Date Set For Announcement of 2017 Country Music Hall of Fame Inductees
The announcement of the 2017 inductees to the Country Music Hall of Fame will occur on April 5th, Saving Country Music has confirmed with the Country Music Association. The event will be held at the Hall of Fame rotunda in Nashville at 10:00 a.m. Central in front of a select group of dignitaries and press, and Vice Gill will be the event’s host this year.
Three new inductees will be likely named in three distinct categories: Modern Era, Veteran’s Era, and “Non-Performer, Songwriter, and Recording and/or Touring Musician active prior to 1980,” which rotates every 3 years. With a Non-Performer, Fred Foster, selected in 2016, and a musician, Grady Martin, selected in 2015, it would be a songwriter’s turn up to bat in 2017. Songwriters can also be performers, but the spirit of the rule is to induct a songwriter who would otherwise not be considered for the Hall of Fame.
Modern Era candidates are eligible for Hall of Fame induction 20 years after they first achieve “national prominence.” Veterans Era candidates are eligible for induction 45 years after they first achieve “national prominence.” Another rule worth mentioning, especially after all of the high-profile deaths in country music in 2016, is that no candidate is eligible for the Hall of Fame a year after they pass away. This is to avoid sympathy votes in the aftermath of an artist passing away, though in recent years this has also accelerated artists being inducted before they die to avoid the one year penalty.
READ: Saving Country Music’s 2017 Country Music Hall of Fame Picks & Prognostications
Unlike other Halls of Fame, the Country Music Hall of Fame tries to keep the institution distinguished by letting only a few select names in each year. This has stirred some controversy over the last few years as a glut of names worthy of induction continues to build. Fans of many artists have set up online petitions to lobby the Country Music Association in attempt to get their candidate in. The Hall of Fame inductees are selected through a committee process appointed by the CMA, which has kept the same three-category rules in place since 2010.
March 24, 2017 @ 6:32 am
Jerry Reed better be on that list…
March 27, 2017 @ 10:09 pm
Amen ! Have Burt Reynolds make a speech in Honor of Jerry’s Induction.
April 5, 2017 @ 8:28 am
You got your wish. Reed is in – announced this morning.
March 24, 2017 @ 9:06 am
In the Modern Era, it seems Ricky Skaggs and Alan Jackson are both in the queue, having all the necessary musical and commercial credentials-and both having even done the “Artist In Residence” gig. Skaggs is chronologically first, but Jackson is such a dominant force for traditional country in the recent era that I think Alan will get the nod. The other two categories seem just about impossible to predict, unless you’re an industry insider
March 24, 2017 @ 10:38 am
The dirty pricks should stop embarrassing themselves and put Hank Jr. in!!!!!
March 24, 2017 @ 7:57 pm
You ain’t doin’ him any favors with that kind of talk.
I agree that Hank Jr. belongs in the Hall. He’s one who could get in under either the Modern of Veterans’ category.
March 24, 2017 @ 2:08 pm
Dottie West please ???
March 24, 2017 @ 2:22 pm
I look at Hank Jr., Crystal Gayle, Tanya Tucker, Dottie West, Lynn Anderson, Ricky Scaggs – all from my generation – and realize that many of them will be waiting for awhile. Of the 90s era, I can only be okay with Alan Jackson getting in before any of the ones I mentioned. Yes, I want to see Clint Black, Brooks and Dunn, Toby Keith, and others get in, but not before they finish with the older generation still waiting.
March 24, 2017 @ 3:24 pm
Would an artist who got the Hall of Fame call use their social media more or less before the announcement?
There’s two that are posting more lately. Tanya Tucker has been using Instagram a lot this month after not posting for a while. Marty Stuart is heavy on social media lately, but that probably is because of his new album. If it’s more, those two are my main picks.
Vince is President of the Country Music Foundation and Marty is a past President, but that probably has nothing to do with Vince hosting. I’m looking for clues that probably aren’t there, but I love speculating.
March 26, 2017 @ 12:18 pm
Tanya is long overdue. She’s such a trailblazer.
April 2, 2017 @ 2:45 pm
I didn’t know Vince was Prez of the CMF, that kind of changes my predictions for the inductees. Politics have always played a part in the music industry and friends push for friends or at least favorites. For example, Vince is very popular with insiders and I’ve always thought that helped his unusually early election to the HOF, before such bigger and more popular contemporaries as Reba McEntire, Randy Travis, and yes Garth Brooks as well as major acts like Emmylou Harris, Tom T Hall, and Statlers. I think this ups Ricky Skaggs to at least the top 5 possibilities and I think I am the first to (now) suggest Allison Krauss who isn’t even 50 yet may become the youngest ever inductee. Both are deserving – as are dozens of others of course – but this certainly doesn’t hurt their chances. The good news to me is that it may also help Steve Wariner to get in. Wariner is often overlooked as one of the major country stars of the last 30 years but he’s one of the very few besides Strait and McEntire who emerged in the early 80’s and were still in the game in a big way at the turn of the century.
Also hope that allowing singers to qualify in the “songwriter” category helps 90 year old Freddie Hart get in this year. He was the first person to have a song win Song of the Year for two consecutive years and it has only happened once or twice since. (And of course he wrote many other hit songs including most of his own records).
March 24, 2017 @ 5:50 pm
Just wondering, did anything ever come out of that petition to get Keith Whitley in the Hall of Fame?
March 24, 2017 @ 7:07 pm
We’ll have to see. With so few slots for new inductees each year, it’s important that the people who are lobbying to get their favorite artists in take a long approach to the process. It’s not going to happen overnight. You really have to make your case and try to persuade public sentiment, and hope that persuades the voters.
April 2, 2017 @ 2:49 pm
Petitions don’t help and I think they may actually hurt an artist’s chances, the “big shots” might have the attitude how dare the public tell them who to vote for. There’s been about a dozen acts over the last 20 years who have had fans start online petitions for them to be inducted in the HOF and I don’t think one of them has ever actually been inducted.
April 2, 2017 @ 7:11 pm
I hope Keith gets in Warthog. He should be there.
So should John Denver
March 24, 2017 @ 7:40 pm
Stonewall Jackson should be there.
March 27, 2017 @ 10:05 pm
I think Marty Stuart,ought to get into the Modern Era category. Look the road he’s traveled in Country Music. He started out(12 yr old) in Bluegrass Gospel(Sullivans), then Bluegrass(Lester Flatt New Grass), and Country (Johnny Cash),before hatching out on his own path. He’s done more reverence for Country Music,and Preserve it’s Core,Standards,and Roots,than anyone.
March 27, 2017 @ 10:11 pm
The Bailes Brothers, / and Johnnie & Jack,/ and Wilma Lee & Stoney Cooper,/for the Veterans Category. They’re both way past due.
March 29, 2017 @ 6:46 pm
Dwight Yoakam is # 1 on my list. He is a genius. Songwriter, singer, performer, entertainer, guitar player, and he puts on the best concerts ever. And is still doing so. He has stayed true to his music and himself, as well as his fans for 30 some years now. We are more than ready for this to happen for him. He deserve it !!
March 30, 2017 @ 5:10 am
John Denver!!! COUNTRY Roads, Thank god I’m a COUNTRY boy! You can’t get any more COUNTRY than those songs….Need I say more!
March 31, 2017 @ 4:27 pm
It’s way past time to elect Tompall and the Glaser Brothers. They set the standard for sibling harmony, and gave many artists the artistic freedom they needed. Tompall, Chuck, and Jim have more than earned their induction with their body of work over the years. They have been passed over enough. It’s time.
April 1, 2017 @ 3:38 am
I just posted Tompall Glaser!!!
April 1, 2017 @ 3:37 am
Tompall Glaser
April 2, 2017 @ 7:09 pm
what are the 2017 chances for John Denver & Keith Whitley?
April 3, 2017 @ 6:15 am
Could you please explain to me why Slim Whitman and George Hamilton 1V have not been inducted into The Hall Of Fame, surely they both meet the criteria required for induction?
April 4, 2017 @ 2:35 pm
Tompall and the Glaser Brothers