This Day in Country History: March 12

Breakthrough Hits and Milestones

• 1969: Johnny Cash won Best Country Vocal Performance, Male for "Folsom Prison Blues," and Glen Campbell won Best Album of the Year for By the Time I Get to Phoenix.
• 1969: "Little Green Apples" by Roger Miller won Best Country Song and Song of the Year,  and "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" by Flatt & Scruggs won Best Country Performance, Duo or Group - Vocal or Instrumental. 
• 1969: Tammy Wynette's "D-I-V-O-R-C-E"  won Best Country Vocal Performance, Female.
• 2015: Blake Shelton surprised his then-wife, Miranda Lambert, and the audience during her show at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas. They sang Shelton's "Austin." Openers for Lambert's concert included Justin Moore and Sunny Sweeney.
• 2016: Jason Aldean closed his first Australian tour at CMC Rocks QLD in Ipswich, Queensland. Florida Georgia Line was the special guest for this show.

Cultural Milestones

• 2006: The Ring Of Fire —The Johnny Cash Musical Show opened on Broadway at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre in New York City on this date. This show brought some of Cash's songs to life through live theater.
• 2008: Trace Adkins was on site to help present the 2008 edition of History Under Siege for the Civil War Trust in Washington, D.C. This event helps preserve historic Civil War battlefields throughout the United States.
• 2010: Dolly Parton opened her first retail store, Dolly Parton's Trinkets and Treasures, in Nashville, Tennessee. She adopted a pink, yellow, red, blue, green, and purple color scheme, inspired by the story of her song "Coat of Many Colors."
• 2019: Trisha Yearwood celebrated her 20th anniversary as a member of the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee. Surprise guests included her husband, Garth Brooks, and Emmylou Harris.

Notable Recordings and Performances

• 2004: Alan Jackson held a free pop-up concert at the Castaways Marina in Jupiter, Florida. Jackson called the local radio station hours before to announce his surprise show, and about 1,000 people showed up at the restaurant to enjoy Jackson's music.
• 2010: The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) gave Miranda Lambert's "White Liar" a Gold certification.
• 2010: Carrie Underwood performed at the Times Union Center in Albany, New York, during her Play On Tour to promote her new album, Play On.
• 2012: Billy Currington's album Enjoy Yourself received a Gold certification from the RIAA.
• 2013: Carrie Underwood's "Two Black Cadillacs" received a Gold certification from the RIAA. On July 23, 2020, this single received a 2x Platinum certification. 
• 2015: Luke Bryan played his second free concert at the Spinnaker Beach Club in Panama City Beach, Florida, to help promote his album Spring Break...Checkin' Out.
• 2017: Trace Adkins sang the national anthem at the Southeastern Conference Men's Basketball Tournament at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee.

Industry Changes and Challenges

• 2001: The former Pure Prairie League and Eagles singer, Vince Gill, and his wife, Amy Grant, welcomed a baby girl, Corrina Grant Gill. Gill has a daughter from a previous marriage, and Grant has three from a previous marriage.
• 2018: The "Bottoms Up" singer Brantley Gilbert's tour bus caught on fire while the band was on the road. No one was injured, and Gilbert posted a video of the fire on social media set to Gilbert's song "Hell on Wheels."
• 2020: Blake Shelton postponed the last five shows of his Friends & Heroes 2020 Tour.
• 2020: Reba McEntire announced the cancelation of her tour due to begin on March 20, 2020.
• 2020: The C2C: Country to Country Music Festival in the U.K. was canceled due to the pandemic. Country music performers such as Eric Church, Luke Combs, and Darius Rucker, were scheduled to perform.
• 2022: Bruce Birch, known for writing songs like Reba McEntire's “Rumor Has It” and “It's Your Call,” died at the age of 69. Burch also wrote hit songs for The Oak Ridge Boys, Faith Hill, George Jones, and Barbara Mandrell.