Roy Clark, Barbara Mandrell and Charlie McCoy Inducted Into The Country Music Hall of Fame
Today in Nashville the Country Music Hall of Fame announced its 105th, 106th and 107th inductees. The three individuals–one each from the Hall’s three categories–will be formally inducted this spring at the Hall’s Medallion Ceremony.
Musician: Charlie McCoy
Charlie McCoy is a noted musician who has performed and recorded with some of the most famous names in American music. A master harmonica player, McCoy’s work can be heard on the recordings of Roy Orbison, Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash, among others. McCoy also served, for 19 years, as music director on Hee Haw.
The now 67 year-old McCoy has released a total of 18 albums (including hits packages), four of which charted in the top 10 (two in 1972 and two in 1973). He also charted six top 40 singles within that span. McCoy took home the 1973 Grammy for Best Country Instrumental Performance for Charlie McCoy/The Real McCoy.
Career Achieved National Prominence Between World War II and 1975: Roy Clark
Like McCoy, Roy Clark carved out a spot in the national consciousness on Hee Haw, on which he served as host from 1969-92. An immensely talented guitarist and banjo player, Clark was named ACM Entertainer of the Year in 1972 and 1973, as well as CMA Entertainer of the Year in 1973.
Clark first performed on the Grand Ole Opry in 1950, and was inducted as a member in 1987. Known primarily for his affable personality and appearances on various TV programs (including those as a guest host for Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show), Clark’s musical prowess is often overlooked by the broader country music community.
Clark was also the first country artist to open a theater in Branson (1983), an act followed by numerous peers.
Career Achieved National Prominence Between 1975 and the Present: Barbara Mandrell
A two-time CMA Entertainer of the Year and two-time Female Vocalist of the Year, Mandrell hosted the popular TV show Barbara Mandrell and the Mandrell Sisters from 1980-82, and is best known for her hits “Sleeping Single In A Double Bed” and “I Was Country When Country Wasn’t Cool”–the later title eventually working its way into the country music vernacular.
Noted for her rousing live performances, Mandrell is widely considered one of country music’s preeminent entertainers. She has charted seven top 10 albums, the highest-peaking of these being 1981’s Barbara Mandrell Live , her only Gold album. Mandrell has scored a total of 24 top 10 singles as a solo artist, including a string of eight consecutive top 10s between 1977 and 1980.
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Barbara Mandrell // Charlie McCoy // Country Music Hall of Fame // Roy Clark
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[...] Barbara Mandrell Posted on February 4, 2009 by Aunt B. Weren’t one of you just advocating for throwing Barbara in the Hall of Fame? [...]
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February 4, 2009 at 12:09 pm Permalink
I’m definitely not a Mandrell fan, but I’m not surprised by her induction.
February 4, 2009 at 12:16 pm Permalink
I am a Mandrell fan and think her induction is long overdue.
February 4, 2009 at 12:51 pm Permalink
I can agree with all three choices.
February 4, 2009 at 12:59 pm Permalink
Definitely some television era choices–that happen also to be three talented instrumentalists.
February 4, 2009 at 1:20 pm Permalink
Yay for Roy Clark :-)
February 4, 2009 at 2:01 pm Permalink
For some reason, I thought Mandrell was already in the Hall – but I agree with Razor that she’s long due. I’ve never heard of Charlie McCoy. But I think Roy Clark is well-deserving too. Nice choices.
February 4, 2009 at 2:04 pm Permalink
I thought this might be Reba’s year, but I can’t argue with Barbara getting inducted first.
February 4, 2009 at 3:30 pm Permalink
Roy Clark and Charlie McCoy are solid and deserving choices for the honor.
Barbara Mandrell … not so much. She’s an extremely nice and classy person with considerable talent; and she has her place in Country Music history. But she was always more “Pop” than “Country” (which made rich irony when she recorded “When Country Wasn’t Cool”). Plus she had a rather brief “reign” as a top-of-the-charts performer, etc.
Happy for her and her family — but not sure she was an appropriate choice.
February 4, 2009 at 6:21 pm Permalink
All three are very deserving- although I think there’s a few more that should have been brought in to the hall. Inducting posthumously just doesn’t make sense for some of these artists that are getting up there in age. Ten more that should get consideration:
10. John Denver- Might as well start with the most controversial first. In 1975, previous Country Music Association Entertainer of the Year Charlie Rich set fire to Denver’s winning envelope rather than announce the win. Some considered it a statement against country pop and the Music Row-controlled Nashville Sound. But looking closer, he was one of the top album sellers in the 70’s, won several country music awards, 2 Grammys, and his hits Take Me Home, Rocky Mountain High and Thank God I’m A Country Boy are sing-along standards.
9. Don Williams- Singer of seven #1’s and great songs like Tulsa Time and I Belive In You that will span generations, he deserves to be in.
8. Jerry Reed- The CMHOF has a history of inviting comedians and actors (Minnie Pearl) and Jerry Reed belongs in. Jerry Reed, was an country music singer, country guitarist, session musician, songwriter and actor who appeared in over a dozen filmsAs a singer, he may be best known for Amos Moses, and When You’re Hot, You’re Hot, for which he received a Grammy in 1972 and East Bound and Down, the theme song to the film Smokey and the Bandit in which he portrayed the “Snowman”, Cledus Snow.
7. Charlie Daniels- The man who made southern country/rock a new genre, he should be in for his fiddling ability alone. The Devil Went Down To Georgia is quite possibly the most recognizable country song ever recorded- he’s been a music hero for close to 40 years.
6. Ronnie Milsap- One of the top recording artists of the 1970’s and 1980’s, Ronnie Milsap is credited with forty number-one songs on the country charts, third only to George Strait and Conway Twitty. 40. Amazing career.
5. Hank Williams Jr.- He is another long overdue selection. He had two careers, each of them probably worthy of induction. His early standards Eleven Roses are just as HOF-worthy as his later standards like Family Tradition. Put him in with a plaque right next to his father.
4. Oak Ridge Boys- While their history dates back much further, they had a run of twelve years from 1977 to 1989 where they were THE band until they gave way to Alabama. Can anyone NOT sing all the words to their biggest hit Elvira?
3. Reba McEntire- Her box set that came out this week proves it beyond a shadow of the date- 50 hit singles that are some of this generation’s top songs.
2. Kenny Rogers- Best selling “country” artist of 70’s and 80’s. They’ve waited too long already for The Gambler.
1. Garth Brooks- He’s the youngest of the bunch but has done more single-handedly to raise the popularity of country music more than any other artist since Johnny Cash. And that’s pretty good company. With more albums sold than any other artist EVER, he’s a no-brainer.
February 4, 2009 at 8:08 pm Permalink
I’ll agree with most of your choices, Ken. Especially Kenny Rogers. But I think it’s a little premature to induct Garth Brooks. We have to wait for him to retire at least twice again before he goes in … (But I agree he’s a no-brainer, just not yet.)
February 4, 2009 at 9:48 pm Permalink
Barbara Mandrell and Roy Clark are excellent choices.
For the musician catagory, Charlie McCoy is a wonderful choice.
But I agree there are MANY other artists that need to be inducted soon.
I have a long list. To many to mention here.
I will mention only one — JEAN SHEPARD. It’s accutally SAD that she has not been inducted yet. She came to fame long before Patsy, Loretta, Tammy, Barbara, Reba…a true lady pioneer of Country Music, and a 50+ member of the Grand Ole Opry.
I plan on composing some letters to start working on 2010 for her…maybe it will do some good.
February 7, 2009 at 9:01 am Permalink
Mandrell was one of those “had to happen” inductions, just as Reba will be in the near future. As with Reba, the earlier in her career the recording, generally the better I like it
I really didn’t consider Roy Clark a likely inductee since in recent years the post WW2 inductees have tended to be major record & radio play stars and Roy never really was a major presence on radio. Sure, he had some scattered hits (his biggest hit actually being a pop record) but they were relatively few and far between. Still, I’m delighted that he was selected as Roy Clark is probably the ultimate entertainer and has (as someone once said of Glen Campbell) “more talent than God should allow anyone to have”. I don’t think there is an instrument with strings that Clark cannort play well – at least judging from what I heard in Weirsdale, FL three weeks ago
As an aside, Jimmy Dean and Jerry Reed would fall into the same category as Clark – all-around great entertainers who had a sprinkling of hit records but excelled in other aspects of the genre.
Charlie McCoy was completely off my radar, but with the changing categories used by the CMHOF, he is a logical choice. Others that should be inducted include Pete Drake, Weldon Myrick, Vasser Clements, Jerry Reed, Jerry Douglas, Tiny Moore and Johnny Gimble – really a mass induction of musicians is needed to make up for lost time
Anyway, congrats to all the new members
February 7, 2009 at 1:05 pm Permalink
I’m confused on the catagories an artist can be inducted into the CMHF under?
Shouldn’t Barbara Mandrell have fallen under the Post WW2 catagory? She had Top 10 records before 1975? Am I right here? I believe “The Mignight Oil” was 72 or 73.
And look at such a wide gap. 1945 to 1975. I think this catagorie should be split in half. For example; Jean Shepard rose to fame starting in the early 1950’s. Tanya Tucker rose to fame in the early 1970’s. They are in the same catagorie, and look at the difference in their music.
Artists like Mandrell, Statlers, Tom T. Hall are getting the nod before Jean Shepard, Ferlin Husky, Jerry Lee Lewis, Stanley Brothers..etc..
I think another catagorie should be composed. Maybe 1945-1965. That would make it pre-WW2, 1945-1965, 1965-1975, and 1975-PRESENT. More artists would be inducted this way
February 7, 2009 at 4:43 pm Permalink
I hope Garth never makes the hall of fame. I think his impact on the genre was the wrong impact.
February 9, 2009 at 11:10 am Permalink
David B- Couldn’t agree more on Jean Sheppard. If you need any assistance on a project like the one you suggested, just say the word!
February 9, 2009 at 1:44 pm Permalink
Jim — Just for the record, counting these three newbies, there will be 108 members in the Country Music Hall of Fame. I agree with other comments that Reba is long overdue — she should have gone in before Strait or Vince!
March 4, 2009 at 2:18 pm Permalink
I agree that Strait, ALabama and Gill do not belong in the HOF before Reba…but I think it is too soon for any of them. I hate the category that encourages more recent acts getting in before those who came before them. I am for keeping the HOF selective and not making it easy for more current artists to get in. Mandrell deserves to be in before Reba….and, heavens, Reba would tell you that. Reba may have to wait awhile now as a female got in in 2009 and 2008 and the HOF does not seem to like females. Barbara ia only the 11th female in the HOF.
May 18, 2009 at 4:42 pm Permalink
Barbara Mandrell???? Really? Too bad class does not play a factor since she does not have any. I have zero respect for that money hungry *^$#@ after she sued that teenager that DIED in the car accident in which she was involved. I think the greed hall of fame would have been more appropriate.
May 18, 2009 at 5:31 pm Permalink
To: Really ?
It’s always nice to let the ignorant have their say. Better still to let the Really? ignorant have their say
As Barbara explained in her book, and as any lawyer or claim adjuster can attest (or for that matter anyone who has read the terms of their own auto insurance policy), it was necessary for her to file the suit in order to bring the Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Coverage on her OWN auto policy into effect
You would have done the same thing, assuming that you are not stupid
May 18, 2009 at 6:13 pm Permalink
So basically, she sued someone she killed? Because she HAD to?
I don’t get it
May 18, 2009 at 6:43 pm Permalink
Mandrell did not kill the other driver – HE killed himself through HIS OWN careless driving – he crossed into her lane and hit her head on – and he almost managed to kill her. I’m not sure why this should be so hard to get. At one time the police investigation and other documents were available on-line, but with the passage of time, they’ve been removed
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Mandrell
May 18, 2009 at 7:07 pm Permalink
^ Its not hard to get, no one gave me any specifics … I was wonderin’ cause I’ve never heard of any of this b4
You don’t have to get so defensive
May 18, 2009 at 8:06 pm Permalink
As Paul explained, Barbara did not deserve the bad press that she got from filing that lawsuit. It’s a shame that the misinformation persists to this day. All she was doing was trying to collect on her own insurance policy, on which she’d paid premiums for years. She spent a year and a half in bed as a result of that accident, endured a lot of pain and suffering, not to mention the loss of wages.
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