NEWS
Country Music Hall of Fame 2019
Inductees Jerry Bradley, Ray Stevens, Ronnie Dunn, Kix Brooks
Local 257 members Jerry Bradley, Ray Stevens, and Kix Brooks of Brooks & Dunn were welcomed into the Country Music Hall of Fame last Oct. 20 at a star-studded event held in the CMA Theater.
“Nobody chooses to be up here,“ Stevens said. “We can dream about it, but we can’t plan on it. We can’t choose it. We have to be chosen. And let me say how sweet it is to be chosen to be here tonight.” Stevens’ legendary career as an arranger, multi-instrumentalist, publisher, producer, singer, and songwriter has spanned several decades and gained the artist notoriety across genres with songs from the sweetly sentimental (“Everything Is Beautiful”) to the sublimely silly (“Mississippi Squirrel Revival”). Ricky Skaggs paid tribute to Stevens with a performance of “Misty,” and Ralph Emery inducted Stevens, saying “He is really overdue for the award we are going to give him this evening.” Stevens said that if the induction had come 8 THE NASHVILLE MUSICIAN
sooner, he could have upped his price for dates. “All joking aside,” he continued, “it’s a long way from the sock hop at a South Georgia high school when I played piano with a little four-piece band to this here place tonight. Think about it. Ray Stevens in the Country Music Hall of Fame — no hat, no guitar. My jeans aren’t even ripped. How did that happen? The answer is simple, really. This is Nashville. Anything can happen in Nashville.” Jerry Bradley, the son of Music Row founder Owen Bradley, was inducted in the nonperformer category by Bud Wendell. At RCA Records Bradley cultivated Dolly Parton’s career, and signed Alabama to the band’s first major recording contract. He also produced Charley Pride, Dottie West, Eddy Arnold, Dave & Sugar, and signed Ronnie Milsap and Sylvia. “This business has given me a wonderful life. I’m grateful for the people I’ve met, the songs I’ve heard and the part I played,” Bradley said. Marty Stuart and Travis Tritt, who performed “Good Hearted Woman,” were among the musicians who paid tribute to the songs and artists Bradley had a hand in bringing to popularity. Brooks & Dunn, the modern era inductees, each had a solo career before being brought together by Arista executive Tim DuBois for a long string of hit records and awards. Trisha Yearwood was part of the musical tribute to the duo, singing their hit “Believe.”
