20. John Denver

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, Country Roads” and “Rocky Mountain High”. Those songs were lighting up the pop charts and selling millions, but they were doing nothing in the country realm. It would not be until years later (after Denver’s success in country music) that a song like “Take Me Home, Country Roads” would go on to be considered a classic of the country music genre. Then, by 1974, the Nashville industry seemed to think that John’s music suited the genre now and he began to get hits on the country charts. But not only had he been opened up to hits on the country charts, but he was also welcomed into the entire country scene receiving ACM awards and CMA awards (including the CMAs giving him ‘Entertainer Of The Year’). There was, of course, backlash among some in the genre that there would be a pop star getting country hits (look up the John Denver/Charlie Rich CMA issue), but as years have passed he is very much seen as a country-pop singer now. Then, after all of this, John’s success on all charts was fading by the end of the 1970’s. He got a couple more hits in the 80’s, but that would be it for chart-toppers. Nowadays, as his name has been brought up in consideration for induction, that John would be honoured but not 100% satisfied being added to the Hall Of Fame because he considered himself more of a folk artist than a country one. That is a fair point, but being one of the biggest singers of his era, selling millions of records, getting a number of hits, and singing country music classics should mean that he deserves a spot in the Country Music Hall Of Fame either way.