Dec 23, 1970

Willie Nelson's home in Ridgetop, Tennessee, burns while he's in Nashville at a Christmas party. When Nelson sees the house in flames, he runs in to rescue his guitar, Trigger, and a bag of marijuana stashed inside the case

Dec 30, 1970

A mine blast in Hyden, Kentucky, kills 38 workers. Loretta Lynn holds a benefit concert for their families in Louisville the following March, selling 15,000 tickets

Mar 18, 1971

Police raid "Hee Haw" comedian Lulu Roman's home in Dallas, finding more than five pounds of marijuana

Apr 23, 1971

A windstorm destroys a parked DC-3 airplane, owned by Jerry Lee Lewis, in Memphis. The Killer reacts by buying a bigger plane

May 17, 1971

Elvis Presley accidentally breaks session player Chip Young's guitar doing karate moves during a studio date in Nashville

Jul 31, 1971

The Ryman Auditorium is evacuated when the Grand Ole Opry receives a bomb threat. Nashville police scour the building but find nothing threatening, and the show resumes after a delay

Oct 11, 1971

Thieves break into the home of The Rolling Stones' Keith Richards and steal 11 guitars. The group's "Honky Tonk Women" is named in 2003 among country's 500 greatest singles in the Country Music Foundation's "Heartaches By The Number"

Oct 19, 1971

Tammy Wynette is treated and released from Lakeland General Hospital in Florida after losing control of her car and ramming a palm tree

Oct 29, 1971

Rock guitarist Duane Allman dies in a motorcycle crash in Macon, Georgia. He was a founding member of The Allman Brothers Band, namechecked in Conway Twitty's 1978 recording "Boogie Grass Band"

Aug 9, 1972

Floyd Cramer suffers facial cuts and bruises in a car accident in downtown Nashville