Founded in 1966, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band fit in perfectly with the folk-rock movement that was happening in California at that time. Mainly a jug band at the beginning, they used that novelty to do various things: appearing in the film “Paint Your Wagon” and doing concerts with acts like Jack Benny, Bill Cosby and The Doors. Switching to more of a traditional country sound in 1970, they got a top ten song on the mainstream Hot 100 chart. Still not integrated into the Nashville system, they decided to collect some country music legends to record with them on their next album. Even though 1972’s “Will The Circle Be Unbroken” would be nominated for Grammy awards and come to be considered one of the most important albums in the history of country music, it would still be eleven more years until Nitty Gritty Dirt Band would begin getting hits on country radio. Once their hits began, it was a good stretch of top tens that lasted for almost a decade. The band is thought to be big instrumental figures in the progression of contemporary country music. They are still recording and touring to this day, and would be very deserving of a Hall Of Fame induction came knocking on their door.

With only four years under his belt, Cale Makar is as of this writing the best Defenseman in Hockey, and that should not be in dispute.

The Third Overall Pick in 2017, Makar joined the Avs after taking UMass to the Frozen Four, and the Hobey Baker Award Winner in the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs, scoring six Points in 10 Games.  Colorado knew they had a star on their hands, and he easily won the Calder, where the blueliner scored 50 Points and he was ninth in Norris voting.

Makar was now established the anchor of the defense, and also one of Colorado’s top scoring threats.  In the COVID-impacted 2020-21 campaign, Makar had 44 Points in 44 Games and was the runner-up for the Norris, losing it to Adam Fox of the Rangers, but he would not be denied in his third year.

Makar blew everyone else away in 2021-22 to win his first Norris, scoring 29 Goals and 86 Points and arguably taking over the mantle as the Avalanche’s top player.  Colorado won the Stanley Cup in 2022, with Makar winning the Conn Smythe Trophy, joining Bobby Orr as the only players to win the Smythe and Norris in the same year.  He followed that with another Second Team All-Star Selection and a third place finish for the Norris.

At only 25, Makar could be destined for number one on this list.

Coming from a family of California fruit-pickers and dropping out of multiple post-secondary schools didn’t exactly say “hit country singer”, but Johnny certainly became that exact thing. Seemingly unsure of what to do, he traveled around: getting a job in a California mail room, then studying geology in Seattle, then searching for gold in Alaska. While in Alaska, he began writing songs. Returning south, he entered one of his songs in a contest in Texas and won first place. This encouraged him to pursue music for his career. After a number of false starts and tough times in his early recording years, he got a one-year contract with Columbia records. Hoping to get some hits, he took his honky-tonk style and added some rockabilly sounds to it (which was the popular trend at the time). His plan worked. He was able to score a number of huge hits throughout the late 1950’s. Included in these hits was “The Battle Of New Orleans”, which earned him his only Grammy award, was named one of the greatest songs of the 20^th century and remains one the most popular songs in the history of the Billboard charts. This run of success probably would have continued, but Johnny died in a car crash in 1960. But even with a very short career, Johnny Horton left a lasting legacy on the country music genre, inspiring various artists to come after him. He has also made it into the Rockabilly Hall Of Fame, and the Louisiana Music Hall Of Fame. Will the Country Music Hall Of Fame be next?

Eddie was deep into music very early. He was proficient on the guitar by 12, and was considered a “walking encyclopedia of country music” as a child. Once he was an adult he moved to Nashville, where he worked as a truck driver, soda jerk, fruit picker, but most importantly: a songwriter. Eddie ended up writing songs for George Morgan, Tom Jones and Elvis Presley, but it was a number one song he wrote for Ronnie Milsap that eventually got him his own recording contract. Starting off in his radio career, he had a distinctly traditional country sound to his songs. Then as he made his way into the 80’s, his songs got increasingly pop-sounding in ways that challenged what was commonly thought of as country music. Although this turned off some traditionalists, the move to pop sounds increased his audience and allowed him a long stretch of huge smash songs. Like a lot of other 1980’s country artists, Eddie got quickly faded from radio in the early 1990’s by a new class of singers coming in. Today, his songs are thought of as fun country-pop fluff, but no one seems to remember just how creative and innovative Eddie Rabbitt was at the time. Even though he passed away too early from lung cancer in 1998, his catalogue of songs should eventually earn him a place in the Hall Of Fame.