This piece marks the anniversary of country singer-songwriter Eddy Raven's birth in Lafayette, Louisiana, on 19 August 1944, tracing his path from teenage rock musician to chart-topping Nashville hitmaker. His significance lies as much in his songwriting as his performing career, with tracks he wrote being recorded by major country stars including Waylon Jennings, Merle Haggard, Connie Smith and Tanya Tucker, while the Oak Ridge Boys took his song "Thank God for Kids" to number one.

Raven began recording in the 1960s, cutting his debut single in 1962 and his first album, That Cajun Country Sound, in 1969, which drew the attention of fellow Cajun artist Jimmy C. Newman and led to a publishing deal with Acuff-Rose. After some minor hits with ABC Records in the 1970s, his commercial peak came after signing with RCA Records Nashville in the mid-1980s, when "I Got Mexico" launched a run of 17 consecutive top 10 hits, six of which reached number one. His chart success faded in the early 1990s, and he moved to independent labels before stepping back from full-time touring in 2018; his most recent album, All Grassed Up, came out in 2017.