Country Classic Flashback to Feature Don Gibson

Each Wednesday at 8 a.m. I join Pete and Cindy for the Country Classic Flashback.  We take a trip down memory lane to highlight a country legend.  This Wednesday we are featuring Don Gibson.

Don was born in Shelby, North Carolina, into a poor working class family.  A grade school drop out, he left school in the second grade.

He has been responsible for writing at least three of the most famous songs in country music history, helping to define the sound of modern country music and for releasing more than seventy charted songs between 1956 and 1980.  He always considered himself a songwriter who sings rather than a singer who writes songs.

By 1955 he had written his first masterpiece, Sweet Dreams, which became a hit for himself, Faron Young and Patsy Cline. Then came, Oh Lonesome Me and I Can't Stop Loving You.  These accomplishments were made while he was suffering from personal problems and drug abuse.

He married Bobbi Patterson in 1967.  The Don Gibson theater opened November 2009 in Shelby, North Carolina.  The renovated building showcased the life and accomplishments of Don Gibson.  It also contains a 400 seat music hall.  Marty Stuart, Pam Tillis, Vince Gill and Gene Watson have performed there.  He was inducted into the Nashville Hall of Fame and the Country Music Hall of Fame.

He passed away on November 17, 2003.

Tune in every Wednesday at 8 a.m. for the Country Classic Flashback which is brought to you Midwest Machinery on East Highway 23 in Sauk Rapids with eight other locations around Central Minnesota.

For more of your country favorites tune into the Country Classic Show at 9 a.m. every Sunday.