Universal Universal Music Group Nashville Pressroom

The Country Music Association announced today that Alan Jackson, Jerry Reed, and Don Schlitz will become the 2017 inductees into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Reed will be inducted in the “Veterans Era Artist” category, while Jackson will be inducted in the “Modern Era Artist” category. Schlitz will be inducted in the “Songwriter” category, which is awarded every third year in rotation with the “Recording and/or Touring Musician Active Prior to 1980” and “Non-Performer” categories. Reed, Jackson, and Schlitz will increase membership in the coveted Country Music Hall of Fame from 130 to 133 members.

“Thank you, CMA and Country Music Hall Of Fame, for recognizing all the years of love, dedication, and hard work that daddy put into his craft. He loved Country Music and would be so deeply humbled and appreciative if he was here. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts,” said Reed’s daughters, Seidina Hubbard and Lottie Zavala.

Jackson said, “For me to say I’m honored sounds like the standard old response, but for a man who loves Country Music there is no higher honor. This is the mountain top!”

Alan told us following up, “I don’t think I was even that overwhelmed about it until I had the office get me a list of all the members ’cause I wanted to see. And then when I started reading down through there, even though I knew pretty much who it was, but still when you see it the whole list is like, ‘Oh my gosh, man, everybody you ever loved is in there.’ So, to be in there with ’em, it’s just amazing. It’s an American dream right there.”

“I live in the parentheses; I’m just a small part of a wonderful process of making music. This is overwhelming and humbling,” said Schlitz.

Formal induction ceremonies for Reed, Jackson, and Schlitz will take place at the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum in the CMA Theater in October. Since 2007, the Museum’s Medallion Ceremony, an annual reunion of the Hall of Fame membership, has served as the official rite of induction for new members.

CMA created the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1961 to recognize noteworthy individuals for their outstanding contributions to the format with Country Music’s highest honor.

“These three storytellers have added much to our lives, and to the story of Country Music,” said Kyle Young, CEO of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. “They stand as models of undeniable eloquence and empathy. Over many decades, they have brought laughter, joy, and tears to millions. The Hall of Fame Rotunda will be grander for the presence of Alan Jackson, Jerry Reed, and Don Schlitz.”

Hosted by Country Music Hall of Fame member, President of the Board of Officers and Trustees of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, 18-time CMA Award winner, and 12-time host of the CMA Awards, Vince Gill, the announcement was made today in the Rotunda of the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville and could be seen via live stream on CMAworld.com. Media assets are available for download at vistalive.net/CMAHOF and CMApress.com.

Modern Era Artist – Alan Jackson
When music historians recount Alan Jackson’s staggering accomplishments, they don’t just limit the comparisons to his Country Music contemporaries. With dozens of chart-topping singles, tens of millions of albums sold, and an unparalleled reputation as a singer and songwriter, he ranks with The Beatles, Elvis Presley, and a very small handful of other transcendent artists who stand out like signposts in pop music history.

By deeply tipping his hat to the honky-tonk legends of his youth and unflinchingly remaining true to himself for more than 25 years, Jackson earned an unparalleled reputation as a singer and songwriter. He blended the old and new in a musical style that is urban and rural, rugged and raw, and appeals to the large sector of the Country Music audience that looks to the past for its musical influences.

Born Alan Eugene Jackson on Oct. 17, 1958, in Newnan, Ga., the 58-year-old singer-songwriter came to personify the neotraditional movement that emerged in opposition to the “Urban Cowboy” trend of the 1980s. Jackson took the sounds of Country Music in his youth and blended them with modern production and band structures in a way that made him an immediate star, one who straddled the divide between pop sensibilities and hard-line affection for classic Country.

Jackson began his career as the lead singer of local Newnan band Dixie Steel, holding down numerous odd jobs while touring and writing songs. His wife, Denise, a flight attendant at the time, had a chance meeting with Glen Campbell. Campbell suggested Alan get in touch with his music publishing company. Within two weeks of the meeting, the Jacksons packed up and moved to Nashville to follow his dreams and Alan eventually signed with the worldwide star’s publishing company.

He honed his craft and was eventually signed by executive Tim DuBois as the flagship artist at Arista Nashville in 1989. Jackson saw almost immediate success with his first album, Here in the Real World. It yielded his first Billboard No. 1 single, “I’d Love You All Over Again,” and made Jackson an instant — and instantly recognizable — star. He was nominated for four awards at the 1990 CMA Awards and, over the course of his career, would become the second most-nominated artist in CMA Awards history with 81 nominations, following only close friend and fellow Hall of Fame member George Strait. He still owns the record for most nominations in a single year with 10, set in 2002, the year he swept Song and Single of the Year with his poignant 9/11 tribute “Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning).” The track also was nominated for all-genre Song of the Year at the Grammy Awards and won the Best Country Song Award, his first golden gramophone.

Jackson released four studio albums in the first five years of his recording career. Here in the Real World, Don’t Rock the Jukebox, his best-selling A Lot About Livin’ (And a Little ‘Bout Love), and Who I Am sold more than 20 million albums during that period and included some of his most memorable and important tracks, including “Midnight in Montgomery” and “Chattahoochee,” a winner of CMA Single and Song of the Year in 1993-94, respectively.

Jackson has released more than 20 albums and collections — including forays into gospel and bluegrass — nine of which went multiplatinum with 2 million or more in sales. Those albums have led to one of Country Music’s most decorated careers with three CMA Entertainer of the Year Awards (1995, 2002, 2003); two Grammy Awards; and membership in the Grand Ole Opry, the esteemed Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, and the Georgia Music Hall of Fame. He was given the first ASCAP Heritage Award (2014) by the performance rights organization, recognizing him as the most performed Country Music songwriter-artist of the last 100 years. Jackson has charted more than 30 No. 1 hits, sold nearly 60 million albums, and is among the genre’s most decorated and respected figures, with more than 150 awards.  

Veterans Era Artist – Jerry Reed
There was a time when Jerry Reed was the fast-picking, wisecracking face of Country Music for most Americans. Though Reed found himself participating in some key music history moments as a session player and scored his share of chart hits as a performer, it was his good-natured wit and ability to transform into an outsized personality as an actor without losing his authenticity that made him one of the genre’s most well-known ambassadors of the 1970s and ’80s.

It’s that ability as an all-around entertainer that brings Reed to the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Reed’s active career stretched from the 1950s into the 1990s, though he still toured and made public appearances well into the 2000s. His career was so long, he received CMA Awards nominations over the course of four decades — from 1969 to 1999. He was a two-time nominee for CMA Entertainer of the Year and a three-time Grammy winner.

Born Jerry Reed Hubbard on March 20, 1937, in Atlanta, the singer-guitarist had already scored a few minor hits and spent years in the recording studio and onstage by the time he made it to Nashville in 1962 to get into session work after a two-year stint in the U.S. Army. He’d drawn the attention of the industry when two of his songs covered by popular artists became hits: Gene Vincent released his version of “Crazy Legs” in 1958 and Brenda Lee recorded “That’s All You Got to Do” in 1960.

It was Reed’s fiery guitar playing that really turned the heads of some of Nashville’s most important figures as he made the rounds in the early 1960s. A fingerstyle picker with few rivals, Reed was dubbed a “Certified Guitar Player” by Hall of Fame member Chet Atkins, perhaps the most prestigious honorary title given in Country Music. Atkins bestowed the award just four times personally. Earning the CGP status meant Country Music’s acknowledged best guitarist thought you were great in every way. Nashville felt much the same, naming Reed CMA Instrumentalist of the Year twice (1970 and ’71), and giving him a straightforward nickname: “The Guitar Man.” Atkins and Reed were nominated together for CMA Instrumental Group of the Year in the following two years (1972 and ’73).

Reed’s best-known hits included “When You’re Hot, You’re Hot,” which won a Grammy Award (Reed would win two more for instrumental recordings “Me & Jerry” and “Sneakin’ Around,” both made with Atkins), “Guitar Man,” “Amos Moses,” “Alabama Wild Man,” “U.S. Male,” “A Thing Called Love,” and “She Got the Gold Mine (I Got the Shaft).” He got a career boost from Elvis Presley, who not only recorded a few of Reed’s songs, including “Guitar Man,” but also hired him to be his guitar man in the studio as well.

He became a regular presence on “The Glen Campbell Good Time Hour” variety show in 1970. His affable onscreen presence was attractive to Hollywood. He made the first of several appearances with friend Burt Reynolds in a string of movies that started with 1975’s “W.W. and the Dixie Dancekings” and included the three wildly popular “Smokey and the Bandit” films, which launched in 1977 and featured Reed as Reynolds’ straight man. Reed scored a hit with the film’s theme song, “East Bound and Down.” Reed made an unforgettable return to film in 1998 when he played angry Coach Red Beaulieu in Adam Sandler’s “The Waterboy.”

The following year he received his final CMA nomination, for Vocal Event of the Year, for his “Old Dogs” supergroup collaboration with Waylon Jennings, Mel Tillis, and Bobby Bare.

Reed passed away from complications related to emphysema in 2008 at the age of 71.

Songwriter – Don Schlitz
Don Schlitz is among the most influential and beloved songwriters in the history of Country Music. His chart-topping songs – among them “The Gambler,” “On the Other Hand,” “Forever and Ever, Amen,” “He Thinks He’ll Keep Her,” “The Greatest,” and “When You Say Nothing At All” – are touchstones and inspirations that continue to influence songwriters and singers decades after they were written.

His 50 Top 10 singles performed by iconic acts Mary Chapin Carpenter, Alison Krauss, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Kenny Rogers, The Judds, Randy Travis, Tanya Tucker, Keith Whitley, and many others include 24 No. 1 Country hits. He has won three CMA Song of the Year Awards, two Grammy Awards, and four consecutive ASCAP Country Songwriter of the Year trophies (1988-91).

Schlitz was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Association Hall of Fame in 1993 and the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2012.

Born Donald Alan Schlitz Jr. on Aug. 29, 1952, and raised in Durham, North Carolina, Schlitz briefly attended Duke University before coming to Nashville at age 20. His talent was recognized and fostered early on by greats, including Bob McDill and Bobby Bare, and he emerged as an empathetic and intelligent chronicler of the human spirit. 

When Rogers recorded “The Gambler” – the songwriter’s first recorded song – Schlitz’s ascent was assured, and the success of that enduring story-song allowed him the freedom to spend a lifetime writing words and music that articulated the extraordinary emotions inherent in common experience.

Having written hits across five decades, he will join an exclusive circle in the Country Music Hall of Fame that includes Bobby Braddock, Hank Cochran, Harlan Howard, Cindy Walker, and Boudleaux and Felice Bryant, all inducted primarily as songwriters.

Schlitz and his cowriters penned “Rockin’ with the Rhythm of the Rain,” “Forty Hour Week (for a Livin’), “Houston Solution,” “Deeper Than the Holler,” “One Promise Too Late,” “I Feel Lucky,” “Old School,” “Give Me Wings,” “Strong Enough To Bend” and dozens of others that underscore the depth and breadth of modern era Country Music.

One of the first performers at Amy Kurland’s iconic songwriter club The Bluebird Café, Schlitz and friends Thom Schuyler, J. Fred Knobloch, and Paul Overstreet originated the Café’s songwriter in the round format in 1985. He continues to regularly perform his hits and new material at The Bluebird, interspersed with his wry wit and unique comic timing.

The Don Schlitz songbook even includes the 2001 Broadway musical “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.”

Kenny Rogers encapsulated the sentiments of many when inducting Schlitz into the Songwriters Hall of Fame with the statement, “Don doesn’t just write songs, he writes careers.”

Celebrate @OfficialJackson's induction into @countrymusichof w/our Alan Jackson Hall of Fame playlist! Listen here: https://t.co/SojFMF607U pic.twitter.com/ADViUhYmGl

— Universal Nashville (@UMGNashville) April 5, 2017

This morning, the @CountryMusic Association announced Alan Jackson as one of this year’s @countrymusichof inductees! https://t.co/qXrludqCLo

— Alan Jackson (@OfficialJackson) April 5, 2017

Lauren Alaina is poised to hit the top of the charts with her single, “Road Less Traveled.” She says that everyone in her life really liked the song when they heard it, but they didn’t truly know that it was about her and her eating disorder.

“Everyone got super excited when I turned that song in. My family, my friends, everyone. But I don’t think when I turned that in that they realized how lost I really was and what I was really going through, and so now I think it’s even more special to them,” says Lauren. “They’ve all watched me walk through that road to recovering from all of my insecurities. I had a lot. And I still do, but I’m a lot healthier about them. I think you don’t get rid of the insecurities. They never go away, but you get rid of how you let them affect you. That’s the key. And that’s what ‘Road Less Traveled’ is about.”

Lauren, who co-wrote the inspirational tune with Jesse Frasure and Meghan Trainor, plays her next show in Nashville April 11th.

In just a year, Jon Pardi has scored two No. 1 singles, including the multi-week chart-topper “Dirt on My Boots,” and he just picked up his first award, the ACM New Male Vocalist of the Year. He says all of the success has been amazing.

“Last year in April, it was completely different, and to be here now, it’s crazy,” says Jon. “When you work hard and you’re really focused, somehow something can turn around, and I’m just so thankful I have a great team and a great label and all you guys, we’ve done so many interviews together, and just to be here, it’s an honor. So, thank you It feels amazing.”

Jon is on the road with Dierks Bentley on his What the Hell Tour. He’s got a few solo dates before he joins back up with Dierks and Cole Swindell in Lethbridge, Canada.

Little Big Town picked up their fourth ACM Vocal Group of the Year Award at Sunday night’s ACM Awards. The group, who performed their new single “Happy People,” started off their acceptance speech by acknowledging Lady Antebellum’s killer performance of “You Look Good” with the UNLV Marching Band. Karen also said they had to hurryup, because they wanted to catch the season finale of the  HBO series, Big Little Lies, starring Oscar-winning actress Nicole Kidman, who was sitting in the audience next to her husband, Keith Urban.

Backstage the foursome said they’re fans and friends of the other groupsthat were in their category. “We’re all friends and we all root for each other and cheer each other on, and we love the music they’re making,” says LBT’s Phillip Sweet. Jimi says, “Like the Lady A performance?” KAREN: “They stole the show. It was amazing.” JIMI: “Unbelievable.” JIMI: And we just celebrate, man.” KAREN: “We’re fans.” JIMI: “Yeah. We all have our place, and we just do what we do.”

LBT’s Karen Fairchild said she tried to pry Nicole about what happened on the season finale of Big Little Lies, but she wouldn’t give any clues about last night’s show. “I talked to Nicole [Kidman] about it earlier, and she was like I can’t tell you anything, but I’m obsessed with the show. And then so then we got up there and we were seeing that and I had seen her, and then  I was looking at the clock and I was like, ‘We’ve got to get this going, so we can have In ‘N Out Burger, champagne and Big Little Lies.”

Little Big Town continue their residency at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium on May 19th and 20th.

Brothers Osborne already had one award going into Sunday night’s ACM Awards for Top New Vocal Duo or Group, but they also took home a second award for Top Vocal Duo of the Year.

“We’ve been staring at things like this for a long time, you know, like since we were kids,” says John. “It’s iconic, and to be holding not one, but two of these is, it takes a long time to process stuff like this, and I don’t know if we ever will. It’s amazing.”

John and TJ aren’t sure where they’ll put their awards, but they will certainly be on display somewhere intheir homes. “My CMA Awards are sitting on my kitchen counter. That’s the only place I have. I got it out and I stared at it for like an hour. So, we literally have nowhere to put ‘em,” says TJ. “It’s weird, though. I kind of want you to narcissistically to walk into my house and see my awards, but then I’m like, am I gloating a little bit? Then do I put them in a side room, but then I don’t want to act like I’m not appreciative of the awards, so there’s a whole like mental acrobatics on what you do with these things. I’m showing off, by the way. They’re gonna be on display at my house for the next three years.”

The guys are currently making their way up the country charts with “It Ain’t My Fault,” from their debut album, Pawn Shop.

Luke Bryan climbed to the top of both the Billboard and Country Aircheck country charts with “Fast,” which is the sixth consecutive No. 1 single from his current album, Kill the Lights.

Luke will perform the chart-topping single on tonight’s (Sunday) ACM Awards, which he says will be a great experience. “I remember going to town going, ‘Could I ever perform on one of the major awards shows?’ And I will never forget my very first awards show I ever attended was the ACMs, and I just sat back as a young artist dreaming of that moment and a short time later I’m onstage hosting,” says Luke. “So, certainly, whenever you can walk out on a stage and perform a song that has done really well for you and hopefully do a great job. It’s a great experience. I mean, it’s what I live for as an entertainer. It’s what I moved to Nashville and followed my dreams for.”

Luke is nominated for the ACM Entertainer of the Year, as well as co-hosting the show with his friend, Dierks Bentley. Catch Luke and Dierks at the 52nd Annual Academy of Country Music Awards, which will be broadcast live from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas Sunday (April 2nd) at 8pm ET/delayed PT on CBS.

Luke Bryan and Dierks Bentley spoke to the press on Friday (March 31st) to talk about hosting the ACM Awards for a second time together (Luke’s fifth time hosting the awards). The two also revealed they’ll perform together to honor an icon.

“Dierks and I are going to team up with a rock icon to honor a rock icon, and that’s all I’m gonna say about that,” says a tight-lipped Luke.

The two also talk about being in a new building – the T-Mobile Arena – for the first time. “This is fun being in the new building. I’m excited about being here in the T-Mobile Arena. This place looks really nice I think it kind of does justice for the ACMs and the vibe of this show,” says Dierks. “There’s gonna be great artists and so much new talent and so much, really a lot of excitement, so being in a new building feels like a great match for the 52^nd Annual ACM Awards.”

Catch Luke and Dierks when they host the 52nd Annual Academy of Country Music Awards, which will be broadcast live from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas Sunday (April 2nd) at 8pm ET/delayed PT on CBS.

Eric Church is absolutely slaying his sold-out audiences on his Holdin’ My Own Tour, and he starts the musical assault with the song, “Mistress Named Music,” in which he brings out a local high school choir to finish the song. He realized since he’s already performing, he needed some help bringing the choir on stage, so he gave his five-year-old son, Boone, a job.

“Choir Wrangler is what he does…And Boone’s got a radio, he’s got his flashlight, he’s got a little work belt and his pass, he goes in there, and he’ll make sure that when the choir’s ready to go, it’s his job and Jill’s job to move these teenagers – he calls them teenagers – with flashlights over to where the show is,” says Eric. “Now what Boone proceeds to do is call me the entire time to see how close we are. My road manager, my tour manager, said, ‘I’ve been trying to get you on stage on time for a decade, and your son has a better chance of that.’ Because Boone, you tell a five-year-old we’re getting close, and you put it back down and 20 seconds later, ‘You comin’?’ ‘We’re getting close.’ But you know, it’s this constant, he’s wearing me out. [laughs] So, we do get to the stage quicker than we used to, but his job is to get them up underneath the stage and then up the steps on the stage; he waits at the bottom, they come back off, and he escorts them to where they need to go. He’s helping out, and he’s having a big time with it.”

A few weeks into his gig on the tour, Boone did negotiate a new deal with his father. “About three weeks into the tour, [Boone] goes, ‘Dad, I really don’t like my job.’ And I said, ‘Well, son, a lot of people don’t like their job.’ I said, ‘The important thing is you’ve got to do your job.’  I said, ‘What don’t you like basically?’ He said, ‘Eh, it’s boring, and I don’t get paid.’ And I said, ‘Okay, did you have catering? Yeah. Do you have a nice bus to ride on? Yeah.’ I said, ‘Well, you got paid.’ He said, ‘Well, yeah, but the band gets paid.’ So, I humor him. I said, ‘Okay, Boone. I’m gonna humor you. How much would you want to get paid.’ He goes, ‘$4,000.’ I said, ‘A show?’ He goes, ‘Yeah.’ I said, ‘How ‘bout a dollar?’ like that. He let me negotiate, and we agree on $10 a show, and I shake his hand, and I’m thinking, ‘Good God, I just got hustled.’ So, I shake his hand, and as he’s walking away, he goes, ‘That’s $30 for the weekend, right?’”

Eric takes his Holdin’ My Own Tour north of the border on Tuesday (February 28th) in London, Ontario, Canada, followed by dates in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Calgary, Winnipeg and more before returning to the States March 16th in Portland, Oregon.

Eric has released his new single, “Round Here Buzz,” which is scheduled to go for adds at radio April 10th.