Country Hall of Fame Inducts 2020 Members. But You Can’t See It

In so many ways, the County Music Hall of Fame is superior to its Rock and Roll counterpart in Cleveland. Though many country fans might be frustrated at the austere approach to new inductees the Country Music Hall of Fame takes, they can see the cautionary tale of what happens when you throw the barn doors wide and let almost everyone in like the Rock and Roll Hall does, diluting the honor.
But where the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and really, most all Halls of Fame throughout American culture get it much more right than the Country Music Hall of Fame is how they use their nomination and induction process as a way to promote their institutions and engage the public in the history of them. Hall of Fame talk is the ultimate fodder for around the water cooler, and barroom debate, and Holiday chit chat with friends and family. But when it comes to the Country Hall process, it all transpires behind closed doors, and for a very exclusive crowd.
Sunday evening, November 21st, the Country Music Hall of Fame finally honored its 2020 inductees after a delay in the Medallion Ceremony due to COVID-19. Hank Williams Jr., Marty Stuart, and songwriter Dean Dillon were fêted with performances by legendary country stars and contemporary understudies alike, and speeches were made both by the inductors, and the inductees.
Marty Stuart was inducted by his wife and fellow Country Music Hall of Famer Connie Smith. Hall of Famer George Strait was there to induct Dean Dillon, who wrote so many of the songs that made Strait a superstar, with Kenny Chesney also on hand to perform and honor Mr. Dillon. Alan Jackson and Eric Church were on hand to honor Hank Williams Jr., with the Mother of all things Hall of Fame, Brenda Lee, there to place the medallion around Hank Jr.’s neck.
Tribute was paid, songs were performed, invocations about the importance of country music and the performers who were being inducted were delivered. But you’ll have to take my word for it, because unless you were one of the very few and exclusive individuals invited into the prestigious, but small CMA Theater, you didn’t get to experience any of it.
It’s not that there isn’t a strong case for keeping these ceremonies somewhat cozy and exclusive. Again, one of the things that makes the Country Music Hall of Fame so special is its exclusivity. Perhaps we don’t need a bunch of rowdy superstars stage crashing each others performances and vomiting into ice buckets backstage.
But it’s almost like the Country Music Hall of Fame is going backwards in an era when presentations like this are opening up due to online streaming, and the ease of it. It was a surprise to most country fans that the induction ceremony even happened on Sunday. Maybe it’s due to this particular class being three white males (and one a rather polarizing political character in Hank Jr.) , and the Hall of Fame not wanting to awaken the woke mob. But honestly, it’s like this every year, and unless something changes, it will be like this for the next induction ceremony when Ray Charles is scheduled to go in.
We don’t even have video of it at this point aside for a 6-minute summation of a 3-hour presentation. I’m sure at some point there will be one, maybe two videos released of specific moments of the festivities, as the Hall of Fame normally does. After all, they have a full video production crew on hand. In the days after we should all be sharing these videos and discussing them like you do after an awards show, along with who said what, the cool collaborations and performances that transpired.
Instead, all we have is a few local press reports. Marty Stuart is know for his brilliant and eloquent speeches. Did you see him in the Ken Burns Country Music documentary? When he talks, you listen. But all we have at this point is a few excerpts from the few press members who were in the room to attempt to glean what was said.
This is not a pleading for the Country Music Hall of Fame to completely open up the process to where it becomes a circus. But the nomination and induction of Hall of Fame members is the perfect opportunity to promote the Hall of Fame institution, and all of its great inductees. It’s 2021, and the technology is there to stream it, or at the least, release videos so we can all experience the best moments for ourselves, and not weeks or months afterwards after we’ve all moved on, but when it’s top of mind.
I just selfishly want to see Hank Jr. being inducted after years of advocating for it. I want to hear Marty Stuart’s speech. And I want to see George Strait honor the songwriter who helped put him in the Hall of Fame. Because that’s country music, and since the very beginning of the genre, country music has been about artists sharing their experiences with their fans as opposed to exclusive engagements behind gilded walls only accessible to a select few.
It’s time for the Country Music Hall of Fame to smartly, reverently, and respectfully move its induction ceremony into the modern era, and make it accessible to everyone.
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If you want, a 6-minute summation of the presentation can be seen here.
November 23, 2021 @ 10:04 am
Holly williams streamed his speech on Instagram live. It was short, sweet, to the point and in character. You can probably still get to it on her profile.
November 23, 2021 @ 10:31 am
Thanks for the heads up. And I’m sure if someone wanted, they could scour social media, and part and piece certain parts of the ceremony together from grainy smartphone video. But to me, that’s worse than putting it all in a presentable form for the public. You want to be in control of the production quality, not people in the audience with their amateur devices.
November 23, 2021 @ 10:20 am
Even if you don’t want to do a video presentation, it feels like such a missed opportunity for the CMHoF to not partner with SiriusXM. An audio stream of the stream of the presentation sandwiched by career highlights of the honorees would be great. You could also add a permanent channel as an online extra that plays the music of CMHoF honorees like SiriusXM does with the Rock Hall of Fame. Feels like a great way to spotlight the music and individuals being honored.
November 23, 2021 @ 10:32 am
Good idea. Both making the audio available, and perhaps partnering with SiriusXM, or maybe WSM to broadcast it. Makes a lot of sense, and may be a good intermediary between broadcasting nothing, and a full video stream.
November 23, 2021 @ 10:56 am
Same! Shooter posted some snippets of his performance on Insta and I was just left wanting to see the whole damn thing!
November 23, 2021 @ 11:22 am
It’s always been frustrating not to be able see these ceremonies. Seeing special guests ph tribute with performances that may never happen again or seeing the speeches from the inductees. You’d think since they also run a museum they might let people see the ceremony to build interest. Especially since the cma awards quit recognizing the new meme era every year.
November 23, 2021 @ 11:32 am
I love watching the small 6 minute videos they show of the ceremony but I wish they’d show the whole thing! I agree that the HoF should use their inductions to promote themselves, perhaps by revealing the “shortlist” of potential inductees in advance and allowing fans to vote and debate so that the artist with the most votes goes in alongside the 3 that the CMA choose. The Rock HoF gets so much publicity when they release their potential inductees so I think it’d be a good idea for the Country HoF to start capitalizing on stuff like that.
November 23, 2021 @ 5:49 pm
That might work. But is the Country Music Hall of Fame willing to take on the same amount of heat that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame seems to take on each and every year? The fact that only three actual performers, one each in three categories, are actually selected is lamentably small in comparison to the (usually) five of the RRHoF; and it’s smaller still when you compare the number of sidemen, producers, managers, and the like that the RRHoF inducts as well. The scrutiny as to why some get the nod and others don’t is something the CMHoF is going to have to be prepared for and is going to have to accept as the way things work, both among the media and the fan base in general, from this point on.
November 23, 2021 @ 11:52 am
I would love to see the whole ceremony as well. On Sunday night, I was ready and waiting for people live tweeting from the ceremony which didn’t really happen at all. I was so confused by the radio silence of it all.
And where’s the HoF group photo? I’ve seen side shots from people there, but not the yearly high quality one yet. Maybe I just haven’t found it.
I’m wondering if music rights and royalties are an issue. Maybe livestreaming has a higher payout than a highlight video?
November 23, 2021 @ 12:58 pm
Exactly right Trigger. This is disappointing. For some reason, Alan Jackson’s speech from his induction 4 years ago is still on youtube. George Strait’s was but has been taken off. Both are tremendous and gracious speeches.
Shame as this was a tremendous class of inductees. Collectively speaking, probably one of the better classes.
I get the exclusiveness of CMHOF. But to “exclude” fans from participating is a crime.
November 23, 2021 @ 2:04 pm
This seems like something where CMT, Circle, RFD, and maybe even a few more general interest networks would be lined up for the broadcast rights, so I can only assume that somebody has no interest in letting it happen. I wonder if it’s a branding issue where the CMA is afraid that broadcasting actual Country music and artists would conflict with their promotion of shitty pop music on their awards show. Or they may fear that somebody on stage could make an observation on the state of mainstream country music these days.
November 23, 2021 @ 4:00 pm
Good list. No problem with Marty, Dean, and Bocephus. There’s a long line.
November 23, 2021 @ 5:41 pm
Yep we get hardly any promotion of great music. Just the people and artists with these artist there would have been one hell of a show. But yet they will promote the hell out of this new junk they consider country music. Now with ray Charles going in they may actually do it. Not saying ray don’t deserve to get in but everyone would know why they decided to make a big deal of it.
November 23, 2021 @ 9:07 pm
Next year Ray Charles? There are a hell of a lot more ” country” stars out there before Ray Charles.
November 24, 2021 @ 7:22 am
Well, in today’s world: woke>accomplishments
Ray Charles was exceptionally talented but there are scores of country music stars that deserve to be inducted before him.
November 24, 2021 @ 8:39 am
This ,frankly, is an utterly ignorant comment. The tendency to toss a meaningless “woke” at everything people don’t like these days is pathetic. If you want to make an argument against something at least know what the hell you are talking about and use words that mean something.
“Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music” is one of the most important and influential country records of all time. It was key in popularizing the Nashville Sound and massively boosting the popularity and profile of Country music. It’s cited by people like Willie Nelson and Buck Owens as being one of their major influences. Without Ray Charles Country Music would be a very different and less financially successful industry.
November 24, 2021 @ 4:57 pm
@carl
@CK
Oh, knock it off, guys. “….before Ray Charles.” “deserve to be inducted before him.”
You’re pretending that your problem with Ray Charles is that he’s just too current or recent. With a little more seasoning, maybe Ray will get your imprimatur. Right.
November 26, 2021 @ 8:46 am
Ok I’ll make it simple RAY CHARLES IS NOT COUNTRY.
November 24, 2021 @ 5:50 am
Your offhand remark about the “woke mob” might actually be the answer. And the Breitbart crowd has its own “patriotically correct” mentality (e.g. trying to cancel a kneeling football player exercising his first amendment rights). After all your blog posts about skewed, politicized scrutiny, I can’t really blame an organization for just wanting a little privacy. There’s always a risk that you’ll end up like the MyPillow guy, marketing yourself to only one side of the culture war.
November 24, 2021 @ 6:11 am
Just read the two comments above mine to back up my point. There’s already a “Ray Charles controversy” brewing.
November 24, 2021 @ 8:53 am
Trigger you are generally a smart and careful writer but tossing in “woke mob” is the opposite of that. I understand there is some validity to the point you are trying to make but “woke” has just become a meaningless culture war epithet. Following up with the Ray Charles point you lead your readers right to the dumbest, knee jerk conclusions of our polarized culture. Ray Charles inclusion is about what he did for the music and industry. It has nothing to do with “woke” unless maybe that means people being a bit more aware of the major contributions of African Americans. It’s not like we’d really have country or bluegrass without those folks Jimmie Rodgers, Hank Williams, and Bill Monroe learned the blues from.
November 24, 2021 @ 2:26 pm
John,
It is never my intention to unintentionally insult anyone. If I mean to insult someone, they will know it. I will take your word that “woke” is now considered an epithet, even though it was originally coined and embraced by people who self-identified as such. I’m also very aware that today, people love to change the meaning of words and/or create words and/or change the meaning of them capriciously to win arguments as opposed to engaging in good faith discussions. For example, the term “queer,” which for decades has been a euphemism, and now we’re supposed to all adopt as a term of endearment, and just trust that the same people who unilaterally switched the meaning will not switch it back when they feel it’s to their advantage and claim everyone using today isn’t a homophope and always was. My only intent in using the word “woke” was shorthand for someone who places strong emphasis on identity. When Ray Charles was selected fro the Hall of Fame, I was a strong advocate for it, and defended the pick in discussion. I do think other artists were more qualified, but I am glad Ray Charles got in, and look forward to his induction. I think it would be even better for Ray’s family, his legacy, country music, and the Hall of Fame if that induction was somehow televised or accessible in real time. I’m advocating for that to happen. That is what this article was about. I am careful with my language. But when the rules are changed daily, it’s hard to keep up.
November 26, 2021 @ 11:07 am
See this is what I’m talking about. While I have zero issue with ray Charles getting in, I have lots of issues with his entering suddenly being a big spectacle. It would only be because he is black and to try cater to a certain part of the public and to get some good faith by pandering. Just going by strict country standards, ray is way down on the list of country performers and their importance to country music, heck even going by his race, he isn’t the first one in line. I agree with changing the format but I don’t agree with doing it when he enters cause it just taints the whole thing as a farce. I wouldn’t bother watching it for that fact alone even though i like ray Charles.
November 24, 2021 @ 2:24 pm
Trigger, David B, A.B., and Aaron,
There is a 5-year pattern for big 80’s acts going into the Hall of Fame and they are:
2006: George Strait
2011: Reba McEntire
2016: Randy Travis
2021: The Judds
There is also a 5-year pattern for big 90’s acts going into the Hall of Fame as well and they are:
2007: Vince Gill
2012: Garth Brooks
2017: Alan Jackson
So expect next year (2022) to see a big 90’s act going in and it could come from the following possibilities:
Clint Black
Kenny Chesney
Faith Hill
Toby Keith
Alison Krauss
Patty Loveless
Martina McBride
Tim McGraw
Travis Tritt
Shania Twain
Trisha Yearwood
Steve Wariner, Rosanne Cash, John Anderson and Earl Thomas Conley are already eligible for the Veterans category as their careers all do go back past 40 years (They all had their first hits in 1980-1981). Also, I think that Dwight Yoakam and Keith Whitley will have to wait until the Veterans category to get in (They’re both eligible for that category in a few years from now since they both first achieved national prominence in 1986, so they’ll both become eligible in that category in 2026).
What do you think?.
November 24, 2021 @ 2:49 pm
I wouldn’t count out Dwight Yoakam and Keith Whitley in the Modern Era category just yet. I would consider them front runners, though I also think Martina McBride, Trisha Yearwood, and perhaps Alison Krauss with her close connections will have a shot next year as well.
November 24, 2021 @ 5:16 pm
Lots of buzz at the Hall surrounding Martina McBride, with Trisha Yearwood in a close race. I would strongly believe one or the other goes in for 2022. And truthfully they are both deserving. Personally, however, I believe Patty Loveless should be the next female inductee of the era, with Kathy Mattea on the edge. With the current pattern Loveless and Mattea might have to wait for the veterans category and into their 70’s.
November 25, 2021 @ 6:56 am
It’s worth looking up the songs Dean Dillion wrote. What a monster songwriter.
December 27, 2021 @ 12:25 pm
I totally agree that it would be great to be able to watch a livestream or an uploaded-soon-after-the-event full video of each year’s induction ceremony. If I’m honest, there are very few music industry events I’m interested in nowadays, but this year’s Hall of Fame induction was an event I was truly interested in and yet wasn’t able to see.
Also, as a sidebar, I think it’s a shame that inductees aren’t announced during the CMA Awards telecast like they used to be. The Hall of Fame’s museum has a cool video montage with some magic moments from those announcements, but we don’t have any such video of inductees since, I think, the early 2000s.
May 2, 2022 @ 8:29 pm
In the past did they make the stream available for a brief period? I seem to recall maybe 10 years ago watching a ceremony, but could be wrong.
Frankly, as most quality artists readily acknowledge, there would be no music without the fans. Yet the most cherished accomplishment is being turned into a secret society.
And as you point out, they have the high dollar equipment making a beautiful recording. To only release a few minutes? Do I need to start applying for archives positions at the CMHOF?
What makes country music special and beautiful is the family aspect. The recognition that we are a part of this. Hearing these heartfelt speeches is what allows us to connect as fans.
But somehow in the most important moment they draw the curtains?
I smell the need for a change in leadership. Cant turn the CMHOF into a Masonic lodge.