Today in Country Music, June 15

On this day in 2011, Chris Young combed his hair forward, posed for a picture and tweeted: "me as Justin Bieber's older brother... Ha ha"… Young has been hatless ever since including on the cover of his latest album Neon.

Today in 2007, Kenny Chesney was named one of People Magazine's "hottest bachelors of the year."

Billy Ray Cyrus' Album Some Gave All, which featured "Achy Breaky Heart" landed at #1 on the country albums chart in 1992.

And on this day in 1969, the TV show Hee Haw debuted on CBS.

Hee Haw was a variety show featuring country music and humor with fictional rural Kornfield Kounty as a backdrop. It aired on CBS-TV from 1969–1971 before a 20-year run in local syndication. The show was inspired by Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, the major difference being that Hee Haw was far less topical, and was centered on country music and rural Southern culture. Initially co-hosted by musicians Buck Owens and Roy Clark, the show was equally well known for its voluptuous, scantily-clad women in stereotypical farmer's daughter outfits and country-style minidresses, male stars Jim and Jon Hager and its cornpone humor.

Hee Haw's appeal, however, was not limited to a rural audience. It was successful in all of the major markets, including New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. Other niche programs such as The Lawrence Welk Show (which targeted older audiences) and Soul Train (a black-oriented program) also rose to prominence in syndication during the era. Like Laugh-In, the show minimized production costs by taping all of the recurring sketches for a season in batches— setting up for the Cornfield one day, the Joke Fence another, etc. At the height of its popularity, an entire year's worth of shows would be taped in two separate week-long sessions, then individual shows would be assembled from edited sections. Only musical performances were taped with a live audience; a laugh track was added to all other segments.

The series was taped at WLAC-TV (now WTVF) and Opryland USA in Nashville. The show was produced by Yongestreet Productions through the mid-1980s; it was later produced by Gaylord Entertainment, which distributed the show in syndication.