When news spread that LeDoux needed a transplant, Brooks quietly offered to donate a portion of his own liver. Although Brooks' liver was incompatible, LeDoux was able to undergo a transplant in 2000 and release two more albums before dying of cancer in 2005.

Between 1969 and 1987 the Strangers were voted Band of the Year by the Academy of Country Music eight times--more than any other group in history.

Williams performed "Hey, Good Lookin" on the Kate Smith Evening Hour on March 26, 1952. The appearance remains one of the few existing film clips of the singer performing live. He is introduced by Roy Acuff and banters with a young June Carter, wearing his famous white cowboy suit adorned in musical notes.

Seven months after eloping to Mexico with Norma Voss, Strait remarried her in Texas to satisfy their parents.

Initially, much of Wagoner's audience was unhappy that Norma Jean had left the show and was reluctant to accept Parton (sometimes chanting loudly for Norma Jean from the audience). But with Wagoner's assistance, Dolly soon won over the crowd and became a fan favorite herself.

"He Stopped Loving Her Today" tells the story of a man who keeps old letters from an ex lover in the hopes that she'll come back. The song reaches its peak in the chorus, revealing that the woman does return finally--for his funeral.

Stardust remained on the Top Country Albums Chart for 540 weeks -- that's 10 consecutive years!

Waylon is perhaps as frank a country autobiography as has ever been written. It graphically traces Jennings' career from hardscrabble poverty in West Texas to teenage bassist for Buddy Holly to Nashville rebel to Outlaw star to cocaine addict to redemption.

His sister-in-law, Elsie McWilliams, was his most frequent collaborator. Rodgers could not read music, so McWilliams would play the songs and he would learn them by ear. She was the first woman to make a career as a country music songwriter and was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1979.

Twain lost her voice for several years after being diagnosed with Lyme disease, the most common tick-borne illness in the U.S. After a pair of surgeries, she was able to return to performing.