Country Hall of Fame Members

Wynonna Judd was raised in various places across the country, beginning in her birth state of Kentucky. As her mother Naomi Judd continued pursuing her nursing career, the Judd family settled twice in California and later full-time in Kentucky. In 1979, Wynonna, Naomi and younger half-sister Ashley Judd settled in Franklin, Tennessee and began searching for a record deal in nearby Nashville. In 1983, an unprecedented sit-down audition with RCA Nashville was successful, and indicated great things to come for country's newest duo The Judds. Several years and awards later, Naomi announced that she had contracted Hepatitis C during her nursing career from a needle stick. Their final concert on December 4, 1991 indicated an end to country music's most influential duo, and a beginning for someone who would break new records within the industry. Wynonna's first solo album, 'Wynonna', sold over 5 million copies, a first in the industry. Today, Wynonna continues her successful recording career along with raising children Elijah Judd and Grace Pauline from her first marriage to Nashville's Arch Kelley.

Emmylou Harris was born on 2 April 1947 in Birmingham, Alabama, USA. She is a music artist and actress, known for Brokeback Mountain (2005), O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) and Lawless (2012). She was previously married to Paul Kennerley, Brian Ahern and Tom Slocum.

Vince Gill was born on 12 April 1957 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA. He is a music artist and actor, known for Maverick (1994), For Love of the Game (1999) and Borat (2006). He has been married to Amy Grant since 10 March 2000. They have one child. He was previously married to Janis Oliver.

Dolly Rebecca Parton was born on January 19, 1946 in Pittman Center, Tennessee and raised in Sevierville, Tennessee to Avie Lee Parton, a housewife & Robert Lee Parton, a tobacco farmer. At 12, she was appearing on Knoxville TV and at 13, she was already recording on a small label and appearing at the Grand Ole Opry. After graduating from high school in 1964, she moved to Nashville to launch her country-singing career. She fell in love with Carl Dean, who ran an asphalt-paving business; they married on May 30, 1966 and are still together. In 1967 her singing caught the attention of Porter Wagoner, who hired her to appear on his program, The Porter Wagoner Show (1961). She stayed with the show for 7 years, their duets became famous, and she appeared with his group at the Grand Ole Opry; she also toured and sold records. By the time her hit "Joshua" reached #1 in 1970, her fame had overshadowed his, and she struck out on her own, though still recording duets with him. She left him for good to become a solo artist in 1974. Dolly gained immense popularity as a singer/songwriter. Dolly won numerous Country Music Association awards (1968, 1970, 1971, 1975, 1976). This petite (5'0") beauty was a natural for television, and by the mid-1970s she was appearing frequently on TV specials and talk shows before getting her own, Dolly (1976). In 1977, Dolly got her first Grammy award: Best Female Country Vocal Performance for her song "Here You Come Again." Dolly's movie debut was in 9 to 5 (1980), where she got an Oscar nomination for writing the title tune, and also Grammy awards 2 and 3: Best Country Song, and Best Female Country Vocal Performance for the song "Nine to Five." She got more fame for appearing in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982), and in Rhinestone (1984) with the song "Tennessee Homesick Blues". She is the head of Dolly Parton Enterprises, a $100 million media empire, and in 1986 she founded Dollywood, a theme park in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, celebrating her Smoky-Mountain upbringing. She appeared as herself in the Dolly (1987) TV series. In 1988, she won another Grammy: Best Country Performance Duo or Group with Vocals, for "Trio". Dolly was in the acclaimed picture Steel Magnolias (1989) with Julia Roberts, and went on to appear in 15 movies and TV-movies for the 1990s, and garnered more more Country Music Association awards. In 2000, Dolly received her 5th Grammy award: Best Country Collaboration with Vocals. She also released a Bluegrass Album. Dolly is known for beautiful songs such as "Coat of Many Colors," "Jolene," and "I Will Always Love You". Dolly said in an interview, "My music is what took me everywhere I've been and everywhere I will go. It's my greatest love. I can't abandon it. I'll always keep making records."

Troyal Garth Brooks is an American country music singer and songwriter. His integration of pop and rock elements into the country genre has earned him popularity, particularly in the United States with success on the country music single and album charts, multi-platinum recordings and record-breaking live performances, while also crossing over into the mainstream pop arena.

Alan Jackson was born on 17 October 1958 in Newnan, Georgia, USA. He is a music artist and actor, known for I Am Number Four (2011), Unstoppable (2010) and National Treasure: Book of Secrets (2007). He has been married to Denise Jackson since 15 December 1979. They have three children.

Loretta Lynn was born on 14 April 1932 in Butcher Hollow, Kentucky, USA. She was a music artist and actress, known for The New Mutants (2020), High Crimes (2002) and Logan Lucky (2017). She was married to Oliver Lynn. She died on 4 October 2022 in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee, USA.

Brenda Lee was born on 11 December 1944 in Lithonia, Georgia, USA. She is a music artist and actress, known for Joy Ride (2001), Dick Tracy (1990) and Reindeer Games (2000). She has been married to Charles Ronald 'Ronnie' Shacklett since 24 April 1963. They have two children.

Reba Nell McEntire was born in 1955 in McAlester, Oklahoma. The reigning queen of country music has pursued a musical career since she was 5. In Junior High school, she performed with her musical siblings, aka the Singing McEntires. A fine athlete, Reba McEntire followed in the footsteps of her rodeo champion father in competitive barrel racing. Her performance of the "Star Spangled Banner" at the 1974 National Finals Rodeo in Oklahoma City caught the attention of songwriter Red Steagall, who suggested she consider a career in country music. She has since earned 7 gold and 5 platinum albums and 2 Grammy Awards. She has also explored other avenues of entertainment, serving as a guest-host on Good Morning America (1975) & earning generally favorable reviews for her acting in the movie titled "Tremors" & TV mini-series, Buffalo Girls (1995). In 1988, she formed Starstruck Entertainment to oversee the very numerous aspects of her musical & acting careers.

She is extremely fortunate that she was not along with her seven band members and her touring manager when tragedy occurred and the airplane they were in crashed on Saturday, March 16th, 1991. There were eight lives lost that tragic Saturday.

This versatile, eclectic, rather wanderlust country crossover star known for his classic ballads ("Always On My Mind"), autobiographical road songs ("On the Road Again") and catchy rhythms ("Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys") started out life as Willie Hugh Nelson on April 30, 1933, in Depression-era Abbot, Texas. He is the son of Myrle Marie (Greenhaw) and Ira Doyle Nelson, a mechanic. After his parents got divorced, in which his mother moved to Oregon and his father remarried, he and sister Bobbie Lee were raised by their gospel-singing paternal grandparents, who introduced them to music. Working in the cotton fields, Willie was handed his first guitar at age six and within a short time was writing woeful country songs and playing in polka bands.

During his teenage years he played at high school dances and honky-tonks. He also worked for a local radio station and by graduation time he had become a DJ with his own radio show. Briefly serving a stint with the Air Force (discharged because of a bad back, which would plague him throughout his life), he sold his first song called "No Place For Me" while getting by with menial jobs as a janitor and door-to-door Bible salesman. Married in 1952 to a full-blooded Cherokee, he and first wife Martha had two children.

Willie initially came to be known in Nashville for selling his songs to well-established country artists such as Patsy Cline ("Crazy"), Faron Young ("Hello Walls") and Ray Price ("Night Life"). In 1962 he recorded a successful duet with singer Shirley Collie, whom he would later take as his second wife, but his career didn't progress despite joining the Grand 'Ol Opry. In the early 1970s, after extensive touring with his band (which included sister Bobbie on the piano) and experiencing a number of career downswings, he started performing and recording his own songs instead of selling them to others. Two of his albums, "Shotgun Willie" and "Phases and Stages", helped him gain some stature. In 1975 it all came together with the album "Red-Headed Stranger", which would become the top-selling country music album in history and propel him into the country music stratosphere. His offbeat phrasing, distinctive nasal tones and leathery, bewhiskered hippie-styled looks set a new standard for "outlaw" country music.

Around 1978 Willie showed himself to be a loose and natural presence in front of the camera, thus launching a film career. He had roles in several movies, his first opposite Robert Redford and Jane Fonda in The Electric Horseman (1979). His took to leading roles as a country music star in Honeysuckle Rose (1980), which would include a number of his songs on the soundtrack. He played opposite James Caan and Tuesday Weld in Thief (1981) and a legendary outlaw in the western Barbarosa (1982). In the movie Red Headed Stranger (1986), which was adapted from his hit 1975 album, he played a preacher, and he teamed up with pal Kris Kristofferson as a pair of country singers in Songwriter (1984).

Willie and pal Kristofferson went on to form The Highwaymen with the late Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings and he successfully recorded and toured with the group for a number of years. They also teamed up to remake the classic western Stagecoach (1939) as a TV movie (Stagecoach (1986)). As a unique song stylist, the bearded, braided-haired, bandanna-wearing non-conformist took a number of non-country standards and made them his own, including Elvis Presley's "You Were Always on My Mind" and Ray Charles' "Georgia on My Mind."

Broaching the millennium, Willie continued to be active with film credits that would include roles in the westerns Dust to Dust (1994) and The Journeyman (2001), in addition to roles in such non-westerns as the sci-fi drama Starlight (1996); the comedy capers Gone Fishin' (1997), The Big Bounce (2004) and The Dukes of Hazzard (2005) (an updated screen version of the popular TV show); the action thriller Fighting with Anger (2007); the comedy Surfer, Dude (2008); the family dramedy Angels Sing (2013); the music fantasy Paradox (2018) which starred Neil Young and his sons Lukas Nelson and Micah Nelson; the dramatic fantasy Waiting for the Miracle to Come (2018); and Willie and Me (2023), a comedy chronicling the misadventures of a young German girl coming to America to see her idol Willie.

Willie happily married fourth wife Ann-Marie in 1991 and has survived more hard times in recent years, including a $16.7-million debt to the IRS and the suicide of one of his sons, Billy. Inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1993, Nelson received the Kennedy Center Honors in 1998.

Kris Kristofferson was born in Brownsville, Texas, to Mary Ann (Ashbrook) and Lars Henry Kristofferson. His paternal grandparents were Swedish, and his father was a United States Air Force general who pushed his son to a military career. Kris was a Golden Gloves boxer and went to Pomona College in California. From there, he earned a Rhodes scholarship to study literature at Oxford University. He ultimately joined the United States Army and achieved the rank of captain. He became a helicopter pilot, which served him well later. In 1965, he resigned his commission to pursue songwriting. He had just been assigned to become a teacher at USMA West Point. He got a job sweeping floors in Nashville studios. There he met Johnny Cash, who initially took some of his songs but ignored them. He was also working as a commercial helicopter pilot at the time. He got Cash's attention when he landed his helicopter in Cash's yard and gave him some more tapes. Cash then recorded Kristofferson's "Sunday Morning Coming Down", which was voted the 1970 Song of the Year by the Country Music Association. Kris was noted for his heavy boozing. He lost his helicopter pilot job when he passed out at the controls, and his drinking ruined his marriage to singer Rita Coolidge, when he was reaching a bottle and half of Jack Daniels daily. He gave up alcohol in 1976. His acting career nose-dived after making Heaven's Gate (1980). In recent years, he has made a comeback with his musical and acting careers. He does say that he prefers his music, but says his children are his true legacy.

Barbara Mandrell was born on 25 December 1948 in Houston, Texas, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for Touched by an Angel (1994), Baywatch (1989) and The Rockford Files (1974). She has been married to Ken Dudney since 28 May 1967. They have three children.

Widely regarded as one of country music's finest female vocalists, Connie Smith had a blockbuster smash right off the bat with her first record release in 1964, "Once A Day", a song that remained at number one on the charts for several months. Virtually every other record Smith released for the next decade was a top ten smash for her and she also racked up numerous Grammy award nominations. Smith remained one of country's top female stars into the late 1970's when she decided to step back a bit from the limelight. Her personal life has been less smooth than her career at times with three failed marriages although she has been happily married to country star Marty Stuart, seventeen years her junior, since 1997. Her powerhouse vocals thrill audiences as much as ever as she enters her seventies and moves toward 50th anniversary of career in music.

Ricky Skaggs was born on 18 July 1954 in Kentucky, USA. He is an actor and composer, known for Raw Deal (1986), The Cat in the Hat (2003) and Next of Kin (1989). He has been married to Sharon White since 4 August 1981. They have two children. He was previously married to Brenda Stanley.

George Harvey Strait Sr. is an American country music singer, songwriter, actor, and music producer. Strait's success began when his first single "Unwound" was a hit in 1981, signaling the arrival of the Neotraditional movement. During the 1980s, seven of his albums reached number one on the country charts. In the 2000s, Strait was named Artist of the Decade by the Academy of Country Music, elected into the Country Music Hall of Fame, and won his first Grammy award for the album Troubadour. Strait was named CMA Entertainer of the Year in 1989, 1990 and 2013, and ACM Entertainer of the Year in 1990 and 2014. He has been nominated for more CMA and ACM awards and has more wins in both categories than any other artist.

Marty Stuart was born on 30 September 1958 in Philadelphia, Mississippi, USA. He is an actor and composer, known for The Marty Stuart Show (2008), Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (2016) and Fun with Dick and Jane (2005). He has been married to Connie Smith since 8 July 1997. He was previously married to Cindy Cash.

Randy Travis was born on 4 May 1959 in Marshville, North Carolina, USA. He is a music artist and actor, known for National Treasure: Book of Secrets (2007), The Rainmaker (1997) and Deep Impact (1998). He has been married to Mary Davis Travis since 21 March 2015. He was previously married to Elizabeth Hatcher-Travis.

Randall Hank Williams was born the son of the legendary Hank Williams and Audrey Williams. After the death of his father in 1953, Hank Jr. began his career in country music. The early years of his career were spent trying to overcome the legacy of his father and come into his own. This did not happen until the 1980s when he became one of country music's top performers, selling millions of albums and winning the title of Entertainer of the Year five consecutive times.

Bill Anderson was born on 1 November 1937 in Columbia, South Carolina, USA. He is an actor and writer, known for Missing (1982), Almost Blue (1993) and The Year My Voice Broke (1987).

Naomi Judd was born on 11 January 1946 in Ashland, Kentucky, USA. She was an actress and producer, known for Someone Like You (2001), An Evergreen Christmas (2014) and Touched by an Angel (1994). She was married to Larry Strickland and Michael Charles Ciminella. She died on 30 April 2022 in Nashville, Tennessee, USA.

Roy Acuff was born on 15 September 1903 in Maynardville, Tennessee, USA. He was an actor, known for Night Train to Memphis (1946), Home in San Antone (1949) and Surf's Up (2007). He was married to Mildred Louise Douglas. He died on 23 November 1992 in Nashville, Tennessee, USA.

Eddy Arnold was born on 15 May 1918 in Henderson, Tennessee, USA. He was an actor, known for Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008), Groundhog Day (1993) and The Brave One (2007). He was married to Sally Gayhart. He died on 8 May 2008 in Nashville, Tennessee, USA.

Chet Atkins was an A&R (artist and repertoire) executive for RCA Victor Records from 1958 until 1974, producing recordings for such artists as Elvis Presley, Bobby Bare, Eddy Arnold, Jim Reeves, Skeeter Davis, Waylon Jennings, Duane Eddy, The Browns, Charley Pride, Hank Snow and The Everly Brothers, to name just a few. In the early 1960s, at the peak of his production activity, he supervised as many as 300 recording sessions a year - each session lasting at most three hours and yielding three or four arranged and completed tracks. At his disposal were the cream of Nashville session musicians, the so-called "A-list", including pianists Floyd Cramer and Hargus Robbins, saxophonist Boots Randolph, guitarists Grady Martin, Harold Bradley and Hank Garland, legendary bassist Bob Moore, drummer Buddy Harman and renowned harmonica artist Charlie McCoy, backed up by superb vocalists such as Anita Kerr, Millie Kirkham and The Jordanaires. A superb talent with an amazing sense of musical creativity, Chet Atkins wrote the "book" for much of what we consider good popular music today.

After high school Gene Autry worked as a laborer for the St. Louis and San Francisco Railroad in Oklahoma. Next he was a telegrapher. In 1928 he began singing on a local radio station, and three years later he had his own show and was making his first recordings. Three years after that he made his film debut in Ken Maynard's In Old Santa Fe (1934) and starred in a 13-part serial the following year for Mascot Pictures, The Phantom Empire (1935). The next year he signed a contract with Republic Pictures and began making westerns. Autry--for better or worse--pretty much ushered in the era of the "singing cowboy" westerns of the 1930s and 1940s (in spite of the presence in his oaters of automobiles, radios and airplanes). These films often grossed ten times their average $50,000 production costs. During World War II he enlisted in the US Army and was assigned as a flight officer from 1942-46 with the Air Transport Command. After his military service he returned to making movies, this time with Columbia Pictures, and finally with his own company, Flying A Productions, which, during the 1950s, produced his TV series The Gene Autry Show (1950), The Adventures of Champion (1955), and Annie Oakley (1954). He wrote over 200 songs. A savvy businessman, he retired from acting in the early 1960s and became a multi-millionaire from his investments in hotels, real estate, radio stations and the California Angels professional baseball team.

DeFord Bailey II died on 15 September 2013 in Nashville, Tennessee, USA.