1994 in Country Music - Events

Events

• January 8 — Star, Mississippi, native Faith Hill hits paydirt with her first single release, "Wild One." The song spends four weeks atop the Billboard magazine Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart, the longest for a debut release by a female artist since Connie Smith's debut "Once a Day" in 1964.
• January 30 — Clint Black, Wynonna Judd, Travis Tritt and Tanya Tucker perform the halftime show (billed as "Rockin' Country Sunday") at Super Bowl XXVIII. The finale featured a special appearance by Naomi Judd, who joined Wynonna in performing The Judds' single "Love Can Build a Bridge" (their first major appearance together since their "Farewell Tour" of 1991), to which everyone eventually joined in.
• March – Tim McGraw's first major hit, "Indian Outlaw," causes considerable controversy due to lyrics about Native Americans, and the single is boycotted at a handful of stations. Nevertheless, the song's notoriety helps spur its popularity and allows it to become just the second major crossover hit in 10 years, reaching No. 15 on the Billboard magazine Hot 100 singles chart (in addition to its No. 8 peak on the Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart); the song will also jumpstart McGraw's fledgling career, which had gotten off to a less-than-stellar start a year earlier.

Incidentally, McGraw's first taste of success comes at approximately the same time as that of his wife-to-be — Faith Hill. At this point, their careers are on separate paths.

• April 12 — The premiere issue of Country Weekly magazine hits the store shelves. Garth Brooks graces the cover of the first issue.