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Country Veteran (32)

The Country Music Hall Of Fame began simply as a way to record and remember the history of country music, but has grown into one of the world’s most extensive musical collections for one of America’s oldest recorded music genres. The first country music recording was in 1922. Country music is a distinctly Southern American sound; a genre that combined blues, ranchera, Cajun, Appalachian, African-American music, folk, Celtic and many other styles into an important musical tradition. But what country music sounds like has changed throughout it’s over 100 year history. From the cowboy westerns of the 1930’s, to the rockabilly of the 1950’s, to the countrypolitan of the 1960’s into the outlaw movement of the 1970’s, even to the bro-country of the 2010’s, with various other sounds, styles and subgenres in between. It can get very difficult to pinpoint exactly what country music is (though the common expression “three chords and the truth” is what most people seem to lean on). The Hall Of Fame came along in the 1960’s to make sure every bit of that sprawling genre history is marked and preserved.

So with that large history, it can be extremely tough trying to determine who is going to be picked each year, since Country’s Hall Of Fame is notoriously one of the hardest to get inducted into. And unlike the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, the country genre is a lot more focused on being a part of the Nashville machine to judge achievements (like radio career length, charting hit singles, awards from the industry, etc.). For the most part they only induct 3 people per year: one in the “Modern” category, one in the “Veteran” category, and one in a rotating group (either “Musician”, “Songwriter”, or “Non-Performer”, which rotate every year). A performer is eligible for the “Modern” category 20-40 years after they achieved ‘national prominence’ and a performer is eligible for the “Veteran” category 40 years after they achieve ‘national prominence’. For this list of predictions I am putting together, I will only be focused on the “Modern” and “Veteran” categories. One additional rule: nobody can be inducted for a stretch of 12 months after they die.

On that note, let’s get started with the predictions. Here are 25 predictions for the “Modern” category:

Sincerely,

 

The Not in Hall of Fame Rock and Roll Committee.

John was born and grew up in Florida, where his main musical influences were the rock and roll artists like the Rolling Stones and Jimi Hendrix. Then once he was 15, he discovered a love for country music thanks to legends like George Jones and Merle Haggard. He fell so hard for country that after playing in rock bands in…
The Stanley Brothers are seen as a defining act in the bluegrass side of country music, so their still being missing from the Hall Of Fame is a glaring omission that hopefully gets fixed in the future. Ralph and Carter Stanley came from a musical family, and once both brothers came back from serving in World War II they started…
By the time he had his first hit record in the mid 1960’s, Donald Lytle had run away from home at 15, rode the trains, performed in plenty of clubs, joined the Navy, played instruments on other artist’s recordings, recorded solo music on various labels and changed his name to Johnny Paycheck. From that point, he had a few hits…
Crystal got her musical inspiration very early in life, since she is one of the many younger siblings of the legendary Loretta Lynn. She began her singing career in the 1960’s as a background singer in Loretta’s band, and even got to replace her sister for one performance at the Grand Ole Opry when Loretta got sick. Once Crystal graduated…
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…
As children, Larry and his brothers (Steve and Rudy) performed for local radio stations and their church.  Once he finished school, he joined a gospel group until being spotted by 2018 Hall Of Fame inductee Dottie West. She helped him push his career forward, and he eventually ended up as a background singer for 2004 Hall of Fame inductee Kris Kristofferson.…
Like various other artists on this list, Linda was known for recording in multiple different genres and multiple different styles across her prolific career. But she did so much within the country genre that she would be very deserving to get an induction in the Country Music Hall Of Fame. Growing up in Tucson where her parents surrounded her with…
Lynn got the bug for performing at a young age, and her musical interests were helped by her parents who were aspiring songwriters themselves. Lynn’s other passion was horse riding, which she soon became a champion of. Once she was an adult, she would spend a lot of her time riding in equestrian competitions. And then when she would watch…
I’m sure growing up as one of the children of an astronomical musical force like Johnny Cash could bring about a fair share of difficulties, but having the most popular singers coming in and out of your house as a teenager also helps to get you a foot in the door. Connecting up with some of those singers and a…
In the mid-1930s, Fred Maddox got tired of picking fruit in the migrant camps and gathered four of his six siblings together (brothers Cliff, Cal, and Don and 11-year-old sister Rose) to form a musical group. After Fred was able to get a radio spot for the group, they began traveling around California’s barns and festivals using the slogan “America’s…
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,…
Coming onto the country scene in 1980, Earl became popular for his “thinking man’s country” style of country music that he recorded throughout his career; his songs involved characters, well written stories and heartbreak. He started out in the business as a songwriter, getting some hits for country artists Mel Street and Conway Twitty. Spending those years just writing songs…
Even though he was older than the average country star by the time he got his first hit, Vern was able to get a string of barroom hits and became known by the nickname “The Voice”. Born in Alabama, he was a big fan of country music growing up, and in his mid 20’s he made the decision to move…
Born into the famous Carter Family, June was a part of country music history without even singing a note. The Carter Family is known as the first family of country music, because they were one of the first popular acts in the genre during the 1920’s, and they set the standard. June was born in 1929, and by 1937 she…
Being born in Mississippi, Mickey grew up close by to his cousin Jerry Lee Lewis. Jerry taught Mickey his piano technique, but Mickey didn’t really have an interest in going into the music business until he saw Jerry become a huge star. So he recorded songs on various small labels in his new home of Texas, and became a popular…
And here we have someone who is on both the Rock Hall Of Fame and the Country Hall Of Fame predictions list. Even with such a short life and career, he was able to build up enough of an impact to influence both the rock and country worlds. After falling in love with country music in university, Gram joined up…
Since he was a young teen, Jack was able to slowly move up in the industry, step by step. Starting as a teenage disc jockey, by 18 he was working on the “Tennessee Barn Dance” show. Then he moved to Atlanta to form his own band, which lasted for 8 years. Moving back to Tennessee, he headed to Nashville this…
Jeannie was born the youngest of four children in 1940 in Pennsylvania. Although her parents were not connected to the industry, she got inspiration for her future career from the two of them. Her father played banjo at local square dances and her mother sang around the house with the four kids. As a teenager, she began singing on local…
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…
Now John Denver is an interesting case. Starting out his musical journey in the folk-pop realm (similar to a group like Peter, Paul & Mary), he joined the Mitchell Trio in 1965 and then went solo four years later. During these first few solo years, he was recording folk songs that were becoming massive pop hits like “Take Me Home,…