1973 in country music

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This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in the year 1973.

• July — The Dean Martin Show becomes known as Dean Martin Presents Music Country for the longtime variety show's summer broadcasts. Country music becomes a staple of Martin's show for the 1973–1974 season — its last on the air, as it turns out.
• July 4 — Willie Nelson hosts his first Fourth of July picnic.
• July 14 — Billboard increases the number of positions for its Hot Country Singles chart to 100 (up from 75), which it would keep until January 1990. The expansion comes at a time when the number of No. 1 songs in a given year continues to increase; for the first time in history, there are at least 35 No. 1 songs in one year.^{[citation needed]}
• September — Jimmy Dean's third country music TV series, The Jimmy Dean Show, premieres in syndication for what will be a two-season run.
• October 6 — Country music's most successful syndicated radio countdown program to date, "American Country Countdown," makes its debut. The three-hour program is created by Casey Kasem and Don Bustany, and is modeled after American Top 40 (which Kasem also hosted). Comedian Don Bowman) is the original host,^{[citation needed]} but by 1978, he would be replaced by Bob Kingsley.
• October — The new Radio & Records magazine includes a 50-position country singles chart.^{[citation needed]}
• November 10 — One of Nashville's most notorious^{[citation needed]} murders makes national headlines when David Akeman (aka Stringbean) and his wife, Estelle, are killed when they interrupt a burglary after returning home. Their bodies are found the next day. Their assailants—brothers John and Marvin Douglas—are later captured, convicted and sentenced to prison.^{[citation needed]} Stringbean, who was 58, was best known to his audiences for his role on the syndicated series "Hee Haw."

(as certified by Billboard)

(as certified by RPM)

• March 6 — Trent Willmon, rising country music star of the early- to mid-2000s (decade).
• May 24 — Jill Johnson, Swedish female country singer.
• June 6 — Lisa Brokop, Canadian country star of the 1990s and early-2000s (decade).
• June 26 — Gretchen Wilson, singer-songwriter and key member of the MuzikMafia of the 2000s (decade).
• July 29 — James Otto, rising male vocalist of the 2000s (decade).
• August 8 — Mark Wills, country star of the mid-to-late-1990s and early-2000s (decade) ("19 Somethin'", "Wish You Were Here").
• August 13 — Andy Griggs, country music star of late-1990s and early-2000s (decade).
• November 19 — Billy Currington, rising star of the mid-2000s (decade).

• March 26 – Don Messer, 63, Canadian fiddler and folk music icon whose career spanned 40 years (heart attack).
• September 19 — Gram Parsons, 26, influential country rock and alt-country singer-songwriter-guitarist who was a member of such bands as The Byrds and The Flying Burrito Brothers, and also recorded a critically acclaimed body of solo recordings (drug overdose).
• November 10 — Stringbean, 58, banjo player and comedian on the TV series Hee Haw (homicide).

• Chet Atkins (1924–2001)
• Patsy Cline (1932–1963), first female to be inducted as a solo act.

• Best Female Country Vocal Performance — "Let Me Be There", Olivia Newton-John
• Best Male Country Vocal Performance —c"Behind Closed Doors", Charlie Rich
• Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal — "From the Bottle to the Bottom", Kris Kristofferson and Rita Coolidge
• Best Country Instrumental Performance — "Dueling Banjos", Eric Weissberg and Steve Mandell
• Best Country Song — "Behind Closed Doors", Kenny O'Dell (Performer: Charlie Rich)

• Country Male Vocalist of the Year — Stompin' Tom Connors
• Country Female Vocalist of the Year — Shirley Eikhard
• Country Group or Duo of the Year — Mercey Brothers

• Entertainer of the Year — Roy Clark
• Song of the Year — "Behind Closed Doors", Kenny O'Dell (Performer: Charlie Rich)
• Single of the Year — "Behind Closed Doors", Charlie Rich
• Album of the Year — Behind Closed Doors, Charlie Rich
• Top Male Vocalist — Charlie Rich
• Top Female Vocalist — Loretta Lynn
• Top Vocal Group — Brush Arbor
• Top New Male Vocalist — Dorsey Burnette
• Top New Female Vocalist — Olivia Newton-John

• Entertainer of the Year — Roy Clark
• Song of the Year — "Behind Closed Doors", Kenny O'Dell (Performer: Charlie Rich)
• Single of the Year — "Behind Closed Doors", Charlie Rich
• Album of the Year — Behind Closed Doors, Charlie Rich
• Male Vocalist of the Year — Charlie Rich
• Female Vocalist of the Year — Loretta Lynn
• Vocal Duo of the Year — Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn
• Vocal Group of the Year — The Statler Brothers
• Instrumentalist of the Year — Charlie McCoy
• Instrumental Group of the Year — Danny Davis and the Nashville Brass

• Kingsbury, Paul, The Grand Ole Opry: History of Country Music. 70 Years of the Songs, the Stars and the Stories, Villard Books, Random House; Opryland USA, 1995
• Kingsbury, Paul, Vinyl Hayride: Country Music Album Covers 1947–1989, Country Music Foundation, 2003 (ISBN 0-8118-3572-3)
• Millard, Bob, Country Music: 70 Years of America's Favorite Music, HarperCollins, New York, 1993 (ISBN 0-06-273244-7)
• Whitburn, Joel, Top Country Songs 1944–2005 (6th Edition). 2005.

• Brooks, Tim and Earl Marsh. The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows Eighth Ed., Ballantine Books, 2003. ISBN 0-345-45542-8
• Erickson, Hal. Syndicated Television: The First Forty Years, 1947–1987. McFarland & Co. Inc. Publishers, Jefferson, North Carolina, 1989. ISBN 0-89950-410-8.
• Hendler, Herb, Year by Year in the Rock Era: Events and Conditions Shaping the Rock Generations That Reshaped America, Greenwood Press, Westport, Connecticut, 1983. ISBN 0-313-23456-6

• Country Music Association
• Inductees of the Country Music Hall of Fame

• Country Music Hall of Fame