Charlie Daniels Goes To Baghdad, Gene Autry Rides A Horse – Today In Country Music History

The Charlie Daniels Band played Baghdad on this date in 2006, Dierks Bentley played his Grand Ole Opry debut in 2003 and Gene Autry was Back In The Saddle back in 1939.

Here's the list for Today In Country Music History for 18 April, 2012.

• The Charlie Daniels Band performed at Camp Liberty in Baghdad, Iraq in 2006, his final stop on a Stars For Stripes tour in which he played for U.S. soldiers in the Middle East.

• Dierks Bentley made his Grand Ole Opry debut in 2003.

• Jo Dee Messina scored her first Number One single with "Bye-Bye" in 1998.

• Diamond Rio became members of the Grand Ole Opry cast in 1998.

• Aaron Tippin picked up his first Number One single in Billboard with "There Ain't Nothin' Wrong With The Radio" in 1992.

• Reba McEntire's Reba album was released in 1988.

• The Bellamy Brothers took "Kids Of The Baby Boom" to Number One in Billboard in 1987.

• Alabama took "Old Flame" to Number One on the Billboard country chart in 1981.

• Earl Scruggs married Louise Certain in Gaffney, South Carolina, in 1948.

• Gene Autry recorded "Back In The Saddle Again" in 1939.

Here's Charlie and the boys from 1979.

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Dave D.