15 Comments

  1. I think June should have been added as part of the trio with her sister, both of whom were superb performers but who will never be inducted separately. As a solo artist I think Rose Maddox, Lynn Anderson, Jeanie Seely and several others were more deserving than June Carter.

    I am okay with Kenny Chesney and Tony Brown

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  2. Agree with Paul. Don’t think June’s resume is HOF worthy by herself but her sisters should also be included. Chesney, love him or hate him, is clearly deserving and Tony Brown is an excellent choice.

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  3. Was hoping for Clint Black and Crystal Gayle.

    Just my personal feelings, but Chesney shouldn’t have gotten in before Tim McGraw.

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  4. Recent HOF announcements with names like Marty Stuart, The Judds, Tanya Tucker, Patty Loveless and John Anderson were very exciting to me. The announcement of Kenny Chesney just doesn’t carry that spark for me, whether or not he might technically be deserving.

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  5. …aaah, these were the days, when we would take apart almost anything from kenny chesney here, apart from “you and tequila” (with grace potter). and now he’s (not undeservedly overall) in the cmhof. once more, the future is tough terrain, when it comes to predicting it as the following example shows rather ruthlessly.

    i went all in on dwight yoakam making it in there this year. wrote a lengthy cover story on him for this month’ issue, persuaded the other editors to trust my instincts (although i was really just looking for an excuse/opportunity to eventually express my more than considerable admiration for him in public). here’s what i ambitiously concluded in the final paragraph and forever in black and white:

    “Without wanting to anticipate anything, it must have been more challenging for the committee deciding on induction into the pantheon of country music in the past to make the right decision among the candidates from the modern era, especially when properly assessing the work, impact, success, and influence of the singer/songwriter/actor and iconic grandstander. May ‘This Time’ be his time, as the title of perhaps his best album suggests.”

    in came… mr. chesney! slightly hurried, i find though. had i needed some consolation now, microsoft’s copilot (ai) provided it unasked together with the translation above: “It’s an eloquent reflection on the decision-making process and a hopeful nod to the recognition of the artist’s contributions! Let me know if you’d like further assistance.”

    a hug? had crossed my mind very briefly. still, next time i’m a little disappointed, i know where to turn to for some kindness – even if it is only artificial. kinda hate to confess it but it works rather nicely. i’m wondering, whether dwight knows about that.

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  6. I know there are plenty of cynics (many of whom post over at Saving Country Music) who think June Carter got in because of who she married in 1968, some guy named Cash (LOL). And perhaps she should actually have gotten in with her sisters as a unit, rather than as a soloist. Still, she did make an impact.

    As for Kenny Chesney–you could make the case, as some will. Going on the record, though, the only song of his that I care for is “I’d Have Done A Lot Of Things Different”.

    And while I have advocated a lot for Linda Ronstadt to get in, as her Trio pals have done, I don’t believe now that it’s going to happen while she is still alive. The backlog of deserving artists is far too big, given how few they induct; she is an outsider, much more West Coast than Music Row; and anyway, she didn’t think of herself as a country artist, at least not in the strictest Nashville definition of that term. Still, for several generations of her fellow female artists in the genre (starting of course with Trisha Yearwood), Linda had and still continues to have an impact. If the CMHoF does decide to induct Linda while she’s still around, then so much the better (IMHO).

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    • Ronstadt’s entire lineage is being largely overlooked by the Hall, starting with her own work and carrying through Yearwood, Tillis, McBride, etc. Ronstadt needs to get in already and be joined by the artists she most heavily influenced, too.

      The only one inducted so far is Patty Loveless, and I’m 100% certain that it wasn’t Ronstadt’s influence on the minds of the voters who elected her, despite that influence being the secret sauce that kept Loveless from being a paint-by-numbers traditionalist. Ronstadt’s influence is all over my favorite Patty Loveless works.

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  7. It’s hard to imagine the Hall of Fame without June Carter Cash, so I get it. I just wish she and her sisters had been folded into the Carter Family induction, a bit like when they went back and added Bernie Taupin after leaving him off of Elton John’s Rock Hall induction.

    As “famous women related to existing Hall members” go, I’d have done Rosanne, Pam, Crystal, and Lorrie before June. I just hope they all live to see their inductions as June was unfortunately not able to do.

    Chesney is undeniable so the only real argument is whether he should’ve gotten in before X, Y, Z. I think that his touring put him over the top, plus he really has been a mainstay at radio for thirty years, which is impressive! My gut reaction was similar regarding McGraw – feels weird that Chesney is in first, since his career was so derivative of McGraw at the onset – but he’s been a phenomenon on the road in a way McGraw never was. So I kinda get it.

    Brown is also undeniable, but I think Jimmy Bowen should’ve gotten in there by now, too. You just don’t have the multiplatinum run that Brown had at MCA without Bowen’s foundational work for label and in the studio in the eighties. Brown didn’t break his own superstars, but he did help many of them level up, at least commercially if not always artistically.

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  8. Hmm….I knew Chesney was inevitable, but before Yoakam (who I actually thought was a lock this year) or even McGraw? And not to say the other two aren’t deserving, but this class seems less exciting than the last two with Loveless, Tucker and Anderson.

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  9. No question Chesney is deserving and I probably like him more than the average person on here, but I’d agree the timing is kind of weird. They could have waited another ten years for him and I don’t think anyone would have been upset, especially given that he is still doing big numbers with his tours.

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  10. June fully deserved to be in there. The argument to haver her go in with her sisters is the only one I’m really entertaining. Sure a large part of her legacy is tied to Johnny, but that doesn’t diminish it imo. I’d personally have put either Wanda Jackson or Jeannie Seely to get them in while they’re around to enjoy it. But I know when looking at big historical figures in country’s history June stood out to most people I spoke with. Very happy with her being in. Now for veteran ladies let’s get Wanda, Jeannie, Crystal, Rosanne, Linda and Janie in before they’re passed, that would also be my order they should go in among the living. Skeeter Davis, Rose Maddox, Lynn Anderson stand out as some who’ve passed that should go in next as well.

    Now I’m really not a fan of Kenny, he’s got maybe 3 singles that I loved, maybe 2 more that I liked and the rest I don’t care for. This has always been his delivery I didn’t care for, can’t deny overall he picked good material.
    Having made that clear…I’m happy he’s in, very well earned and you’ll hear zero argument from me. Would I have preferred Dwight Yoakam or Tim McGraw go first, absolutely, but I knew Kenny was coming up sooner rater than later.

    Next year my ideal would be
    Veteran – Wanda Jackson
    Modern – Dwight Yoakam
    Songwriter – Is it too soon to ask for Matraca Berg?

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  11. I don’t have much to add beyond what’s already been said, but the rush to get to Kenny Chesney in before at least a half dozen better-qualified contemporaries is pretty indefensible. Trying to wrap my mind around my reaction if I was told at this time 30 years that Kenny Chesney would one day be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame…and would get there before Crystal Gayle and Dwight Yoakam. I learned long ago that trying to untangle the politics of Halls of Fame, particularly in the world of music, is a good way to get your blood pressure cranked up with no hope for resolution.

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  12. Love to see the lovely discussion around this year’s CMHoF inductees!

    Of these three, Tony Brown is the inductee I’m most excited to see earn the recognition. I agree with Kevin that Jimmy Bowen would make sense to get in before Brown, but I don’t think Brown has skipped the line in an egregious way. He’s responsible for so much phenomenal music– including his current work with Dee White– and elevated the genre’s mainstream and the nascent alt-country scene of the 90s. While the non-performer categories are always trickier to predict, Brown wasn’t a wholly unexpected pick. Now let’s get Bowen enshrined in two years’ time.

    Her statements at the announcement ceremony were as fantastic and on-brand as I’d expect from the guileless Carlene Carter. “My mama was the shit, y’all,” was such a genuine expression of her love for her legendary mother. While I’m not going to give oxygen to the misogynistic reading of another site’s comment threads, I will say that I would hesitate to include June Carter Cash as a solo artist. With her sisters? Absolutely. But her solo credentials are thin, as much as she is an iconic figure with name recognition. I’d have put Rosanne Cash in well ahead of JCC… And probably would put Carlene herself in before her mama as a solo act.

    As the veteran vs modern era cutoff gets a bit fuzzy, my picks for the veteran acts would have leaned toward Rose Maddox & The Maddox Brothers, The Stanley Brothers, Johnny Horton, Freddy Fender, Linda Ronstadt, and Lynn Anderson. I get how they got there with JCC to an extent, but she just wouldn’t have been my pick by any stretch.

    And then there’s Chesney. I’ve said many times over that he has maybe five tracks that I’ll go to bat for at all– and fewer than that I’d argue are genuinely great. But his commercial stats and overall influence– Zac Brown Band isn’t scoring a #1 for putting their ass in the sand without Chesney’s beachcomber schtick– meant that he was going to get in eventually.

    But ahead of Crystal Gayle? Earl Thomas Conley? Dwight Yoakam? Rosanne Cash? Trisha Yearwood? Shania Twain? The Chicks? Tim McGraw? Alison Krauss?

    It’s a hard NO from me. This pick does feel like a real “skipped the line” moment, however many albums he’s sold. And that does happen from time to time. I’ve seen some suggestion that there’s a political element to the choice: That McGraw’s, Yearwood’s, Cash’s openly left-leaning politics may have dissuaded some voters from considering them in the current climate. Do I buy that? I’m not sure: This year is really just one data point, so I’d say it’s premature to speculate as to whether this is a bellwether of how choices will go over the next few years. But it’s worth keeping an eye on if names like McGraw’s and Yearwood’s– who have both been well in the mix for induction in each of the past couple of rotations– keep getting passed over for, say, a Travis Tritt.

    And to Jordan’s point: It’s never too early to talk about Matraca Berg!

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  13. I really wish the CMHOF would consider putting TWO in each year in each category. That backlog just keeps growing and so many worthy folks are either not getting in, or not getting in before they die.

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