From The Terrestrial To The Celestial

A good bit of time this week in Music City was spent gazing up in the heavens ... Thoughts about Merle Haggard and about Jerry Reed.

The mysterious picking panel chose Alan Jackson, Jerry Reed and Don Schlitz. One of the best Hall of Fame classes ever.

Alan Jackson credentials are off the scale for membership. Country to the core. Alan was so happy at the reveal ceremony. He was actually talkative!

Met him when he was working in the mailroom at the Nashville Network. Told him he's come a long way! Alan said if you only knew how "stupid I was back then ... I didn’t know what a producer did, I didn’t know about publishing ... maybe I was so naive that's why I was able to do what I did .... my career has been a fairy tale"...

While Alan gets to enjoy his honor, too bad they waiting so long to crown the great Jerry Reed.
Jerry Reed Hubbard was one of the great guitar stylists in Country music history. You can hear his influence on Brad Paisley, just to name one. His hit songs were memorable ones like “Amos Moses,” “She got the Goldmine, I got the Shaft” and “When You’re Hot, You’re Hot.” He was a movie star and consummate live show performer. He brought a lot of new fans into the world of Country music.

Don Schlitz ... like Alan Jackson, has a Hall of Fame-worthy resume ... “The Gambler” alone would get you in!

One hundred-thirty-three names in the rotunda after all these years ....133 plaques on the wall. Out of the thousands and thousands who have been around Country music, it is the rarest of honors.

Who gets in next time? Many thought Dottie West was getting in this time ... Hank Williams Jr is way overdue. The list is very long of the worthy. The mysterious panel has done good the last few years with Garth, The Oaks, Charlie Daniels, Ronnie Milsap. Clint, Dwight, The Judds ... yes, of course, Brooks and Dunn. The Nashville-centric panel needs to branch out and look very hard at Ray Benson. The godfather of Asleep at the Wheel. Multiple Grammy winner Ray is the second coming of Hall of Famer Bob Wills. Ray's Grammy-worthy recording projects show his Country/Western pedigree. His influence on the Texas music scene is impressive. His fellow Texas performers and those Texas Hall of Famers like George Strait, Charley Pride and Willie Nelson need to put the word out for Ray!

The Merle Tribute show this week will hopefully be on TV at some point. The perfomer list and the songs they interpreted need to be seen and heard by a huge audience.

Funeral this week for Country DJ Hall of Fame member Rhubarb Jones. He was a big, beloved voice in Atlanta for much of the ‘80s and ‘90s. T Graham Brown and Marty Rayborn sang at his Bremen, GA funeral. He loved Country music … so music.

Last but not least, the ACM show. Underwhelming. If the show was meant to represent Country music as a whole, it flunked. It represented ... what the labels wanted to push. No real intermingling of the Dolly and Willie veterans. No sign of Eric, Brad, Kenny, Blake and other superstar-level acts. No shortage of the "Bro" side of the page. Reba, Miranda and Tim/Faith were the tops ... Despite what fuddy-duddy folks say, the Backstreet Boys and FGl was fun. The show needed balance. They wanted to be so hip, so happening. Leaves a big unsatisfied hole, too. The ACM and CMA should try to be all things to all people on these three shows. The huge ACM anniversary had huge ratings and did the job. This year left me flat.