Emmylou Harris, Pop Stoneman Join Hall of Fame

Emmylou Harris

April 28, 2008 - Ever-evolving Emmylou Harris and country music pioneer Ernest "Pop" Stoneman officially joined the Country Music Hall of Fame last night during a star-studded ceremony in Nashville that connected the early stages of the genre with its latest creative evolution.

Pop was one of the first rural-bred singers to make records in the 1920s, and he was highly influential in persuading Ralph Peer to travel to Bristol, Tenn., in 1927 for a series of recordings that led to the discovery of Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family, two of the acts upon which the music was eventually built. Emmylou — after exploring country-rock, folk and bluegrass along her creative path — became a beacon for the alt-country and Americana movements, which brought an earthy honesty to modern country music.

Emmylou — who recorded her first album in 1969, one year after Pop's passing — accepted her Hall of Fame medallion from Charlie Louvin, noting that she had originally aspired to be a folk artist, rather than a country singer. She cited Johnny Cash's Bitter Tears album as one of the turning points in her career, as it showed "you really could bring folk and country and social consciousness together."

Hall of Famer Frances Preston officially inducted Pop, saying he "had a lifelong motto: Don't quit. And he didn't."

Neither did his daughters, as Patsy Stoneman Murphy, Roni Stoneman and Donna Stoneman pushed for his induction, now complete some 40 years after his death. The three surviving members of the Stoneman Family sang his best-selling single, "The Titanic," with Patsy playing the autoharp their father used on the 1924 recording of the song.

"Cowboy" Jack Clement, Jim Lauderdale, the Jordan Aires and the Old Crow Medicine Show also performed in his honor. Emmylou was paid tribute by performances from Lucinda Williams, Vince Gill, Jon Randall, Sam Bush and Guy Clark. And in a particularly notable moment, Patty Griffin and Buddy Miller sang "Love Hurts" — a key duet Emmylou recorded with mentor Gram Parsons — to an audience that included not only Emmy, but also Phil Everly, who recorded the first version of the song as a member of the Everly Brothers.

Along with Phil, numerous Hall of Famers dotted the house, including Little Jimmy Dickens, Earl Scruggs, Ralph Emery, Jim Foglesong, Jo Walker-Meador and Vince Gill. Tom T. Hall and the Statler Brothers, two acts that will be inducted in another medallion ceremony June 29, also sat on the front row.

Elsewhere, the audience featured Marty Stuart, Connie Smith, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's Jeff Hanna, "Strawberry Wine" songwriter Matraca Berg, the Whites and former Emmylou collaborators Brian Ahern, Paul Kennerley, Tony Brown and Phil Kaufman.

As has become tradition, all the Hall of Famers that were present packed the stage at the end for a rendition of "Will The Circle Be Unbroken." The lyrics of that standard line the wall of the rotunda, in which the plaques of the Hall's members are displayed. With Pop Stoneman and Emmylou Harris now officially enshrined, that room boasts two more appropriate pieces of bronze.