Joe Galante and Jerry Lee Lewis.Photo: Jason Kempin/Getty; Scott Dudelson/Getty
The latestCountry Music Hall of Fameinductees are here!
MusiciansJerry Lee LewisandKeith Whitleyas well as Nashville record executiveJoe Galantewere welcomed into the famed institution during a ceremony held at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s CMA Theater on Sunday.
“This is one of the greatest nights for me as a country music fan,” said Hall of Fame memberGarth Brooksduring the event, which featured tributes and performances to each of the three notable music figures from high-profile artists includingMiranda LambertandKenny Chesney.
Miranda Lambert.Jason Kempin/Getty
Galante, a 72-year-old retired former executive at record labels including RCA Nashville, RLG Nashville and Sony Music Nashville, was the night’s first inductee. Teddy Gentry and Randy Owen of Alabama kicked off his honors with a performance of 1980’s “My Home’s in Alabama,” released on the band’s first album under Galante’s RCA tenure.
Lambert, 38, then performed her 2009 single “White Liar” — which dropped shortly after he took over Sony Music Nashville — before Chesney, 54, took over the mic to sing a rendition of 2002’s chart-topper “The Good Stuff,” released shortly after Galante signed him to Sony’s BNA Records.
“I thought on my way here about the people that we meet when we first come to town, and [how] you can go down a lot of different roads,” said Chesney onstage. “I was trying to think about what my life would be like had I not met you. And it ain’t good.”
Kix Brooks, Joe Galante and Kyle Young.Jason Kempin/Getty
Brooks & Dunn’s Kix Brooks presented Galante with his medallion, exclaiming during his speech, “Sometimes it takes a guy like Joe Galante, whose life depends on us, to tell us that what we’re doing is magic, who sometimes has more faith in us than we may have in ourselves that day.”
The late Whitley, who died at 34 in 1989, was honored with performances from Mickey Guyton, Brooks and Ricky Skaggs with Justin Moses and Molly Tuttle as well as the presence of his widow, singer Lorrie Morgan, who accepted the honor on his behalf.
Terry Wyatt/Getty
Guyton, 39, delivered a stripped-down performance of Whitley’s 1988 chart-topping single “When You Say Nothing at All,” which Brooks, 60, followed up with a speech and rendition of “Don’t Close Your Eyes,” another No. 1 single from the same year.
Leading up to Whitley’s death due to acute alcohol poisoning — three weeks before his proposed entry into the Grand Ole Opry — the musician struggled with self-doubt and alcoholism, which Morgan seemed to reference while accepting the medallion from Brooks.
Lorrie Morgan.Jason Kempin/Getty
“He would feel so undeserving,” she said from the stage. “He didn’t know it, and he would have never suspected [that he’d be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame] in his life… This is the greatest honor.”
Lewis — an 87-year-old pioneer of rock and roll and rockabilly music whose career took a dive following his 13-year marriage to Myra Gale Brown, his 13-year-old cousin, before he rebounded in the country genre — wasn’t able to make it to the ceremony at the order of his doctor, who deemed the travel too risky. But hiscurrent wife, Judith, attended in his absence with a speech from Lewis, who received tribute performances of his songs from several country heavy-hitters.
Kris Kristofferson, Hank Williams Jr. and Kyle Young.Terry Wyatt/Getty
Lee Ann Womack performed “Middle Age Crazy” with Charlie Worsham on guitar; Jen Gunderman of the Medallion All-Star Band backed Chris Isaak on “Great Balls of Fire;” andthe McCrary Sisterssang “My God Is Real” alongside pianist Kevin McKendree.
Then, Hank Williams Jr. presented fellow Hall of Fame member Kris Kristofferson with Lewis' medallion and delivered a speech. “Rock & roll and country have always been closer in style than some people want to admit,” he said. “To Jerry Lee, it didn’t matter what you call it. He’s a Louisiana man, and when he sings and plays, you hear the Mississippi Delta and the rice farms and the Cajun roadhouses and the New Orleans honking blues.”
Joe Galante, Lorrie Morgan and Judith Lewis.Terry Wyatt/Getty
Other Hall of Fame members in attendance included Jerry Bradley, Vince Gill, Emmylou Harris, Wynonna Judd, Kristofferson, Brenda Lee, Charlie McCoy, Oak Ridge Boys members Duane Allen, Joe Bonsall, and William Lee Golden, Don Schlitz, Ricky Skaggs, Connie Smith, Ray Stevens, Marty Stuart, Randy Travis and E. W. “Bud” Wendell.
Galante, Lewis and Whitley marked the 147th, 148thand 149thmembers of the Country Music Hall of Fame.
source: people.com
