1931 in country music

This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in the year 1931.

Events
Jimmie Rodgers, "the Father of Country Music", continued to dominate Hillbilly (Country) music in 1931, though the Great Depression was causing record sales and royalties to spiral downward at a frightening rate (by 1934, Columbia Records would be bankrupt). Only the Carter Family would come close.

Top Hillbilly (Country) Recordings 1931
Thanks to the Discography of American Historical Recordings website, the year 1931 is perhaps the most accurate top "Hillbilly" records list of all. Eighteen of the songs were ranked from sales figures kept by Victor Records (as "Number sold," under "Other information") deriving from markings on the backs of blue history cards and are included in DAHR, when known, as part of their effort to make available significant data found in original Victor documents. As John Bolig points out in the introduction to his Victor black label discography (1800-1900 series, Denver: Mainspring Press, 2008), these numbers are not to be considered authoritative. It is likely that they represent a sales audit from a specific time, and they do not appear to have been updated regularly. In addition, it is possible that the sales figures may represent cumulative sales from various issues (catalog numbers) of the masters represented on the blue history cards, and not exclusively from one such release.

Billboard surveys did not approach reasonable accuracy until the late 1940s, due to the small sample size, confusion over best-selling, jukebox, and airplay charts, and any number of startup issues. At this point in history, Victor made up a large percentage of Hillbilly releases because of economic circumstances. They appear to have kept the best records by far of any of the labels.

Numerical rankings are approximate, as there were no Billboard charts in 1931; the numbers are only used for a frame of reference.

Births

 * July 26 – Fred Foster, record producer and songwriter (died 2019).
 * September 12 – George Jones, "The Possum," one of the genre's all-time greatest vocalists (died 2013).
 * November 8 – Harold Shedd, record producer most associated with the 1980s success of Alabama.
 * December 30 – Skeeter Davis, the top vocalist in country music during the 1960s, best known for the hit song "The End of the World" (died 2004).

Deaths

 * May 21 – Charlie Poole, banjo player and leader of The North Carolina Ramblers (heart attack)