1983_in_country

1983 in country music

Events

March — In a span of two days, two major cable networks signed on the air. Country Music Television (aka CMT) went on-the-air March 6, while The Nashville Network (TNN) came on one day later. CMT was chiefly video-oriented, while TNN offered more feature-oriented programming.

Top hits of the year

Number one hits

Date	Song Name	Artist	Wks. No. 1	Spec. Note
January 8	Can't Even Get the Blues	Reba McEntire	1	^A
January 15	Going Where the Lonely Go	Merle Haggard	1
January 22	(Lost His Love) On Our Last Date	Emmylou Harris	1
January 29	Talk to Me	Mickey Gilley	1
February 5	Inside	Ronnie Milsap	1
February 12	Till I Gain Control Again	Crystal Gayle	1
February 19	Fakin' Love	T.G. Sheppard and Karen Brooks	1	^{B - Karen Brooks}
February 26	Why Baby Why	Charley Pride	1
March 5	If Hollywood Don't Need You (Honey I Still Do)	Don Williams	1
March 12	The Rose	Conway Twitty	1
March 19	I Wouldn't Change You If I Could	Ricky Skaggs	1
March 26	Swingin'	John Anderson	1
April 2	When I'm Away From You	Bellamy Brothers	1
April 9	We've Got Tonight	Kenny Rogers and Sheena Easton	1
April 16	Dixieland Delight	Alabama	1
April 23	American Made	Oak Ridge Boys	1
April 30	You're The First Time I've Thought About Leaving	Reba McEntire	1
May 7	Jose Cuervo	Shelly West	1	¹
May 14	Whatever Happened to Old-Fashioned Love	B.J. Thomas	1
May 21	Common Man	John Conlee	1
May 28	You Take Me for Granted	Merle Haggard	1
June 4	Lucille (You Won't Do Your Daddy's Will)	Waylon Jennings	1
June 11	Our Love is on the Faultline	Crystal Gayle	1
June 18	You Can't Run From Love	Eddie Rabbitt	1
June 25	Fool For Your Love	Mickey Gilley	1
July 2	Love is on a Roll	Don Williams	1
July 9	Highway 40 Blues	Ricky Skaggs	1
July 16	The Closer You Get	Alabama	1
July 23	Pancho and Lefty	Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard	1
July 30	I Always Get Lucky With You	George Jones	1	^B
August 6	Your Love's on the Line	Earl Thomas Conley	1
August 13	He's a Heartache (Looking For a Place to Happen)	Janie Fricke	1
August 20	Love Song	The Oak Ridge Boys	1
August 27	You're Gonna Ruin My Bad Reputation	Ronnie McDowell	1
September 3	A Fire I Can't Put Out	George Strait	1
September 10	I'm Only in It for the Love	John Conlee	1	Written by fellow country singer Deborah Allen, her then-husband Rafe VanHoy, and Kix Brooks, who would later become one half of the biggest-selling country duo Brooks & Dunn.
September 17	Night Games	Charley Pride	1	^B
September 24	Baby, What About You	Crystal Gayle	1
October 1	New Looks From an Old Lover	B.J. Thomas	1
October 8	Don't You Know How Much I Love You	Ronnie Milsap	1
October 15	Paradise Tonight	Charly McClain and Mickey Gilley	1
October 22	Lady Down on Love	Alabama	1
October 29	Islands in the Stream	Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton	2
November 12	Somebody's Gonna Love You	Lee Greenwood	1
November 19	One of a Kind, Pair of Fools	Barbara Mandrell	1
November 26	Holding Her and Loving You	Earl Thomas Conley	1
December 3	A Little Good News	Anne Murray	1
December 10	Tell Me a Lie	Janie Fricke	1	Cover of the 1974 country-pop crossover hit by Sami Jo.
December 17	Black Sheep	John Anderson	1
December 24	Houston (Means I'm One Day Closer to You)	Larry Gatlin and the Gatlin Brothers	2

¹ - No. 1 song of the year, as determined by Billboard magazine.
^A - First Billboard No. 1 hit for that artist.
^B - Last Billboard No. 1 hit for that artist to date.

Other major hits

"Ain't No Trick (It Takes Magic)" - Lee Greenwood
"All My Life" - Kenny Rogers
"Amarillo by Morning" – George Strait
"Baby I Lied" - Deborah Allen
"The Conversation" - Waylon Jennings and Hank Williams Jr.
"Don't Count the Rainy Days" - Michael Martin Murphey
"Dream Baby (How Long Must I Dream)" - Lacy J. Dalton
"Everything's Beautiful in its Own Way" – Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson
"Feel Right" - Tanya Tucker
"Flight 309 to Tennessee" – Shelly West
"Foolin'" – Johnny Rodriguez
"Going Downhill" - John Anderson
"Guilty" - Statler Brothers
"Hard Candy Christmas" - Dolly Parton
"Hey Bartender" – Johnny Lee
"How Could I Love Her So Much" – Johnny Rodriguez
"I.O.U." – Lee Greenwood
"I Don't Remember Loving You" - John Conlee
"I Have Loved You Girl (But Not Like This Before)" – Earl Thomas Conley
"I Love Her Mind" – Bellamy Brothers
"I Wonder" - Rosanne Cash
"If You're Gonna Do Me Wrong (Do It Right)" - Vern Gosdin
"In Times Like These" - Barbara Mandrell
"Last Thing I Needed First Thing This Morning" - Willie Nelson
"Leave Them Boys Alone" - Hank Williams Jr. (with Waylon Jennings and Ernest Tubb)
"Let's Get Over Them Together" - Moe Bandy and Becky Hobbs
"Like Nothing Ever Happened" - Sylvia
"Lost in the Feeling" - Conway Twitty
"Lost My Baby Blues" - David Frizzell
"Love Affairs" - Michael Martin Murphey
"The Love She Found in Me" - Gary Morris
"Midnight Fire" – Steve Wariner
"My First Taste of Texas" - Ed Bruce
"My Lady Loves Me (Just As I Am)" - Leon Everette
"Nobody But You" – Don Williams
"(Oh Baby Mine) I Get So Lonely" – Statler Brothers
"Personally" - Ronnie McDowell
"The Ride" – David Allen Coe
"Save Me" - Louise Mandrell
"Scarlet Fever" – Kenny Rogers
"Shame on the Moon" - Bob Seger
"Shine On (Shine All Your Sweet Love On Me)" – George Jones
"Snapshot" – Sylvia
"Somebody's Always Sayin' Goodbye" - Anne Murray
"Sounds Like Love" - Johnny Lee
"Still Takin' Chances" – Michael Martin Murphey
"Stranger in My House" – Ronnie Milsap
"Tennessee Whiskey" – George Jones
"Today My World Slipped Away" - Vern Gosdin
"Touch Me (I'll Be Your Fool Once More)" - Tom Jones
"Velvet Chains" - Gary Morris
"Way Down Deep" - Vern Gosdin
"What Am I Gonna Do (With the Rest of My Life)" – Merle Haggard
"What I've Learned From Loving You" - Lynn Anderson
"What She Don't Know Won't Hurt Her" – Gene Watson
"Where are You Spendin' Your Nights These Days" - David Frizzell
"Why Do We Want (What We Know We Can't Have)" - Reba McEntire
"The Wind Beneath My Wings" – Gary Morris
"With You" - Charly McClain
"You Don't Know Love" - Janie Fricke
"You Made a Wanted Man of Me - Ronnie McDowell
"You Put the Beat in My Heart" - Eddie Rabbitt
"You're Out Here Doing (What I'm Here Doing Without)" - Gene Watson
"You've Got a Lover" – Ricky Skaggs
"Your Love Shines Through" - Mickey Gilley

On television

Regular series

Hee Haw (1969-1993, syndicated)

Specials

Births

March 10 – Carrie Underwood, 2005 American Idol winner, boosting her career.
July 2 – Michelle Branch, member of The Wreckers.
November 10 – Miranda Lambert, hot new country singer-songwriter and former "Nashville Star" contestant.
December 12 – Katrina Elam, semi popular country music singer-songwriter.
December 29 – Jessica Andrews, popular teen singer of the early 2000s.

Deaths

October 20 – Merle Travis, 65, singer and composer of classic songs such as "Sixteen Tons", "Dark as a Dungeon", "So Round, So Firm, So Fully Packed" and "Smoke, Smoke, Smoke that Cigarette." (heart attack)

Country Music Hall of Fame Inductees

Little Jimmy Dickens (born 1920)

Major Awards

Grammy awards

Best Country Vocal Performance, Female -- "A Little Good News" - Anne Murray
Best Country Vocal Performance, Male -- "I.O.U." - Lee Greenwood
Best Country Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal -- "The Closer You Get" Alabama
Best Country Instrumental Performance -- "Fireball" New South (J.D. Crowe, Jerry Douglas, Todd Philips, Tony Rice, Ricky Skaggs)
Best New Country Song -- "Stranger In My House" Mike Reid, songwriter

Academy of Country Music

Entertainer Of The Year -- Alabama
Song Of The Year -- "The Wind Beneath My Wings" - Gary Morris - Larry Henley, Jeff Silbar
Single Of The Year -- "Islands In The Stream" - Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton
Album Of The Year -- The Closer You Get - Alabama
Top Male Vocalist -- Lee Greenwood
Top Female Vocalist -- Janie Fricke
Top Vocal Duo -- Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers
Top Vocal Group -- Alabama
Top New Male Vocalist -- Jim Glaser
Top New Female Vocalist -- Gus Hardin

Country Music Association

Instrumental Group of the Year -- Ricky Skaggs Band
Instrumentalist of the Year -- Chet Atkins
Entertainer of the Year -- Alabama
Male Vocalist of the Year -- Lee Greenwood
Female Vocalist of the Year -- Janie Fricke
Horizon Award -- John Anderson
Vocal Group of the Year -- Alabama
Vocal Duo of the Year -- Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson
Album of the Year -- Alabama
Song of the Year -- Wayne Carson, Johnny Christopher, and Mark James
Single of the Year -- John Anderson

External links

Country Music Hall of Fame

Contents

Events

Top hits of the year

Number one hits

Other major hits

Top new album releases

Other top albums

Christmas Albums

On television

Regular series

Specials

Births

Deaths

Country Music Hall of Fame Inductees

Major Awards

Grammy awards

Academy of Country Music

Country Music Association

Further reading

Other links

External links