When I first heard them on the radio I thought “Hey! When did Creed come back!”

The CMA revises its Hall of Fame criteria from time to time. It was just done again a few years ago, and I imagine it will be altered again before too long. I would venture that it’s something that gets discussed a lot by certain CMA committees.

I would argue there are quite a few artists from pre-WWII that should be in there but aren’t, and by inducting only one every three years, I don’t think they’re in danger of running out of candidates soon.

However, the other alternating categories actually pile up candidates much faster than they put them in. A musician goes in every third year, and considering this is a fairly new category, there’s far too many musicians who deserve to be there that aren’t there yet. At present, they’re putting the A-Team in one at a time. That will take another 15 years or so before all those guys get in. Harold Bradley suggested they be inducted as a group of players, but the problem is, everyone has a different definition of who they are.

It’s even worse for songwriters. They’re lumped in with non-performers, so they are listed with producers, record execs, deejays, tv personalities, whoever else had an impact on country music without actually singing or picking it on record. So you have Hank Cochran (or any songwriter of your choice) in a category with Billy Sherrill, Buddy Killen, John Lair or last year’s entry from this category, Ralph Emery.

However, I like that the inductions are limited and remain a select group. The Rock Hall of Fame has become a travesty, or at best very controversial, because they induct so many artists every year. It’s not as meaningful as it should be. I do believe getting into the Country Music Hall of Fame is still considered a big honor, as it should be.