Kentucky Music Hall of Fame inductions

Pablo Alcala/Herald-Leader & Kentucky.com

Live from the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame induction ceremony...

    While much of Kentucky hid from the slick roads and freezing rain, women in high heels and men in black ties headed into Lexington for the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
    The inductees were country crossover artist Crystal Gayle, singer and TV star Florence Henderson, jazz and soul musician Les McCann, writer and producer Norro Wilson and country singer Dwight Yoakam.
    McCann and Henderson didn’t attend the ceremony, but Gayle was to perform with her sisters Loretta Lynn and Peggy Sue, Billy Bob Thorton recorded a video for Yoakam and George Jones prepared his congratulations for Wilson. A tribute to saxophonist Boots Randolph, a 2004 inductee who died in 2007, started the show.
    Lexington Center’s Bluegrass Ballroom was filled with black tuxes, crushed velvet dresses and sparkling, shining shoes soaked by water and salt.
    “We had a few calls from people saying they couldn’t come, and a few calls from folks asking if they could get tickets,” said Robert Lawson, the Hall of Fame’s director.
    Eight hundred people had tickets for the event, scraped their cars and held up their hems to use their tickets, which cost $125 to $200.
    Inside the ballroom, Dwight Yoakam soundchecked with musicians, singing to a crowd of servers in black uniforms while they scattered salt and pepper shakers on white-clothed tables with red rose centerpieces.
    He swaggered out of the ballroom in scuffed white boots, tight blue jeans, a heavy trench coat and signature cowboy hat and into a lobby just starting to fill with guests.
    They waved for him to stop for photos. As he started to walk away, Mount Vernon Mayor Clarice Kirby jumped over and wrapped her arm around his back saying, “Please, just one.”
    “I didn’t care if I had to beg,” Kirby said.. “I didn’t even tell him I was the mayor.”
    There was little star-gazing as crowds arrived, but the inductees' dinner tables were swarmed by media and camera-toting fans who hovered over their sequins and salads.
    “Isn’t she cute?” a woman whispered, waving for Gayle and Lynn to lean into each other.
    Country artist John Michael Montgomery, wearing head-to-toe black, said he jumped at the chance to introduce Yoakam, but attends the ceremony to see his Kentucky cohorts get some attention.
    “We’ve had tons of talent come out of this state,” he said. “I gotta brag a little bit about that.”

Click below for a list of past Hall of Fame inductees...

Past Kentucky Music Hall of Fame inductees

2002
Rosemary Clooney
Everly Brothers
Red Foley
Tom T. Hall
Grandpa Jones
Bradley Kincaid
John Lair
Loretta Lynn
Bill Monroe
The Osborne Brothers
Jean Ritchie
Merle Travis

2004
Jerry Chesnut
The Coon Creek Girls
J.D. Crowe
Vestal and Howard Goodman
Boots Randolph
Ricky Skaggs
Billy Vaughn

2006
Sam Bush
John Conlee
Todd Duncan
Lionel Hampton
Wynnona & Naomi Judd
John Jacob Niles
Dottie Rambo
Mary Travers

Comments

[andrew]

Granted, I don't read the HL daily, but did Dwight perform? The HL (and other print media) only indicated that he was being "honored." I would have attended, but I didn't believe Dwight would even show up for such a small time event. If he did show, why no local show? Why can't Lex attract more music? Is it the 21 and over law? I moved here from Austin, and I'm disappointed with this town...it is dead.

[Joe Hansel]

I think it is a shame that J.P. Pennington and Les Taylor of Exile fame and writers of many hits are not members of the Hall.