Connie B. Gay, born 114 years ago today (22 August 1914) in Lizard Lick, North Carolina, is credited as one of the founding figures of modern country music, having coined the term "country music" itself and transformed what was then dismissively called "hillbilly music" into a major commercial industry. He served as founding president of the Country Music Association and co-founded the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, while also personally discovering and shaping the careers of stars including Jimmy Dean and Patsy Cline.

Originally destined to run his family's tobacco farm, Gay instead studied agricultural education before entering radio via a government farming programme. In 1946 he launched the radio show Town and Country Time, which grew to more than 1,800 syndicating stations and over 50 urban markets by the mid-1950s, prompting him to found his own company, Town and Country Enterprises. He managed Jimmy Dean's career and discovered Patsy Cline, Roy Clark and George Hamilton IV, before retiring in 1972 and dying of cancer in 1989 aged 75; a 2002 Washington Post profile dubbed him "the greatest country music visionary you've never heard of."