2019 in country music

• January 21 - Carrie Underwood gives birth to second son, Jacob Fisher, with husband Mike Fisher.[1]
• February - Country music duo Walker McGuire disbands.[2]
• February 10 – At the 61st Annual Grammy Awards, Kacey Musgraves wins all 4 awards she was nominated for, including the all-genre Album of the Year for Golden Hour.[3]
• March – "Old Town Road," a song combining elements of country rap, hip hop, Southern hip hop and trap and performed by rap newcomer Lil Nas X, debuts on the Hot Country Songs chart at No. 19; the song that charts is a remix, featuring vocals by Billy Ray Cyrus. However, the very next week, the song is removed from the chart, with the magazine disqualifying the song on the grounds that it did not fit the country genre.[4] There is speculation that had the song remained on the chart, it would have reached No. 1 as of the chart dated April 6, 2019.[5] On July 29 it reaches its seventeenth week atop the Billboard Hot 100, the all-time record.[6] Later in the year, hip-hop music producer Blanco Brown records and releases "The Git Up," which is called a "sequel" and "next viral country rap song".[7][8] The new style of music and its related controversies continue the long-standing discussion of what is country music, one that dates to the 1970s.
• March 6 – Brandi Carlile, Amanda Shires and Maren Morris officially announce that they are forming a supergroup known as the Highwomen. With the name paying homage to the Highwaymen (which was composed of Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson), the trio revealed that their line-up would allow for various guests to join them, with Chely Wright, Courtney Marie Andrews, Margo Price, Sheryl Crow and Janelle Monáe all hinted as potential collaborators.[9] The group reveal their fourth member will be Natalie Hemby and perform together for the first time at Loretta Lynn's 87th birthday concert by singing "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels".[10]
• March 27 – Wanda Jackson announces her retirement from performing due to health and safety concerns via a statement on her Facebook page.[11]
• April 1 – Loretta Lynn celebrates her 87th birthday (which is actually April 14) with an all-star concert held at Nashville's Bridgestone Arena. Performers include: Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood, Martina McBride, Alison Krauss, Lee Ann Womack, Little Big Town, Margo Price, Kacey Musgraves, Brandy Clark, Cam, Jack White, Brandi Carlile, Maren Morris, Amanda Shires, Natalie Hemby, Holly Williams, Miranda Lambert, Pistol Annies, Keith Urban, Randy Houser, Darius Rucker, Tanya Tucker, Crystal Gayle, Peggy Sue, John Carter Cash, Alan Jackson and George Strait. Lynn herself sings live for the first time since 2017, performing her signature song "Coal Miner's Daughter" with the ensemble.[12]
• April 14 – Hal Ketchum's wife announces via his Facebook page that he will be retiring due to complications from Alzheimer's disease.[13]
• April 16 – Kelsea Ballerini is inducted as the youngest member of the Grand Ole Opry, with Carrie Underwood officiating the induction.[14]
• May 14
  • Randy Travis releases his first memoir, titled Forever and Ever, Amen: A Memoir of Music, Faith, and Braving the Storms of Life.[15]
  • Rodney Atkins' "Caught Up in the Country" charts for a 57th week on Country Airplay, beating by one week the previous record for the longest continuous run on that chart.[16]
• June 6 – Granger Smith's youngest son, River Kelly, unexpectedly dies at the age of 3 after what he refers to as a "serious accident", later revealed to be caused by drowning in the family pool. River had previously been featured as a cameo in Smith's "Happens Like That" video 2 years prior.
• June 30 - Music executive and manager Scooter Braun buys Big Machine Label Group, which includes the masters to Taylor Swift's first 6 studio albums. Swift is angry, claiming that she tried to buy the masters herself for years, but Braun sells them to Ithaca Holdings for $300 million in November 2020. As a result, Swift began re-recording her albums that she originally recorded on the label in November 2020. The first of these, Fearless (Taylor's Version), was released in April 2021.[17]
• August 19 – Carrie Underwood is announced as host of the CMA Awards, her first year without Brad Paisley as a co-host; Dolly Parton and Reba McEntire will co-host the show.[18]
• September 9 - Blake Shelton creates a Twitter campaign for Craig Morgan's current single, "The Father, My Son and the Holy Ghost", written in memory of his 19-year-old son, Jerry Greer, who died in July 2016, to be No. 1 on iTunes' all-genre chart. Celebrities ranging from Kelly Clarkson to Ellen DeGeneres to Travis Tritt respond, and the song reaches No. 1 on Sept. 12, 2019.
• September 15–25 – Country Music, a 16.5 hour documentary series by Ken Burns airs on PBS. The series took eight years to film and research, and features interviews with over 100 artists and key members of the country music community, including several who were interviewed prior to their untimely deaths within the decade.
• September 19 – One of Josh Turner's tour buses crashes off a cliff in California, killing one and injuring seven. Turner himself was not on the bus at the time.[19]
• October 5 - American Idol finalists Gabby Barrett and Cade Foehner are married in Texas.[20]
• October 9 – Radio host Bob Kingsley, host of Bob Kingsley's Country Top 40 (and earlier the longtime host of American Country Countdown), announces that he is taking a leave from the show due to a diagnosis of bladder cancer.[21] Eight days later, Kingsley died from his illness.[22]
• October 13 – Kenny Dixon, the drummer in Kane Brown's band, is killed in a car accident.
• October 19 – The Lifetime network premieres the television film Patsy & Loretta, which showcases the friendship between Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn. Megan Hilty and Jessie Mueller portray Cline and Lynn, respectively.[23]
• November 13 - The 2019 CMA Awards celebrates women in country music, opening with an all-star medley that included the likes of Tanya Tucker and Sara Evans, while Maren Morris wins Album of the Year for Girl and Kacey Musgraves wins for Female Vocalist. The night also sparked controversy, as Garth Brooks wins Entertainer of the Year, causing backlash from Carrie Underwood and Eric Church fans, whom many predicted would win the honor.[24][25]
• November 22 - Singer Maddie Marlow of duo Maddie & Tae weds Jonah Font.[26]
• December 8 – The 2019 Kennedy Center Honors award Linda Ronstadt; tribute performers included Trisha Yearwood and Carrie Underwood.[27]
• December 18 – Radio host Fitz is named as the successor of Bob Kingsley on Bob Kingsley's Country Top 40.[28]
• December 28 – The final episode of "ACC Rewind," a program featuring re-airings of original (edited) broadcasts of "American Country Countdown" from the 1990s and early 2000s, is aired, and features the 1999 year-end countdown.
• December 31 – Carrie Underwood announces on Instagram [29] that she is stepping down as host of the CMA awards

The following songs placed within the Top 20 on the Hot Country Songs, Country Airplay, or Canada Country charts in 2019:

The following albums placed on the Top Country Albums charts in 2019:

• January 1 – Pegi Young, 66, American singer-songwriter[172]
• January 3 – Steve Ripley, 69, American musician, leader/producer of The Tractors, best known for "Baby Likes to Rock It".[173]
• January 12 – Sanger D. Shafer, 84, American songwriter[174]
• January 12 – Bonnie Guitar, 95, American country-pop artist and record label executive.[175]
• January 17 – Reggie Young, 82, session guitarist[176]
• January 21 – Maxine Brown, 87, final surviving member of The Browns[177]
• January 31 – Harold Bradley, 93, American Hall of Fame country musician.[178]
• February 20 – Fred Foster, 87, record producer and songwriter [179]
• February 24 – Mac Wiseman, 93, bluegrass singer[180]
• April 6 – Jim Glaser, 81, youngest member of Tompall & the Glaser Brothers[181]
• April 10 – Earl Thomas Conley, 77, American singer-songwriter known for hits like "Holding Her and Loving You", "Fire and Smoke", and "Angel in Disguise" [182]
• May 14 – Leon Rausch, 91, member of The Texas Playboys
• June 10 – Chuck Glaser, 83, last surviving member of Tompall and the Glaser Brothers[183]
• July 12 – Russell Smith, 70, American singer-songwriter (Amazing Rhythm Aces).[184]
• August 27 – Donnie Fritts, 76, American session musician and songwriter.[185]
• September 4 – Kylie Rae Harris, 30, Texas country singer-songwriter (car accident)
• September 5 – Jimmy Johnson, 76, American musician (Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section) and record producer.[186]
• September 18 – Chuck Dauphin, 45, American sports radio broadcaster and country music journalist, (complications from diabetes).[187]
• September 29 – busbee, 43, songwriter and producer known for hits such as "Our Kind of Love" and "My Church" (brain cancer)[188]
• October 17 – Bob Kingsley, 80, radio personality and longtime host of American Country Countdown and Bob Kingsley's Country Top 40 (bladder cancer) [22]
• October 20 – Nick Tosches, 69, American journalist, music critic and writer (Country).[189]
• October 22 – Garry Koehler, 64, Australian country musician and songwriter, cancer.[190]
• October 25 – Joe Sun, 76, American singer-songwriter best known for his 1978 hit "Old Flames Can't Hold a Candle to You", which would later become a #1 for Dolly Parton.[191]

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