Country Music Hall of Fame Archives

Jerry Lee Lewis, Keith Whitley and Joe Galante enter the Country Music Hall of Fame

October 17, 2022 in Country Music Hall of Fame

By Ken Paulson –

It would be difficult to imagine a more unlikely group of inductees into the Country Music Hall of Fame than the class of 2022, honored Sunday night in the hall’s annual Medallion ceremony.

One had his career disappear after marrying a 13-year-old girl, who also happened to be a relative. Another’s life was cut short by alcoholism, just two albums into his career. The third was a New York label executive who reluctantly moved to Nashville to work with country artists.

Yet Jerry Lee Lewis, Keith Whitley and Joe Galante all made the kind of impact that leads to country music’s greatest honor.

Jerry Lee Lewis

Lewis, already a member of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame, was unable to attend the Country Music Hall of Fame induction due to frail health, but both the vibrancy and diversity of his music came through loud and clear.

Chris Isaak, accompanied by Jen Gunderman on piano, rocked the room with his take on “Great Balls of Fire.” The McCrary Sisters gamely (and movingly) performed a Lewis arrangement of “My God is Real” that reportedly got him kicked out of a Bible school. Lee Ann Womack drew on Lewis’ post-scandal country career with an outstanding version of “Middle-Age Crazy.”

Chris Isaak performs — Chris Isaak , with Jen Gunderman on piano (Photo by Terry Wyatt/Getty Images for Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum)

Before his performance, Isaak recalled a Lewis show he saw during the punk era. A group of young men with plenty of attitude pushed their way to the front of the stage just before Lewis’ performance. When Lewis came out, he headed right to the group, staring at them for 90 seconds, before they stepped back.

“The punks just wilted,” Isaak laughed.

The induction was done by Hank Williams Jr., who reminisced about Jerry Lee teaching the young Bocephus a few things about playing rock ‘n’ roll piano,

“Imagine how you’d feel if Jerry Lee asked you to share his piano bench while he played,” Williams recalled. Jerry Lee told me that my father was one of his heroes and if he couldn’t meet his hero, he would meet his hero’s son and teach him how to boogie woogie.”

In his remarks, Williams described the free-spirited Lewis’ most admirable traits, a number of which he found “familiar.”

“Jerry Lee doesn’t walk on stage and politely thank an audience for being there,” Williams said. “Jerry Lee doesn’t ask for your attention. He demands it.”

Williams was joined by the now-retired Kris Kristofferson in unveiling Lewis’ plaque. Politically, the two men are on different planets, but have long shared an admiration for Lewis.

Induction of Jerry Lee Lewis — Kris Kristofferson, Hank Williams Jr. and CEO of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum Kyle Young (Photo by Terry Wyatt/Getty Images for Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum)

Keith Whitley

Keith Whitley had a brief, but influential career, with just an EP and two albums released during his lifetime. He began as a teen bluegrass player in tandem with a young Ricky Skaggs. Both joined the legendary Ralph Stanley’s band before moving on to solo careers.

It’s a measure of Whitley’s talent that he’s been named to the Hall of Fame despite a recording career that spanned just 4 years before his death in 1989. A number of his biggest hits were posthumous.

Whitley had fans in high places, including Garth Brooks, who called him “one of the greatest voices ever to grace country music.”

Brooks recalled that an early knock on Whitley from country radio programmers was that he was ‘too country.’

“That’s like saying that something’s too good,” Brooks said shortly before performing Whitley’s “Don’t Close Your Eyes.”

Also on hand to celebrate Whitley were Mickey Guyton, who performed “When You Say Nothing At All,” and a trio consisting of Ricky Skaggs, Molly Tuttle and Justin Moses doing a rendition of “Tennessee Blues.”

Mickey Guyton (Photo by Terry Wyatt/Getty Images for Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum)

Joe Galante

Joe Galante was recognized for his work helping build the careers of Whitley, Martina McBride, Brad Paisley, Clint Black, Brooks and Dunn, Alabama, Miranda Lambert and Kenny Chesney, with the latter three honoring him Sunday night with performances.

Alabama sang “My Home’s In Alabama,” Lambert performed her breakthrough hit “White Liar,” and Chesney performed “The Good Stuff.”

Kix Brooks presented the award and recalled that he and Ronnie Dunn had concluded that their run as Brooks and Dunn was probably over after an album had lackluster sales. Then Galante told them he wanted to work with them, opening the door for another decade of hits. He was “Joe Frickin’ Galante,” he said of the duo’s decision to continue recording.

Hank Williams Jr., Marty Stuart and Dean Dillon inducted into Country Music Hall of Fame

November 21, 2021 in Country Music Hall of Fame

By Ken Paulson

Dean Dillon, Marty Stuart, Hank Williams Jr.
(All photos by Jason Kempin and Terry Wyatt/Getty Images for the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum)

Tonight’s COVID-delayed Country Music Hall of Fame induction honored three free spirits – Hank Williams Jr., Marty Stuart and songwriter Dean Dillon – in a ceremony marked both by celebration of their special talents and gratitude that the country music community could finally convene to recognize the class of 2020.

Each of the honorees followed a unique path to success. Hank Williams Jr. began recording at age 14 covering his father’s hits, but didn’t have real success until he found his own raucous style. Stuart began with an apprenticeship with bluegrass legend Bill Monroe, found country commercial success in the late 1980s, and settled into a critically-applauded, creatively satisfying career this century. Dillon had a difficult and dispiriting childhood, but was drawn to songwriting at age 12. He came to Nashville with dreams of being a star, but found his future writing songs for others. That included 40 years of writing for George Strait, beginning with Strait’s first hit “Unwound.”

The highlights of a special evening, which included a surprising number of established and emerging Americana artists:

Marty Stuart: Emmylou Harris and Charlie Worsham teamed for a version of Stuart’s first big hit “Tempted,” followed by Ashley McBryde’s take on “Conversations of a Crow,” from his album The Pilgrim. Stuart’s wife and Hall of Fame member Connie Smith inducted her husband, citing his skill at connecting with people and noting “He loves music with all of his heart.”

Dean Dillon: George Strait praised Dillon’s contributions to his career before performing “The Chair.” Kenny Chesney performed “A Lot of Things Different,” a song written by Dillon with Bill Anderson, and a hit for Chesney. He recalled that Bruce Springsteen once asked him if he had written the song. Chesney said he gave credit where due.

Britney Spencer, an alum of Middle Tennessee State University, performed a riveting version of Dillon’s “Tennessee Whiskey,” a song memorably covered by Chris Stapleton. She began her performance acknowledging to the audience “you don’t know me,” but closed to a standing ovation.

Hank Williams Jr. kneels so that felllow Hall of Famer Brenda Lee can bestow his medallion.

Hank Williams Jr. : Prior to performing Williams’ “The Blues Man,” Alan Jackson observed that Williams’ induction was “long overdue.” That may be the case. While Marty Stuart has tremendous goodwill with the country music world, that’s not the case with Williams. Some dismiss his “rough and rowdy” songs and Williams has been known to court controversy, including comparing President Obama to Hitler in 2011.

Still, there’s no denying his success, particularly in escaping his father’s legacy by establishing one of his own.

That really came home in Brenda Lee’s full-throated endorsement of Williams as a “good man” as she inducted him into the Hall of Fame. She said he was one of those rare people in the music business you could call for help when you had a flat tire in Alabama. “He might not come, but he’ll send his plane,” she joked.

Shooter Jennings – another artist with a famous father – performed “Feelin’ Better,” followed by Eric Church’s tailored take on “A Country Boy Will Survive.”

Williams had the predictably unpredictable last words as he accepted his induction.

“All my rowdy friend are coming over tonight. I was born to boogie,” he said, holding his award aloft, “And this is a family tradition”

John Prine, Crystal Gayle, Charley Pride and Shawn Camp salute Cowboy Jack Clement at Country Music Hall of Fame

November 19, 2019 in Country Music Hall of Fame

The late Cowboy Jack Clement’s Gibson J-200 guitar was donated to the Country Music Hall of Fame today, and his old friends John Prine, Crystal Gayle, Charley Pride and Shawn Camp were on hand to sing some of Clement’s favorite songs.

The guitar, a constant companion in Clement’s career as a songwriter, producer and artist, was purchased in the early 1950s.

Camp kicked off the mini-concert with a performance of “Gone Girl” and Gayle did her hit version of “When I Dream,” a song Clement didn’t write, but loved. Pride performed “Just Between You and Me,” his breakthrough record produced by Clement, and John Prine, fresh off his “All the Best” Festival in the Dominican Republic, closed with Clement’s first hit as a songwriter, “Ballad of a Teenage Queen” while paying Clement’s guitar.

Cowboy Jack was inducted into the Country music Hall of Fame in 2013.

The donation of the guitar was made possible by a grant from the Willard and Pat Walker Charitable Foundation. – Ken Paulson

Show 38 : Felice and Boudleaux Bryant honored at the Country Music Hall of Fame

October 9, 2019 in Country Music Hall of Fame, Podcast, Songwriters

By Ken Paulson –

There’s a remarkable new exhibit at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville celebrating two of the most successful songwriters in the history of country music – or any genre for that matter – Felice and Boudleaux Bryant.

We Could: The Songwriting Artistry of Boudleaux and Felice Bryant chronicles the writing of such indisputable classics as ” All I Have to Do Is Dream,” “Devoted to You,” “Rocky Top,” “Love Hurts” and “Wake Up Little Susie.” The Everly Brothers alone recorded 29 of their songs.

The exhibit tells the couple’s story through a wide range of artifacts, but most impressive are the bound ledgers containing their hand-written songs. They’re a compelling reminder of how painstaking the process of writing truly great songs is.

In this edition of the Americana One podcast, we’re privileged to hear from Del Bryant, a longtime music industry executive and one of the Bryant’s two sons, and Dr. John Rumble, senior historian at the Country Music Hall of Fame.

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