Tom T. Hall, Emmylou Harris, The Statler Brothers and Ernest "Pop" Stoneman are announced as the 2008 inductees of the Country Music Hall of Fame at a press conference hosted by the Country Music Association on Tuesday, Feb. 12 at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville. (l-r) (back) The Statler Brothers (Jimmy Fortune, Phil Balsley, Harold Reid, Don Reid); (front) Emmylou Harris and Tom T. Hall. Photo by John Russell, courtesy of the CMA.
February 13, 2008 - Emmylou Harris, the Statler Brothers, Tom T. Hall and Ernest "Pop" Stoneman were singled out yesterday as the newest members of the Country Music Hall of Fame.
The four acts will be officially entered in the Hall during a medallion ceremony this spring, bringing the total number of inductees to 105. Each artist will have a plaque bearing their likeness enshrined in the rotunda, alongside such existing members as Hank Williams, Tammy Wynette, Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, Patsy Cline, Chet Atkins and Roy Rogers.
"The steel went out of our knees," the Statlers' Don Reid said at the announcement, recalling the phone call when they discovered they were being added to the Hall. "We have always looked at the Hall of Fame as some place our heroes live. We grew up knowing these people professionally; we learned from these people, we worshipped these people. We never allowed ourselves to even think about that [for us]—never."
Tom T. called the experience "very spiritual," while Emmylou suggested the Hall of Fame is an inspiration: "It's where we draw the water from the well."
The four acts are each appropriate. Emmylou, having been schooled early in her career by Gram Parsons, became an unwitting founder of the alternative-country movement. The Statler Brothers began as a backing vocal group for Johnny Cash, ultimately parlaying a gospel quartet sound into a two-decade string of hits. Tom T., nicknamed the Storyteller, fashioned some of the most literary songs in country music history. And Pop was a recording pioneer who had one of country's first hits, "The Titanic," and convinced producer Ralph Peer to do some field recording in the South, a suggestion that led to the discovery of Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family in the 1927 Bristol sessions that have been referred to as the "big bang of country music."
Ernest, said WSM air personality Eddie Stubbs, was "the one that lit the match for it all."
Among those attending and/or participating in the event were Hall of Famers Ralph Emery, Jim Foglesong and Jo Walker-Meador; Patsy, Roni and Donna Stoneman, formerly of the group the Stoneman Family; producers Tony Brown (George Strait), Buddy Cannon (Kenny Chesney), Jack Clement (Charley Pride) and Tom Collins (Barbara Mandrell); and Tennessee Three bassist Marshall Grant.
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