NASHVILLE (AP) - After seeing his plaque hanging in the rotunda of the Country
Music Hall of Fame for the first time, Bill Anderson (pictured above) recalled attending the first Hall of Fame ceremony in 1961.
Anderson had only recently moved to Nashville, and he remembered honoring initial inductees Hank Williams, Jimmie Rodgers, and Fred Rose along with an audience that included such future Hall of Famers as Roy Acuff and Kitty Wells. Fighting back tears, he said: "My plaque's going to be hanging up there next to those. That's a pretty awesome feeling."
Anderson and six other new members of the Country Music Hall of Fame attended an induction ceremony Thursday (Oct. 4) evening at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville. Joining Anderson were Sun Records founder Sam Phillips, famed Capitol Records producer and executive Ken Nelson, Phil Everly of the Everly Brothers, Charlie Louvin of the Louvin Brothers, and Ray Walker and Gordon Stoker of the Jordanaires.
Inductees Waylon Jennings, Don Gibson, and Don Everly did not attend the event. Also inducted were the Delmore Brothers, Homer and Jethro, Webb Pierce, and executive Don Law. It was the largest class of inductees in the hall's history, increasing its membership from 74 to 86.
Stoker, Everly, and Phillips |
Anderson and the other inductees participated in an informal chat session before family and media that preceded a private, black-tie dinner that featured a performance by Raul Malo.
Nelson, a founding member of the Country Music Association, reflected on the organization's early days. Walker talked about the Jordanaires' first sessions with Elvis Presley. Phillips, now a member of the rock and roll, R&B, and country music halls, waxed eloquent about the connections between the styles. Anderson recalled how former Monroe Brothers band mate Byron Parker had inspired him as a child growing up in Columbia, S.C.
During his tenure with Capitol Records, Nelson, now 90, recorded more than 200 artists, signing and producing many future Hall of Famers � including the Jordanaires and the Louvin Brothers, in addition to Buck Owens and Merle Haggard. He told seeing an early Everly Brothers performance with Chet Atkins and expressing an interest in signing the duo, only to be told by Atkins, "Sorry, kid, you're too late -- they just signed."
Several of the inductees either had pop careers or participated in classic pop records. Phillips recorded not only Presley, but Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, and Jerry Lee Lewis. The Jordanaires sang backup for Presley and many other artists. The Everlys, one of the first rock acts to be based in Nashville, had more pop hits than they did country. Even Anderson, one of country's most successful singer-songwriters, had a crossover hit -- 1963's "Still."
Phil Everly |
The
Everly Brothers were part of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's first class of inductees in 1986. Phil Everly noted that he and his brother Don were the first non-founders to join the CMA, and described his feelings as one of "a prodigal son being brought back home."
Asked if he ever dreamed he'd one day join the Hall of Fame, Louvin replied, "I dreamed it a long time before it happened. They kept nominating the Louvin Brothers over and over. I turned out to be like a bad tooth. I just kept hanging in there."
Pictured above in the first image below is 40-year Grand Ole Opry star Bill Anderson in front of his plaque at the Country Music Hall of Fame on Thursday, and in the middle photo are inductees Jordanaires' Gordon Stoker, Phil Everly, and Sam Phillips. Finally, Phil Everly stands beside a plaque of the Everly Brothers.
