Country Music Hall of Fame member Eddy Arnold recording in Nashville's historic RCA Studio B. Photo courtesy of the Country Music Hall of Fame.

May 8, 2008 — Some 40 years ago, Eddy Arnold showed up at Nashville's RCA Studio B with a small rhythm section, an orchestra and a backing vocal group for the second of three successive days of recording. To close the proceedings, he whipped out "Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye," which songwriter John D. Loudermilk had performed just two months prior when Eddy hosted a national TV special. Neither Eddy nor producer Chet Atkins knew it at the time, but it would be the last No. 1 single in one of country music's most prolific and successful careers.

Eddy gave a permanent goodbye early Thursday, May 8, just two months after Sally, his wife of 66 years, died. In his parting, he left an incredible imprint on Nashville and on American culture. Forced to quit school in the 10th grade to support his family by working on a farm, he managed to turn the language of love—rather than the soil of Tennessee—into his life's work. Before he turned 30 he earned his first hits, and he continued to launch records into the Top 15 on the Billboard country singles charts in five consecutive decades.

Originally nicknamed the Tennessee Plowboy, he reinvented himself as a debonair crooner in the 1960s, eschewing fiddles and steel guitars in favor of the pop-influenced instrumentation of the Nashville Sound, exemplified in the session for "Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye." Along the way, he became one of the first 10 people inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and the first artist named Entertainer of the Year by the Country Music Association.

Country Music Hall of Fame member Eddy Arnold. Photo courtesy of the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Here's a quick timeline of one of country's most influential performers:

• May 15, 1918 – Eddy Arnold is born in Henderson, Tenn., the son of a farmer.

• May 1929 – His father, Will, dies on Eddy's 11th birthday. Less than two years later, their property is purchased at auction. The family becomes tenant farmers, rather than landowners.

• January 1938 – Less than a year after landing his first radio show in Jackson, Tenn., Eddy takes a job on a Memphis station. The job lasts less than a month, but during his stay, Eddy's voice is recorded for the first time.

• January 1940 – Eddy becomes the lead singer for Pee Wee King's Golden West Cowboys.

• November 1941 – Eddy marries Sally Gayhart in Nashville.

• December 1944 – He holds his first session at the WSM Studios in Nashville. The date includes "The Cattle Call," which becomes a theme song for the early part of his career.

• December 1945 – Eddy and Sally have a daughter, Jo Ann.

Country Music Hall of Fame member Eddy Arnold. Photo courtesy of the Country Music Hall of Fame.

• July 1948 – Country music airs on national television for the first time. Eddy is part of the broadcast, along with Kitty Wells and Johnny & Jack.

• September 1948 – Eddy quits the Grand Ole Opry to host "Hometown Reunion" on the CBS Radio Network. His theme song is "The Cattle Call."

• January 1949 – Eddy and Sally have a son, Richard.

• September 1950 – The NBC Radio Network debuts "The Eddy Arnold Show." His theme, once again, is "Cattle Call."

• July 1952 – "The Eddy Arnold Show" debuts as a summer replacement series on CBS.

• April 1955 – Eddy records a new version of "The Cattle Call" with Hugo Winterhalter's orchestra in New York.

• December 1955 – Eddy records "You Don't Know Me," in which he is billed as a co-writer with Cindy Walker. In addition to his own version, the song becomes a hit later for Ray Charles and for Mickey Gilley.