Patty Loveless, Bob McDill and Tanya Tucker became the 150th, 151st and 152nd members of the Country Music Hall of Fame as they were formally inducted during a star-studded Medallion Ceremony in the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum’s CMA Theater.
Loveless, McDill and Tucker received country music’s highest distinction and were honored with heartfelt remarks and inspired performances of songs associated with their careers. The following is a list of the artists (listed in the order they performed), as well the Hall of Fame members who were personally selected by each inductee to present them with their medallions.
Bob McDill (Songwriter category)
McDill approached songwriting like a skilled craft or trade, and produced some of country music’s most artful and enduring songs. Working eight hours a day, five days a week in a Music Row publishing office, he set himself the goal of writing one song a week. Between 1972 and his retirement in 2000, McDill wrote numerous #1 country hits, including “Amanda,” “Don’t Close Your Eyes,” “Gone Country” and “It Must Be Love.” Don Williams alone recorded more than 30 McDill songs, 14 of them hits. Others who benefited from McDill’s works include Crystal Gayle and Country Music Hall of Fame members Alabama, Alan Jackson and Waylon Jennings.
- Charley Crockett performing “Louisiana Saturday Night”
- Country Music Hall of Fame member Dean Dillon singing “All the Good Ones Are Gone”
- Jamey Johnson with “Good Ole Boys Like Me”
Medallion presentation: Country Music Hall of Fame member Don Schlitz
Patty Loveless (Modern Era Artist category)
Loveless long seemed destined for a country music career. Like her distant cousin and Country Music Hall of Fame member Loretta Lynn, she was a Kentucky coal miner’s daughter. While still in high school, Loveless took Lynn’s place in the Wilburn Brothers’ road show. Following a brief detour singing rock songs in bar bands, she pursued her true calling as a country recording artist starting in the mid-1980s. From the outset, her soaring, tradition-infused voice stood out, as did her astute choices in songs about real life and hardships. Between 1988 and 2003, Loveless scored 31 Top 20 country hits, including the #1s “Timber, I’m Falling in Love,” “Blame It on Your Heart” and “Lonely Too Long.”
Sister Sadie with “The Sounds of Loneliness”
- Bob Seger singing “She Drew a Broken Heart”
- Country Music Hall of Fame member Vince Gill performing “Lonely Too Long”
- Medallion presentation: Vince Gill
Tanya Tucker (Veterans Era Artist category)
A hit recording artist at age 13, a Rolling Stone cover story at 15 and a millionaire at 16, Texas-born Tanya Tucker grew up fast. Powered by her strong, husky voice and her often adult-themed songs (“Delta Dawn,” “Blood Red and Going Down”), she landed six #1 records before she turned 18. Following an unsatisfying flirtation with pop-rock and a three-year recording hiatus, Tucker came back to score 24 Top 10 country hits between 1986 and 1997. In 2019, she made yet another comeback with the critically claimed, Grammy-winning album While I’m Livin’, confirming her abiding strength and skill as a singular artist.
- Country Music Hall of Fame members Charlie McCoy and Wynonna with “Delta Dawn”
- Margo Price and Jessi Colter performing “It’s a Little Too Late”
- Brandi Carlile singing “Two Sparrows in a Hurricane”
- Medallion Presentation: Country Music Hall of Fame members Connie Smith and Brenda Lee
The ceremony concluded with a performance of “Will the Circle Be Unbroken,” led by Wynonna. The Medallion All-Star Band consisted of Paul Franklin (steel guitar), Jen Gunderman (keyboards), Rachel Loy (bass), Brent Mason (electric guitar), Jerry Pentecost (drums), Carmella Ramsey (vocals), Deanie Richardson (fiddle and mandolin), Biff Watson (bandleader and acoustic guitar) and Jeff White (acoustic guitar and vocals).
Produced by the staff of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, the annual Medallion Ceremony celebrates the unique talents, personalities and backgrounds of each Hall of Fame inductee, as well as the important turning points and the breakthrough artistic achievements that defined their careers. The ceremony includes speeches, live musical tributes and original video biographies, created by the museum staff using recorded performances, past televised interviews and historic photos culled from materials in the museum’s Frist Library and Archive.
