Everything is beautiful -- in its own way -- for a boot scootin’ pair of singers, a comedy singer who had the nation’s top pop song nearly 50 years ago and a non-recording icon of Music Row.
The Country Music Association announced Monday that Brooks & Dunn, Ray Stevens and Jerry Bradley are the newest members of the Country Music Hall of Fame, The Tennessean reported.
Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn will head the Class of 2019 inductees in the modern era category, Stevens will be the inductee in the veterans era category, while Bradley will be enshrined in the non-performer category, Billboard reported. They will be formally inducted in October, The Tennessean reported.
The new inductees will bring the Country Music Hall of Fame, established in 1961, to 139 members. The original three members were Hank Williams Sr., Fred Rose and Jimmie Rodgers, according to the Hall's website.
Brooks & Dunn are country music's biggest-selling duo of all-time, Rolling Stone reported. The pair strung together several hits, including "Boot Scootin' Boogie," "Brand New Man," "Neon Moon" and "Believe."
“It’s beyond an honor to be here,” Dunn said at a news conference in Nashville, Tennessee.
Stevens, 80, hit No. 1 for two weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 charts in the summer of 1970 with the anthem-like “Everything is Beautiful,” which also peaked at No. 39 on the Billboard country music charts. In 1971 Stevens’ song, “Turn Your Radio On,” reached the top 20 in the country music charts.
Known as the Comedy King of Music City, Stevens mastered the comedy-novelty song genre with "Ahab the Arab" in 1962 and "Gitarzan" in 1969, but it was his 1974 smash, "The Streak," that zoomed to No. 1 on the charts and sold more than 5 million copies, according to the singer's website.
"This is without a doubt the greatest honor that anybody can ever receive, not only in Nashville but any place in the world," Stevens told Billboard. "It's almost too much to take in, to tell you the truth. To be recognized to being worthy of joining this group of folks who are already members of the Hall of Fame who I have admired for many years."
Bradley, a former RCA executive, signed Ronnie Milsap, Alabama and Eddie Rabbitt to contracts, Rolling Stone reported. He joins his father, Owen Bradley (inducted in 1974) and his uncle, Harold Bradley (who was inducted in 2006 and died in January) in the Country Music Hall of Fame, according to the Hall's website.
“As my old friend Norro Wilson, would say, ‘I don’t know how I got here, but I ain’t leavin’,’” Jerry Bradley said, breaking into tears at the news conference.
