Some people consider working with family to be a nightmare, but it worked out well for Rascal Flatts. Second cousins Jay DeMarcus and Gary LeVox were both working together around Nashville in the late 1990’s, doing background vocals and playing in various bands. The two of them were playing in a nightclub at one point and their part-time guitarist couldn’t make it for the gig. DeMarcus then called up a guy he knew in a backing band he was playing in named Joe Don Rooney. Rooney showed up, and when the three of them played together that night, they say they felt an instant bond. The trio then recorded some demos, which they took to Lyric Street Records who found them to be incredible and signed them in 1999. From that point, they were a success; country enough for the radio charts but pop enough for a youthful audience who we’re coming to see them. For 2 decades they became one of the biggest groups in country music, collecting CMAs, ACMs, People’s Choice Awards, Grammys and highly successful tours. In 2020, the band announced that they were breaking up and going to embark on a farewell tour to close out the group. Unfortunately, the tour was cancelled because of covid and the group just split up on their own.

With a mother who owned a beauty salon and a father who was a car salesman, becoming a successful country music singer wasn’t exactly in the cards for Blake Shelton. But after learning to play the guitar in his early teens, he began writing songs and traveling around the local bar circuit around his county. As soon as he graduated high school, he moved to Nashville in an instant. Going through the same path as a lot of people on this list, he started out in the business as a song-writer, before getting his own recording contract later. Beginning with a very traditional style, he had off and on hits throughout his early years. But a few things happened in the later 2000’s: he connected up with Miranda Lambert (soon after, they became an “it couple” in Nashville), he switched to adding more pop sounds to his songs, and he gained significant national attention by becoming a coach on the singing competition “The Voice”. These things all allowed him to continue getting hits and becoming one of the biggest names in the country genre. He is still in the midst of his radio career right now, and the longer that goes on the better shot he has of entering the Hall Of Fame in the future.

Regular visitors of Notinhalloffame.com know that we are slowly working on the top 50 of every major team in the NHL, NBA, NFL and MLB. Once that is done, we intend to look at how each team honor their past players, coaches and executives. As such, it is important to us that the New England Patriots have chosen Mike Vrabel as their 34^th inductee.

A three-time Super Bowl Champion with the Patriots, the Linebacker began his career with the Pittsburgh Steelers, but it was not until he joined New England in his fifth NFL campaign (2001), and joined Bill Belichick that he became a starter.

Vrabel played for the Patriots from 2001 and 2008 where he was not just a three-time champion, he was a First Team All-Pro in 2007. With New England, he compiled 11 Interceptions, 48.0 Sacks and 606 Tackles.

Vrabel will be inducted alongside Dante Scarmecchia, the former Offensive Line Coach, on a time and date to be determined.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate Mike Vrabel for earning this impending honor.

Amusement parks are a great place to eat some food, hang out with family or just ride a roller coaster. But they are not normally the place where you find the next country music superstars. But that is what happened for Diamond Rio. Started in 1982, they were the main band at Opryland U.S.A., a country music themed amusement park. After a few years there, they were ready to spread their wings. It took a number of years bouncing around Nashville (dealing with everything from injuries to “Star Search”) before they finally were able to finalize a record deal with Arista Nashville in 1990. That signing eventually lead to them getting a long string of hits, receiving awards from the ACMs, CMAs and Grammys, and becoming one of the biggest country groups of the 1990’s. The last award to place on their mantle would be from the Country Music Hall Of Fame.