1991 in country music

Events

• March 16 — The country music world is stunned when seven members of Reba McEntire's band and her road manager are killed in a plane crash in California. McEntire – who traveled separately – recorded her album, For My Broken Heart in their memory.
• August 16 — Holly Dunn asks that radio stations withdraw her single "Maybe I Mean Yes" due to listener complaints that its lyrics condone date rape.
• August 30 — Country music pioneer, Dottie West is seriously injured while en route to a Grand Ole Opry performance in Nashville, Tennessee. Her fans and contemporaries are deeply saddened when she dies of her injuries September 4 at a Nashville hospital. President George H. W. Bush sends his condolences to the country music world during the CMA Awards later that year.
• September 28 — Ropin' the Wind by Garth Brooks becomes the first album to debut at No. 1 on Billboard magazine's Top Country Albums and Billboard 200 Albums charts. The album, Brooks' third, vaults the 29-year-old singer into superstardom and goes on to sell 16 million copies worldwide. The album became the second best selling album of all genres in 1991, coming in second to Mariah Carey's debut album.
• November 24 — Hot Country Nights begins a one-season run on NBC. The series was created to cash in on the exploding popularity of country music, and showcased several acts on each episode; featured on the premiere were Alabama, Clint Black, K.T. Oslin, Kenny Rogers and Pam Tillis. The series did not catch on in the ratings and is canceled at the end of the season.

  No dates

• Naomi Judd announces she had been diagnosed with Hepatitis C, a potentially fatal chronic liver disease, and would be retiring from touring with daughter Wynonna at the end of the year. The resulting "Farewell" tour becomes the year's top-grossing act in country music and ends with a New Year's Eve pay-per-view concert.
• "SoundScan" is introduced, providing more accurate Billboard magazine chart ratings that are based on actual sales. Immediate evidence proved country music had a much bigger audience than previously thought.
• Eight acts have their first Billboard No. 1 songs, including Mark Chesnutt, Mike Reid, Alan Jackson, Doug Stone, Diamond Rio, Trisha Yearwood, Brooks & Dunn and Lionel Cartwright. Three of those – Diamond Rio, Yearwood and Brooks & Dunn – turn the trick with their first national release; Reid's first solo release also hit the top of the chart, but he had hit the Top 5 as part of a duet with Ronnie Milsap three years earlier.

  Top hits of the year

Singles released by American artists

Singles released by Canadian artists

Top new album releases

Other top albums

On television

Regular series

• Hee Haw
• Hot Country Nights

  Specials

Births

• September 9 – Hunter Hayes, country-pop singer/multi-instrumentalist of the early 2010s best known for his crossover hit "Wanted"
• September 21 - Ingrid Andress, known for her 2019-20 hit "More Hearts Than Mine".
• December 27 – Shay Mooney, member of Dan + Shay, a rising duo of the 2010s.

  Deaths

• February 24 — Webb Pierce, 69, honky tonk stylist and pioneer.
• March 16 — Chris Austin, 27, member of Reba McEntire's road band.
• September 4 — Dottie West, 58, legendary and pioneering female vocalist for over three decades.
• October 17 — Tennessee Ernie Ford, 72, "The Old Pea Picker;" pop-country singer and TV host best known for "Sixteen Tons".

  Hall of Fame inductees

Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame inductees

• Flatt and Scruggs
• *Lester Flatt
• *Earl Scruggs
• Bill Monroe

  Country Music Hall of Fame inductees

• Boudleaux & Felice Bryant

  Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame inductees

• Rhythm Pals
• A. Hugh Joseph

  Major awards

Grammy Awards

• Best Female Country Vocal Performance — "Down at the Twist and Shout", Mary Chapin Carpenter
• Best Male Country Vocal Performance — Ropin' the Wind, Garth Brooks
• Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal — "Love Can Build a Bridge," The Judds
• Best Country Collaboration with Vocals — "Restless", Ricky Skaggs, Steve Wariner and Vince Gill
• Best Country Instrumental Performance — The New Nashville Cats, Mark O'Connor
• Best Country Song — "Love Can Build a Bridge", John Barlow Jarvis, Naomi Judd and Paul Overstreet
• Best Bluegrass Album — "Spring Training", Carl Jackson and John Starling

  Juno Awards

• Country Male Vocalist of the Year — George Fox
• Country Female Vocalist of the Year — Cassandra Vasik
• Country Group or Duo of the Year — Prairie Oyster

  Academy of Country Music

• Entertainer of the Year — Garth Brooks
• Song of the Year — "Somewhere in My Broken Heart", Billy Dean and Richard Leigh
• Single of the Year — "Don't Rock the Jukebox", Alan Jackson
• Album of the Year — Don't Rock the Jukebox, Alan Jackson
• Top Male Vocalist — Garth Brooks
• Top Female Vocalist — Reba McEntire
• Top Vocal Duo — Brooks & Dunn
• Top Vocal Group — Diamond Rio
• Top New Male Vocalist — Billy Dean
• Top New Female Vocalist — Trisha Yearwood
• Top New Vocal Duo or Group — Brooks & Dunn
• Video of the Year — "Is There Life Out There", Reba McEntire

  ARIA Awards

• Best Country Album' - Hand It Down''

  Canadian Country Music Association

• Bud Country Fans' Choice Award — Rita MacNeil
• Male Artist of the Year — George Fox
• Female Artist of the Year — Michelle Wright
• Group of the Year — Prairie Oyster
• SOCAN Song of the Year — "Lonely You, Lonely Me", Joan Besen
• Single of the Year — "New Kind of Love", Michelle Wright
• Album of the Year — Michelle Wright, Michelle Wright
• Top Selling Album — Home I'll Be, Rita MacNeil
• Video of the Year — "Springtime in Alberta", Ian Tyson
• Vista Rising Star Award — South Mountain
• Duo of the Year — The Johner Brothers

  Country Music Association

• Entertainer of the Year — Garth Brooks
• Song of the Year — "When I Call a Your Name", Tim DuBois and Vince Gill
• Single of the Year — "Friends in Low Places", Garth Brooks
• Album of the Year — No Fences, Garth Brooks
• Male Vocalist of the Year — Vince Gill
• Female Vocalist of the Year — Tanya Tucker
• Horizon Award — Travis Tritt
• Vocal Duo of the Year — The Judds
• Vocal Group of the Year — The Kentucky Headhunters
• Vocal Event of the Year — "Restless", Vince Gill, Mark O'Connor, Ricky Skaggs and Steve Wariner
• Music Video of the Year — "The Thunder Rolls", Garth Brooks
• Musician of the Year — Mark O'Connor

  Other links

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