The Country Music Hall of Fame just inducted Garth Brooks, Connie Smith and Hargus "Pig" Robbins. I would certainly not dispute the merits of these artists. Obviously, Garth is the best known of the trio. I have most of his music and especially liked his first three albums. A full list of the CMHF members can be found on their website, countrymusichalloffame.org. The list of inductees goes back to 1961 when Hank Williams, Fred Rose and Jimmie Rodgers became the Hall's first members. Click on their name or "More info" and you get a bio of the inductee. Some of my favorite members include - in most recent year of induction order - the Statler Brothers ('08), Alabama ('05), Glen Campbell ('05), the Everly Brothers ('01), Elvis Presley ('98), Brenda Lee ('97), and Patsy Cline ('73).
Although I've been a resident of Nashville for over 5 years, I have yet to go through the exhibits. I've only been in the lobby and giftshop. It's not the cost of admission that prevents me from going. The regular price of admission for adults is $20 and as a senior it would only cost me $18. I just have no compelling desire to go. I can read the bios on-line. The first time I go will probably be when some relative or friend visits and wants to go and I'll take them. It's not like I have anything against country music - far from it. I also have no desire to visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, even though I grew up on rock music. I went to an Indians baseball game in Cleveland while on a business trip in 1999 but didn't have time to visit the R'n'R Hall.
Actually, I am much more familiar with the artists in the rock than the country hall, even though I've hardly listened to any rock music from the 80's on. The rock hall only goes back to 1986. In the first year, inductees included 16 acts. I guess they had a lot of catching up to do. Three of the these acts, the Everly Brothers, Elvis Presley and, most surprising to me, Jimmie Rodgers, are in the country as well as the rock hall. It's said of Rodgers on the rock hall website, rockhall.com, that "his combination of blues and hillbilly styles made him a true forebear of rock and roll, and he was also part of the first group of musicians inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame". His induction category is called "Early Influence". I tend to think of Elvis and the Everly's more as rock than country. Their big hits were as rock artists. Some of the other '86 rock inductees included Sam Cooke, Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, Ray Charles, James Brown, Fats Domino and DJ Alan Freed, the last in a non-performer category.
I would probably be more interested in the Country Music Hall of Fame if they inducted country artists more to my liking. I would like to see John Denver, Ronnie Milsap, Anne Murray, Gene Watson, Larry Gatlin and Crystal Gayle be so honored by the CMHF. Frankly, if Elvis and the Everly's are members, I see no reason why Linda Ronstadt and the Eagles shouldn't be included. Some of my more recent country favorites, Suzy Bogguss and Hal Ketchum, will share John Denver's fate and never get in. George Strait will put out a doo-wop album before JD gets selected.
So, which is my favorite hall of fame?
Without a doubt, it's the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York which I first visited in 1966 and returned to on three other occasions.
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