Nashville, Tenn. — Three artists who started their careers after the dawn of television and went on to achieve great success in that medium were welcomed into the Country Music Hall of Fame during a three-hour ceremony on May 17.

Designed to celebrate the honorees, their extended families and important colleagues, the intimate evening was filled with emotion, humor, storytelling and the music that made them famous—the same elements that made their TV shows and their careers so successful.

Considered country music’s most prestigious night, the Country Music Hall of Fame^® and Museum’s Medallion Ceremony represented the official induction of multi-media stars Roy Clark, Barbara Mandrell and Charlie McCoy. Surrounded by loved ones and associates in the Ford Theater at the Museum, the inductees listened to stories—some poignant, some hilarious—about their lives and careers.

“Charlie, Roy, Barbara — you are surrounded here by the family, friends and collaborators who have defined so much of your lives,” said Steve Turner, chairman of the Museum’s board of officers and trustees. “They have come to pay tribute to you tonight. We want you and your peers in the Country Music Hall of Fame to know that we, too, revere your accomplishments and hold you in the highest esteem. Thank you for your contributions to country music and to the vitality of Music City.”

Country Music Hall of Fame members present to welcome the new members into their exclusive fold were Harold Bradley; Little Jimmy Dickens; Ralph Emery; Phil Everly of the Everly Brothers; Jim Foglesong; Emmylou Harris; Sonny James; George Jones; Louis Nunley, Ray Walker and Curtis Young of the Jordanaires; Brenda Lee; Charlie Louvin of the Louvin Brothers; Earl Scruggs; Jo Walker-Meador; and E.W. “Bud” Wendell.

The new Hall of Famers responded with heartfelt, humane and occasionally funny acceptance speeches that underscored their lifelong abilities to entertain and to express their emotions colorfully and believably to audiences.

Mandrell, in accepting her honor, expressed gratitude to her family and her fans—just as she has her entire career. She singled out her late father, Irby Mandrell, who managed her from her start at 11 years old. “He guided me, directed me from the beginning of my career until I retired,” she said of her father, who passed away on March 5, shortly after learning his daughter would be inducted into the Hall of Fame. “It’s his name, Mandrell, that I’m blessed to have. It’s the gracious, loving public that made that name known and popular. So tonight I thank you with my entire being for putting me and my Daddy’s name into the Hall of Fame.”

Clark, in accepting, had to compose himself as he first got to the podium. “This may take a while,” he said. “Just to associate yourself with the members of the Country Music Hall of Fame, and just to imagine your name will be said right along with all the rest…” Clark paused, took a breath, and shook his head as the emotion of the moment swept through him. “Now my name will be mentioned right along with theirs.”

McCoy pointed out all the help and instruction he received from other Nashville instrumentalists, specifically citing such fellow session musicians as Chet Atkins, Harold Bradley, Grady Martin, Pig Robbins and other members of the famed A-team of Nashville session musicians. “We made records that are still being played, and that’s really cool,” McCoy said.

Kyle Young, director of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, summarized the life stories and immense cultural impact Clark, Mandrell and McCoy had on the world—and why they became members of country music’s most cherished institution.

“In their own way, each has nodded to tradition to create music relevant to the first generation of the space age and to help extend the footprint of country music and American culture around the world,” Young said in opening. “All three began their musical journeys as youngsters. All are multi-instrumentalists. All brought country music home to vast television audiences. And each has toured internationally. Their talent, professionalism, sacrifice and accomplishments have earned them country music’s highest honor—membership in the Country Music Hall of Fame.”

Each new member also helped push country music into new opportunities and venues their forebears couldn’t have accessed. Clark, Mandrell and McCoy all had crossover pop hits; all took their music to celebrated stages, from Las Vegas to San Francisco’s Fillmore West; all collaborated with rock, pop and R&B artists; and all regularly starred or performed on nationally broadcast network and syndicated TV programs. They were part of a generation of country musicians who were able to dream even bigger than their heroes did, and they helped push country music into an internationally recognized American art form that found acceptance on all economic and cultural levels of the United States and the world.

The evening began with Dawn Sears singing “The Old Rugged Cross,” arranged especially for the ceremony by Medallion All-Star Band musical director and keyboardist John Hobbs. Joining Hobbs and Sears in the All-Star Band were Eddie Bayers on drums, Paul Franklin on steel guitar, Brent Mason on electric guitar, Michael Rhodes on bass, Deanie Richardson on fiddle and mandolin and Jeff White on acoustic guitar and vocals.

Charlie McCoy

Young began by describing Charlie McCoy as “the most recorded harmonica player in history, period” and quoted harmonica expert Kim Field, author of Harmonicas, Harps and Heavy Breathers, as saying that McCoy’s trademark harmonica style was “distinguished by its speed, precision, clarity and phrasing” and “was radically different from the down-home approach of his predecessors and re-established the mouth organ as a voice in country music.”

When McCoy appeared on the scene, despite the harmonica’s rich history in country music, it had all but vanished from Music City recording sessions. McCoy singlehandedly made it a central country music instrument again in the Nashville Sound era. While harmonica has been his signature instrument, he has also made important contributions on bass, guitar, keyboards, percussion, saxophone, trumpet and tuba. He sometimes has been seen on stage or in the studio using two instruments at the same time, such as playing the bass with one hand, while using the other to hold a trumpet to his mouth.

McCoy’s early work included playing harmonica on Roy Orbison’s “Candy Man,” Bobby Bare’s “500 Miles Away from Home” and Johnny Cash’s “It Ain’t Me, Babe” and “Orange Blossom Special,” as well as the identifying guitar lick on Bare’s “Detroit City.” Other hits include Tom T. Hall’s “Old Dogs, Children and Watermelon Wine,” Sonny James’ “Bright Lights, Big City,” Waylon Jennings’ “Brown Eyed Handsome Man” and “Only Daddy That’ll Walk the Line,” George Jones’ “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” Jerry Lee Lewis’ “What’s Made Milwaukee Famous (Has Made a Loser Out of Me),” Barbara Mandrell’s “I Was Country When Country Wasn’t Cool,” Marie Osmond’s “Paper Roses,” Johnny Paycheck’s “Take This Job and Shove it,” Ray Stevens’ “The Streak” and Tanya Tucker’s “Blood Red and Goin’ Down,” “Delta Dawn,” and “What’s Your Mama’s Name?” McCoy was named CMA Instrumentalist of the Year in 1972 and 1973.

McCoy also recorded a series of harmonica albums on Monument Records, and he famously joined Bob Dylan for a session in New York, an experience that led Dylan to come to Nashville to record three albums, Blonde on Blonde, John Wesley Harding and Nashville Skyline.

“The recordings parted the veil and inspired artists from across the musical spectrum to make records in Nashville with Nashville pickers,” Young said. “The Dylan albums were very successful for him and Columbia Records. They underscored the shared folk roots of country and rock and were central to the growth of Nashville as a multi-genre recording center.”

Other pop and rock artists McCoy recorded with include Joan Baez, Perry Como, Gordon Lightfoot, Manhattan Transfer, Leon Russell, Joe Simon, Simon & Garfunkel, Ringo Starr and Steve Young. He also helped form the ground-breaking instrumental band Area Code 615 and played on two early albums by another famed band of studio pickers, Barefoot Jerry.

The performances honoring McCoy started with Rodney Crowell singing “Candy Man,” backed by special guests Jim Hoke on harmonica and Sam Levine on tenor saxophone.

Nashville session harmonica player Jelly Roll Johnson presented an instrumental version of “I Started Loving You Again,” a song written by Merle Haggard and Bonnie Owen. Barefoot Jerry members Russ Hicks and Wayne Moss, joined by harmonica player PT Gazell, offered the Artie Shaw jazz classic, “Summit Ridge Drive.”

McCoy, who served as musical director of Hee Haw for 18 years, ended his segment with a beautifully touching instrumental version of “Shenandoah.”

In inducting McCoy, Country Music Hall of Fame member Harold Bradley, the most recorded guitar player in country music history, said, “Well, I never really cared much for harmonica or harmonica players—until I met Charlie McCoy. Charlie has taken harmonica playing to a whole different level. It’s not just his great technique, but his great interpretive ability.” Calling McCoy “a complete musician,” and naming all the instruments he can play, Bradley commended the Country Music Association for electing McCoy to the Country Music Hall of Fame.

In addition to thanking other players, McCoy singled out record producer Fred Foster, who gave him a record deal, and TV producer Sam Lovullo, who persuaded McCoy to become music director of Hee Haw. McCoy also said he walked among the Hall of Fame plaques and counted that he’d played on songs by 53 members. “All I ever wanted to do was play for those people,” he said. “Now, to be a part of this, is amazing.”

Roy Clark

Young recalled how Roy Clark played guitar on Wanda Jackson’s classic “There’s a Party Goin’ On.” From there, he was signed by producer Ken Nelson to Capitol Records and to a management contract with Jim Halsey, two important turning points. He first gained notice recording instrumental albums, and by becoming a favorite of Tonight Show host Johnny Carson, who invited him on the popular late-night program regularly. Clark started adding vocals, yielding hits such as “Tips of My Fingers,” “Come Live with Me,” “I Never Picked Cotton,” “Thank God and Greyhound” and “Yesterday, When I Was Young,” which Mickey Mantle had requested that Clark perform at his funeral.

Young then spoke of how Clark accepted an offer to co-host a new TV program, Hee Haw, which started in 1969, the same year that launched The Johnny Cash Show and The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour. “The least-likely-to-succeed musical comedy show, Hee Haw,” Young said to a burst of laughter, “Hee Haw—at the dawning of the Age of Aquarius.” Clark would star in the show for its 25-year run. As Young explained, “Hee Haw is now regarded as the most successful country TV show of all time.”

Clark has won seven CMA Awards and one Grammy Award. He’s in the Hollywood Walk of Fame and the Guitar Player magazine Hall of Fame. His autobiography, My Life in Spite of Myself, was published by Simon & Schuster in 1994.

Those honoring Clark with performances included guitar great Duane Eddy playing an instrumental “ Riders in the Sky,” Josh Turner singing the humorous “Thank God and Greyhound” and Garth Brooks, with harmony support from the Carol Lee Singers, presenting “Come Live with Me.”

Brooks, before performing, explained how Clark inspired others from the working-class oil city of Tulsa, Oklahoma, not to limit their dreams. “To have somebody right there who always told everyone, no matter where you’re from, no matter the color of your skin, that if you have dreams, go chase them,” Brooks said of Clark. “That’s what he continues to do.”

Fellow Hall of Fame member Little Jimmy Dickens inducted Clark, heaping great praise on him as an all-around entertainer while recalling several funny stories involving him. “You’re the ultimate entertainer in country music all over the world,” Dickens said. “When the man hits the stage, he upgrades country music about 10 years, and that’s what it’s all about.”

Barbara Mandrell

In tracing Barbara Mandrell’s career, Young told of how as a girl she would put on glamorous dresses like those she had seen actress Loretta Young wear on television, and she would dream of entertaining people. “Barbara has now put on shows for home folks in high school gyms, for visitors to Las Vegas, for American troops at the height of the Vietnam War, for prisoners and presidents, and for enormous television audiences. Like Loretta Young, Barbara was a child star … who found her voice and her audience, and who grew up to be everybody’s Miss America.”

Taking steel guitar lessons as a young girl from Norman Hamlet, Merle Haggard’s longtime steel guitarist, she soon began drawing attention. Guitarist Joe Maphis saw her play at age 11 at a Las Vegas instrument sales convention and hired her to play in his show, billing her as “Sweetheart of the Steel.” Her show-stopping abilities led to a job on a concert tour with Johnny Cash, who took her under his wing as well.

Mandrell made her Columbia Records debut in 1969, and between 1970 and 1978, she had nine Billboard Top 10 singles. A member of the Grand Ole Opry, and leading a band with her sisters Louise on bass and Irlene on drums, “Barbara Mandrell was no longer a novelty act,” Young said. In 1978, “Sleeping Single in a Double Bed” stayed at the top of the charts for three weeks.

Young recalled how Irby Mandrell, Barbara’s late father and manager, theorized that she could get away with singing cheating songs like “The Midnight Oil” and “(If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don’t Want to Be Right” because she “came from a wholesome background, had a good marriage and looked like she had just come from church.”

Mandrell climbed to the peak of fame as the 1980s started. She was named CMA Female Vocalist of the Year in 1979 and 1981, and became the CMA’s first back-to-back Entertainer of the Year when she won the honor in 1980 and 1981. In 1980, she began starring in the NBC-TV series Barbara Mandrell and the Mandrell Sisters. It ran until 1982, when medical issues involving voice problems led her to step away from her hit show.

Young also told of the life-threatening 1984 car accident and the resultant head injuries that interfered for years with Mandrell’s career. Her long struggle back is recounted in Mandrell’s best-selling book, Get to the Heart: My Story, published in 1990. Mandrell retired from performing in 1997 with a TV special recorded at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville.

Performers honoring Mandrell included Alison Krauss singing a tenderly sensual “The Midnight Oil”; Louise Mandrell rocking through “Sleeping Single in a Double Bed” and describing herself as “one of the first Barbara Mandrell fans”; Michael McDonald doing a soulful version of “(If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don’t Want to Be Right”; and Reba McEntire showing her talent on “I Was Country When Country Wasn’t Cool,” with George Jones coming out to sing the last stanza, as he does on Mandrell’s original recording.

Famous broadcast personality and fellow Hall of Fame member Ralph Emery officially inducted Mandrell into the Country Music Hall of Fame. “Carl Sandburg wrote of Abraham Lincoln, ‘He is both steel and velvet, hard as a rock and soft as the drifting fog.’ I’ve known Barbara Mandrell for 41 years, and seen her through many stages of her life … Mr. Sandburg would have loved Barbara Mandrell.”

Emery also said of Mandrell, “You have never forgotten your roots and your values. Being one of the most recognized people in the world, you retain those down-home values that originally made you the genuine and loving person you are. You’ve never lost focus on your career or, more importantly, your family.”

Mandrell, characteristically, took time to thank each person who performed or spoke on her behalf with a personal story about them. She spoke of her parents, her sisters, her husband and her three children, saying that when someone becomes an entertainer, the whole family has to accept being a part of it. She thanked them for their dedication and love. She also read a list citing dozens of people who helped her in her career. “When we found out about the Hall of Fame,” she said, “the gratitude and feelings of thanksgiving were immeasurable.”

The Medallion Ceremony was underwritten by the Country Music Association; it was taped for future broadcast by 650 AM WSM and the Great American Country TV network, which also provided simulcast and video support.

Accredited by the American Association of Museums, the Country Music Hall of Fame^® and Museum is operated by the Country Music Foundation, a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) educational organization chartered by the state of Tennessee in 1964. The Museum’s mission is the preservation of the history of country and related vernacular music rooted in southern culture. With the same educational mission, the Foundation also operates CMF Records, the Museum’s Frist Library and Archive, CMF Press, Historic RCA Studio B, and Hatch Show Print.

More information is available at the Country Music Hall of Fame^® and Museum web site.