Kenny Chesney Sets A Record, Merle Haggard Is Proud – Today In Country Music History

Kenny Chesney blew away all the old concert records in 2006, Dolly Parton opens her theme park in 1986, Merle Haggard is proud of his roots in 1969.

Here's the rundown for Today In Country Music History for 16 July, 2011.

• Kenny Chesney set a new record for a country show when his concert at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts, grossed $4 million in 2006. The bill also featured Dierks Bentley, Gretchen Wilson, Big & Rich and Carrie Underwood.

• Billy Ray Cyrus' Some Gave All became the first debut album by a country artist certified for wholesale sales of nine million copies in 1996.

• Dolly Parton's Dollywood theme park opened in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee in 1986.

• The Oak Ridge Boys sang the national anthem at baseball's All-Star Game and met Johnny Bench at the Hubert Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis in 1985. The National League beat the American League, 6-1.

• Alabama charted a Number One single on the Billboard country chart with "The Closer You Get" in 1983.

• Kenny Rogers made his film debut in the movie Six Pack in 1982.

• Ronnie Milsap earned a Number One country single in Billboard with "It Was Almost Like A Song" in 1977.

• Merle Haggard recorded the Number One single, "Okie from Muskogee," in 1969.

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Dave D.