Outlaw Country Music Hall Of Fame Coming
Fans of Outlaw country music are about to get a big wish granted, as plans have been announced to form an Outlaw Country Music Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame will be located in Lynchburg, TN. A space for the upcoming Hall of Fame has been acquired in Lynchburg and an architect is currently working on design plans. The Hall of Fame’s inaugural slate of inductees will also be added around that time in a ceremony the new organization hopes to conduct at the historic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville.
“The Hall of Fame will be dedicated to those artists, both musicians and songwriters, whose work best exemplifies the qualities of the Outlaw movement that first began in the 1970’s and has gained renewed momentum as an alternative to the Nashville pop country scene,” says the organization’s press release. “In doing so it will place the spotlight on music firmly attached to the roots of country. Moreover, the Hall of Fame will educate the public about Outlaw country, memorialize founders—such as Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, and Jessi Colter—recognize current Outlaw artists, and provide a platform for them and for independent record labels who currently have little if any voice in the industry.”
Along with the Outlaw Country Hall of Fame will be the formation of an Outlaw Country Music Association. Similar to the Country Music Association, or the CMA that governs the Country Music Hall of Fame, it plans to be made up of record labels, DJ’s, journalists, and other music personalities and professionals. Governing the Outlaw Country Music Association will be a board of directors. Current members of the board include Jeremy Tepper of SiriusXM, Terry Jennings of Korban Music Group, author of Outlaws Still At Large Neil Hamilton, Joe Swank at Bloodshot Records, mayor of Lynchburg Sloane Stewart, Professor of Entertainment Law David Spangenburg, architect Thomas Bartoo, and CEO of Sol Records Brian DeBruler.
Gary “Sarge” Sargeant, head of the Tennessee-based non profit “Outlaws and Icons” is heading the new project. A 5,000 sq-ft space has been acquired located right on the town square in Lynchburg has been designated for the facility that plans to allow for live broadcasts of events on the internet.
The announcement of the Outlaw Country Music Hall of Fame was made today on SiriusXM’s Outlaw channel.
August 15, 2013 @ 3:25 pm
well all right!
August 15, 2013 @ 3:27 pm
I’ll have some specifics thoughts on all of this soon. This is just the facts, ma’am.
August 20, 2013 @ 1:52 pm
will be interesting for sure to see who gets mentioned in that read. if you work in the name Struggle / Shooter I will puke.
August 15, 2013 @ 3:31 pm
Sounds great so far! Let’s just hope they don’t sway too far from the initial vision here.
August 15, 2013 @ 3:38 pm
i don’t know what to think. If Jack Daniels is a major sponsor, they’re gonna want to sell whiskey to today’s drinking crowd – the very people who can’t get enough of the new acts. How commercial is this gonna get? Are they gonna air Jason Aldean live shows via satellite? See where I’m coming from?
August 15, 2013 @ 6:36 pm
If I remember correctly isn’t Lynchburg a dry town? When I went on a tour of the Jack Daniels facility they finished it with a glass of lemonade.
August 15, 2013 @ 7:07 pm
Yeah, I’m pretty sure Lynchburg IS dry – but Jack Daniels is still looking to cash in on the whole Outlaw Country thing. Can’t blame them, but it does (in my mind) make the real reason for this Outlaw HOF seem fishy.
August 15, 2013 @ 3:55 pm
This is a good idea. When can I plan on attending Shooter and Eric Church’s induction? And Bucky Covington’s too.
August 15, 2013 @ 4:34 pm
So will Mojo Nixon be hosting the annual awards show with all of his disgusting obscenities and unbearable 4-letter self-promotion? SiriusXM Outlaw Country has very little of which to be proud when they give that (IMO) piece of human refuse a microphone and a show on which to misuse it. I question anything associated with SiriusXM for that reason alone. Just my overbearing opinion.
August 15, 2013 @ 5:50 pm
All right, Joe Swank!
August 15, 2013 @ 6:26 pm
Great, and surprising, news.
August 15, 2013 @ 6:31 pm
“author of Outlaws Still At Large Neil Hamilton”
Is that the guy who included Shooter Jennings, Lydia Loveless & Joey Allcorn in his book about “Outlaws” but forgot to mention Hank 3 ? Man, I have nothing against Lydia Loveless (I just don’t get the hype), but how can you possibly put her & Shooter instead of Hank III ?
August 18, 2013 @ 8:02 am
Perhaps Shelton was asked but refused to do the interview without being paid a large sum of money first.
Perhaps…
August 15, 2013 @ 6:40 pm
“put ol’ Jim Beam in my hand”
August 15, 2013 @ 6:46 pm
“Current members of the board include Jeremy Tepper of SiriusXM…”
Cool — Laura Cantrell’s hubby, plus he founded the Diesel Only label.
***
An Outlaw HOF seems like a pretty good idea; it’ll be interesting to see where it goes…
August 15, 2013 @ 8:41 pm
Jack Daniels is among the least “outlaw” brands out there to accommodate this feat. You can already tell it’s setting itself up for maximum punchline effect off that alone! 😉
At least go Wild Turkey, if not Everclear 197! 😉
Oh, and let me guess: its theme song will be “Lotta Boot Left To Fill”. -__-
August 15, 2013 @ 8:44 pm
WooHooo! This is BIG. When this hits it will be an incitament for country music as a gengre to grow back it’s balls and vombs. Oh, sorry for being out of line but this makes me very excited about the future.
August 15, 2013 @ 8:49 pm
If they get the term “outlaw” right of course… I just got a little OVER excited there for a while. Had a really good day and was not aware that there might be some difficulties along the road of such a project, and that MAYBE, they don’t think about the outlaw movement in the same way as most of us here do.
But if they do….. Woohooo!
Shut up, Charlie. Calm the heck down…..
August 15, 2013 @ 8:57 pm
Im freakin pumped about this. Even if it doesnt turn out to be an “outlaw” HOF but just an actualy country music HOF that will promote and show current country not what the CMA is calling country nowadays
August 15, 2013 @ 9:16 pm
This is where it will go, 10 or 15 years from now Eric Church and Justin Moore will be inducted. This will get diluted just like everything else in country music
August 15, 2013 @ 10:03 pm
Miranda Lambert too! 😉
And don’t get me wrong. I actually like plenty of her music, including her current single and its predecessor. She’s one of the artists on corporate country radio I (generally) enjoy more than most others. But she is no “outlaw” regardless of how many cigarettes she smokes, how much whiskey she guzzles, how much gunpowder she wields and how much kerosene she lights on fire. -__-
August 15, 2013 @ 11:43 pm
yet another institution controlled by industry and media weasels ready to dictate which artists are worthy of recognition? also not happy about the jack daniels sponsorshuip for obvious reasons.
August 16, 2013 @ 2:14 am
They need to go back a few years past the 70’s for their start. (let’s talk about Hank) and I just hope they don’t rely on Nashville to tell them who the Outlaws of today are. God knows we don’t need Eric fucking Church in there. Sounds like it may lean towards a “money” thing, just a tad.
August 16, 2013 @ 6:13 am
When does Justin Moore get in? Or does he get to be the Grand Marshall showing off “Outlaws like me?”
August 16, 2013 @ 6:42 am
Maybe this is the Hall of Fame that Gram Parsons can get into.
August 16, 2013 @ 7:12 am
I’ll reserve judgement until I se what actually happens, however, I remain hopeful. I hope there will be room for Gram Parsons, Jerry Jeff Walker, Ray Wylie Hubbard and Gary Stewart.
August 16, 2013 @ 7:25 am
Egg Zachary
August 16, 2013 @ 8:13 am
I have a feeling this will end badly…
August 16, 2013 @ 8:26 am
Nice article, with one clarification: Jack Daniels is NOT a sponsor of the Outlaw Hall of Fame. In fact there are no big corporate sponsors, although smaller companies might get involved.
All of the Board members have volunteered to do this with the one purpose of promoting Outlaw country music. Any of the divisions that might exist on that scene are of no consequence to the effort. –Neil
August 16, 2013 @ 9:12 am
I had been told by someone involved with the project that Jack Daniels would be involved. I’ve updated the story.
August 16, 2013 @ 8:28 am
This is great news! Hope they put Billy Don Burns in!
August 16, 2013 @ 9:01 am
I don’t see this going well. It will start with the Willie, Waylon, etc. inductions but then eventually Jack Daniels or whoever are the sponsors will want more current artists or publicity and it will go downhill from there….
The Justin Moore “Still An Outlaw” tour presented by the Outlaw HOF and Jack Daniels….
The special Outlaw HOF exhibit on the current Outlaw movement with memorabilia from Eric Church, Justin Moore and Miranda Lambert.
August 16, 2013 @ 9:12 am
I wonder what Dale Watson thinks about this since his promotion of “Ameripolitan” music/awards…
August 16, 2013 @ 9:31 am
the Outlaw Hall of Fame huh? that just sounds…not outlaw.
August 16, 2013 @ 11:05 am
Will be curious how they define “Outlaw” by their subsequent inductions. Beyond the obvious – how about Guy Clark, Robert Earl Keen, Steve Earle, Townes, Jerry Jeff Walker, Doug Sahm, etc (obvious Texas flavored roster)? Then you have Graham Parsons, Dwight Yoakam, John Prine, Buddy Miller, Emmylou Harris, etc. How far do they expand? You have artists/writers like Dean Dillon who is closely connected to George Strait (as well as Toby Keith, Kenny Chesney, etc). Yet Dean Dillon wrote Tennessee Whiskey – & David Allan Coe first made famous. Reason I mention Dean Dillon as an example is he’s also worked with Vern Gosdin, Hank Jr. & Waylon. Dean’s already in the Nashville Songwriter Hall of Fame. He’s written countless Country Radio hits but he also has “Outlaw” credibility. The list goes on and on
August 16, 2013 @ 12:24 pm
I think all this worry about “outlaw cred” is unwarranted. As long as this HOF subscribes to the term in its proper definition, basically “singers, songwriters, & muscians not going through the conventional channels of the Nashville machine,” then it will be alright.
The term “Outlaw” does not mean how much coke you did, how much whiskey you drank, how many times you’ve been arrested, etc. It pisses me off when people don’t know the true meaning of the term in the music context. Do your homework people.
August 16, 2013 @ 2:03 pm
Don’t you think this outlaw shit has gotten out of hand?
August 16, 2013 @ 8:30 pm
Just out of curiosity, would anyone consider Pinto Bennett outlaw country?
August 17, 2013 @ 12:17 pm
I know this might not be a popular statement, however I do know one name that doesn’t belong in there.
Hank Jr… As far as I’m concerned that guy is a sell out
Long live
Billy Joe Shaver
iii
Bottle Rockets
Billy Don Burns
DAC
August 18, 2013 @ 9:11 am
Very nice selections.
I had never really heard of Billy Don Burns until aound a month ago, and now I have all of his CD’s, except his $42.00 duet CD with Hank Cochran.
August 17, 2013 @ 2:47 pm
We are keeping the Cash/Waylon spirit alive in Chicagoland, with the I 57 South Band. Check out our 10 original song CD “ILLINOIS OPRY.” Look close and you will see Bill wearing a Waylon belt buckle on the cover.
August 18, 2013 @ 9:21 am
I live in Knoxville, so I will make the 125 mile drive to Lynchburg for the grand opening.
Monday Funday Tiddy Bits | Rawhide And Velvet
August 19, 2013 @ 12:55 pm
[…] Reckon Eric Church will get his own exhibit?  […]
August 20, 2013 @ 8:09 am
Joe is the man, he’s a great guy.
September 5, 2013 @ 1:08 am
This is starting out with the best off intentions but to try and define a music that’s very definition defies definition is a slippery slope. Who gets to pick what is Outlaw? There is no way this won’t in time be corrupted. Anytime you give people power to define art there will be corruption. That’s ok though. Bands will always break norms and so there will always be outlaws, I doubt most good ones will make it into a club…
September 17, 2013 @ 9:45 am
Tompall. ‘Nuff said.
September 18, 2013 @ 7:18 pm
Check out my website…After 40 years, maybe some are seeing it. Hope to see more at the upcoming Outlaw Hall Of Fame. What an honor if it happens! What a great thing for the truth to be told about many deserving artists whom I respect and were swept under the rug…. I know the feeling. I lived it.