)
"I've Been Lookin '" - The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (# 2)
"If My Heart Had Windows" - Patty Loveless (# 10)
"If Ole Hank Could Only See Us Now" - Waylon Jennings (# 16)
"If the South Woulda Won" - Hank Williams, Jr. (# 8)
"It Keeps Right on A-Hurtin '" - Billy Joe Royal (# 17)
"It's You Again" - Exile (# 21)
"Just Lovin 'You" - The O'Kanes (# 5)
"Just One Kiss" - Exile (# 9)
"The Last Resort" - T. Graham Brown (# 4)
"Letter Home" - Forester Sisters (# 9)
"Love Helps Those" - Paul Overstreet (# 3)
"Love of a Lifetime" - Larry Gatlin and the Gatlin Brothers Band (# 4)
"Lyin 'In His Arms Again" Forester Sisters (# 5)
"Mama Knows" - Shenandoah (# 5)
"Midnight Highway" - Southern Pacific (# 14)
"Money" - KT Oslin (# 13)
"New Shade of Blue" - Southern Pacific (# 2)
"No More One More Time" - Jo-El Sonnier (# 7)
"Oh What a Love" - The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (# 5)
"Old Folks" - Ronnie Milsap with Mike Reid (# 2)
"One For the Money" - TG Sheppard (# 2)
"One Step Forward" - Desert Rose Band (# 2)
"One True Love" - The O'Kanes (# 4)
"Out of Sight and on My Mind" - Billy Joe Royal (# 10)
"Please, Please Baby" - Dwight Yoakam (# 6)
"Real Good Feel Good Song" - Mel McDaniel (# 9)
"Rebels Without a Clue" - The Bellamy Brothers (# 9)
"Rough and Rowdy Days" - Waylon Jennings (# 6)
"Santa Fe" - The Bellamy Brothers (# 5)
"Satisfy You" - Sweethearts of the Rodeo (# 5)
"Saturday Night Special" - Conway Twitty (# 9)
"She Couldn't Love Me Anymore" - T. Graham Brown (# 4)
"She Doesn't Cry Anymore" - Shenandoah (# 9)
"She's No Lady" - Lyle Lovett (# 17)
"Shouldn't It Be Easier Than This" - Charley Pride (# 5)
"Sincerely" - Forester Sisters (# 8)
"Some Old Side Road" - Keith Whitley (# 16)
"Spanish Eyes" - Willie Nelson and Julio Iglesias (# 8)
"Still Within the Sound of My Voice" - Glen Campbell (# 5)
"Strangers Again" - Holly Dunn (# 7)
"Summer Wind" - Desert Rose Band (# 2)
"Sunday Kind of Love" - Reba McEntire (# 5)
"Sure Thing" - Foster & Lloyd (# 8)
"Talkin 'to Myself Again" - Tammy Wynette (# 16)
"Talkin 'to the Wrong Man - Michael Martin Murphey (# 4)
"Tear Stained Letter" - Jo-El Sonnier (# 9)
"Tell Me True" - Juice Newton (# 8)
"Texas in 1880" - Foster & Lloyd (# 18)
"Thanks Again" - Ricky Skaggs (# 17)
"That's My Job" - Conway Twitty (# 6)
"That's That" - Michael Johnson (# 9)
"That's What Your Love Does to Me" - Holly Dunn (# 5)
"This Missin 'You Heart of Mine" - Sawyer Brown (# 2)
"Timeless and True Love" - The McCarters (# 5)
"Touch and Go Crazy" - Lee Greenwood (# 5)
"True Heart" - The Oak Ridge Boys (# 5)
"Under the Boardwalk" - Lynn Anderson (# 24)
"Untold Stories" - Kathy Mattea (# 4)
"We Must Be Doin 'Somethin' Right" - Eddie Rabbitt (# 7)
"We Never Touch at All" - Merle Haggard (# 22)
"What Do You Want From Me This Time?" - Foster & Lloyd (# 6)
"Wilder Days" - Baillie & the Boys (# 9)
"Wildflowers" - Trio ( Dolly Parton , Emmylou Harris , and Linda Ronstadt ) (# 6)
"Workin 'Man (Nowhere to Go)" - The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (# 4)
"You Can't Fall in Love When You're Cryin '" - Lee Greenwood (# 20)
"Young Country" - Hank Williams, Jr. (# 2)
"Your Memory Wins Again" - Skip Ewing (# 17)

Albums (selection)

Across the Rio Grande - Holly Dunn (MTM)
Alabama Live - Alabama (RCA)
Buenas Noches From a Lonely Room - Dwight Yoakam (Reprise)
Full Circle - Waylon Jennings (MCA)
Greatest Hits - The Judds (RCA)
Highway 101² - Highway 101 (Warner Bros.)
Honky Tonk Angel - Patty Loveless (MCA)
If My Heart Had Windows - Patty Loveless (MCA)
If You Ain't Lovin ', You Ain't Livin' - George Strait (MCA)
I'll Be Your Jukebox Tonight - Barbara Mandrell (Capitol)
Living Proof - Ricky Van Shelton (Columbia)
Old 8x10 - Randy Travis (Warner Bros.)
Reba - Reba McEntire (MCA)
Strong Enough to Bend - Tanya Tucker (Capitol)
Wide Open - Sawyer Brown (Capitol / Curb)
Big Dreams in a Small Town - Restless Heart (RCA)
Chisled in Stone - Vern Gosdin (Epic)
Come As You Were - T. Graham Brown (Capitol)
Diamonds and Dirt - Rodney Crowell (Columbia)
I Wanna Dance With You - Eddie Rabbitt (RCA)
Wild Streak - Hank Williams, Jr. (Warner Bros.)

Born

May 24 - Billy Gilman

Died

September 20 - Leon McAuliffe , 71
December 6 - Roy Orbison , 52

New Country Music Hall of Fame members

The most important awards

Grammy Awards

Best Country Vocal Performance, Female - "Hold Me" - KT Oslin
Best Country Vocal Performance, Male - "Old 8x10" - Randy Travis
Best Country Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal - "Give A Little Love" - The Judds
Best Country Vocal Collaboration - "Crying" - Roy Orbison and kd lang
Best Country Instrumental Performance (Orchestra, Group Or Soloist) - "Sugarfoot Rag" - Asleep At The Wheel
Best Bluegrass Recording (Vocal Or Instrumental) - "Southern Flavor" - Bill Monroe
Best Country Song - "Hold Me" - KT Oslin , songwriter

Academy of Country Music

Entertainer Of The Year - Hank Williams Jr.
Song Of The Year - "Eighteen Wheels And A Dozen Roses" - Kathy Mattea - Charles Nelson, Paul Nelson
Single Of The Year - "Eighteen Wheels And A Dozen Roses" - Kathy Mattea
Album Of The Year - This Woman - KT Oslin
Top Male Vocalist - George Strait
Top Female Vocalist - KT Oslin
Top Vocal Duo - The Judds
Top Vocal Group - Highway 101
Top New Male Vocalist - Rodney Crowell
Top New Female Vocalist - Suzy Bogguss
Video Of The Year - Young Country "- Hank Williams Jr. (Director: Bill Fishman)

Country Music Association

Entertainer of the Year - Hank Williams Jr.
Male Vocalist of the Year - Randy Travis
Female Vocalist of the Year - KT Oslin
Horizon Award - Ricky Van Shelton
Vocal Group of the Year - Highway 101
Vocal Duo of the Year - The Judds
Vocal Event of the Year - Emmylou Harris , Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt
Album of the Year - Hank Williams Jr.
Song of the Year - KT Oslin
Single of the Year - Kathy Mattea
Musician of the Year - Chet Atkins