BY MELISSA RUGGIERI/AJC Music Scene
Alan Jackson has sold more than 80 million records, garnered a pair of Grammy Awards and 16 CMA Awards.
In 2001, he was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame.
And now he will add another accolade to a still-growing list – inductee into Nashville's Country Music Hall of Fame.
The Newnan native, known as much for his Stetson hat as his trail of No. 1 hits such as “Don’t Rock the Jukebox,” “Chattahoochee,” “Little Bitty” and “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere,” will formally become a member during the annual Medallion Ceremony on Oct. 22.
Jackson is being inducted as the 2017 Modern Era Artist, and joining more than 100 other country music names including Veterans Era Artist Jerry Reed and Songwriter inductee Don Schlitz.
“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!,” Jackson said upon hearing the news. “You look at that list – from Hank Williams on down to today – all the great people and heroes of yours…and you don’t feel like you fit in that much. At least I didn’t. It was hard to say, ‘I’m going to be in there one day.’ I couldn’t do that.”
A statement from the Country Music Association noted the reasons that Jackson was chosen for membership.
“With dozens of chart-topping singles, tens of millions of albums sold, and an un paralleled 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. He has blended the old and new in a musical style that is urban and rural, rugged and raw...he took the sounds of Country Music in his youth, and blended them with modern production in a way that made him an immediate star.”
Jackson played the Infinite Energy Arena in Duluth in January.
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