Sturgill Simpson, Gary Stewart Among 2024 Kentucky Hall of Fame Class
The Kentucky Music Hall of Fame has just announced their 2024 class, and as can be expected there is a heavy dose of country and bluegrass greats going in.
This includes Sturgill Simpson, who is originally from Jackson and Versailles, Kentucky, and whose landmark album Metamodern Sounds in Country Music in 2014 helped spark the current independent country music revolution. His 2013 debut High Top Mountain had a heavy Kentucky component to it, and Simpson later reprised many of his biggest songs in bluegrass form in Cutin’ Grass Vol. #1 and #2 released in 2020.
Sturgill Simpson’s 2016 A Sailor’s Guide to Earth won the Grammy for Best Country Album, and was also nominated for the all-genre Album of the Year. Simpson has since participated in numerous film projects as an actor, and also works as a producer. Simpson ostensibly retired as a solo artist after releasing his 2021 album The Ballad of Dood and Juanita, making his induction at the relative young age of 45 more understandable.
For some, Gary Stewart may be more synonymous with Florida or even Texas. But similar to Dwight Yoakam and other country greats, Stewart was born in Kentucky, and his musical fabric was forged in the state. Stewart was born in Jenkins, Kentucky in 1944 and his father was a coal miner. When his father was injured in the mines in 1959, the family moved to Florida to be closer to family.
Gary Stewart would go on to be considered one of the most underrated yet highly-influential performers in country music history. His sweaty, honky-tonk style of country was super influential among his musical peers, and he also scored numerous hits such as “She’s Actin’ Single (I’m Drinkin’ Doubles)” and “Out of Hand.” Stewart died in 2003.
Other notable inductees include multi-instrumentalist “Apostle” Paul Martin, who many may remember from Marty Stuart’s Fabulous Superlatives band, bluegrass and Appalachia performers The McClain Family Band, Gospel singer and songwriter Rodney Griffin, multi-instrumentalist Jimmy Mattingly, and country/bluegrass singer and songwriter Charlie Sizemore.
Underscoring that this is not just a country/bluegrass Hall of Fame, but the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame, hard rock band Black Stone Cherry originally from Edmonton, Kentucky are also 2024 inductees. Sound engineer Billy Moore, and the owner of Nashville bars Legend’s Corner, The Stage, and Second Fiddle in Nashville, Ruble Sanderson, round out the 2024 class.
The Kentucky Music Hall of Fame picks new inductees every two years, and considered over 130 nominees before deciding on 2024’s 11 inductees. The Kentucky Music Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will take place on Saturday, October 26, 2024, at Renfro Valley Entertainment Center at 7:00 PM. Tickets are on sale March 1st at www.renfrovalley.com.
The Kentucky Music Hall of Fame Museum is located at 2590 Richmond St, Mt Vernon, KY and is open daily 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM. It contains over 16,000 square feet of music memorabilia on display.
February 28, 2024 @ 6:14 pm
Well deserved. Out of curiosity, I had a look at their website and past inductees. As expected, there are many great artists listed. Particularly country and bluegrass, but other genres as well.
I also noticed two major omissions and noticed that the public can nominate potential inductees. Unfortunately, their form also asks for the artist’s contact information or the family contact information for posthumous inductees. So if anyone reading this happens to knows that information for the families of Roscoe Holcomb and Roy Lee Centers, I hope they’ll take a few minutes and nominate them.
February 28, 2024 @ 9:24 pm
Never heard of Roy Centers, but I looked him up and the guy lived a SCM life (or at least had a SCM departure at the Hank age of 29). Maybe Trig will look into it, as we’re approaching the 50th anniversary of Roy’s demise in two months.
March 3, 2024 @ 10:26 am
Check out the Rebel Ralph Stanley recordings with Roy Lee Centers on lead, later augmented by teenagers Keith Whitley and Ricky Skaggs. Here’s a nice clip of what they could do: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnqG6WTGTP0&t=12s
February 29, 2024 @ 4:44 am
At least one Hall Of Fame has acknowledged Little Junior.
February 29, 2024 @ 5:00 am
When you sing lead for Ralph Stanley and fill Carter Stanley’s shoes, that should be enough prerequisite to skip to the front of the line.
February 29, 2024 @ 8:07 am
I’ve been an admirer of Roscoe Holcomb since I heard his first Folkways LP many years ago. Over the decades he’s been rightly honored, not least by the likes of Dylan and Clapton, but Roy Lee Centers, another distinctive talent, is famous only in bluegrass circles. It’s a happy surprise to see his name here. I saw him sing with Ralph Stanley’s band at a festival in Michigan not long before he was killed. (His death, sadly, virtually defines “brutal murder.”) It was an occasion I still recall with both fondness and sorrow for the darkness to come.
February 29, 2024 @ 6:35 am
Where is the story on the amazing talent of Gary Stuart? I often wonder why Gary’s talent seems to be so often overlooked. I love his gritty style.
February 29, 2024 @ 9:22 am
There have been numerous stories on Gary Stewart here at Saving Country Music over the years. Just in December, there was a big retrospective on Stewart marking the 20th Anniversary of his death:
https://www.savingcountrymusic.com/20-years-ago-the-tragic-death-of-gary-stewart/
February 29, 2024 @ 9:12 am
I went to school with Gary.
Ft.pierce fl.great guy.the best country singer.He played band at dad’s nightclub.calked merry go round.
Good times.
Miss you Gary.
Joe Jennings
February 29, 2024 @ 11:49 am
Gary Stewart’s induction is well deserved. A unique voice with albums full of great and original music. I am not so sure about Sturgill. I just cannot get into his music. Some good songs but for me nothing special and not that original.
February 29, 2024 @ 12:29 pm
As soon as Trig posted this, I wondered if there would be enough blinding animosity left out there after a 2 year layoff for someone to show up in the comments and claim that Stu didn’t belong in the KENTUCKY Music Hall of Fame.
But, everyone’s entitled to their own opinion, regardless of how hard that opinion clashes with any objective measure that exists on God’s green Earth.
March 1, 2024 @ 6:57 am
I would have assumed that Gary Stewart would already be in a Kentucky Music Hall of Fame. I didn’t realize he wasn’t associated with KY by many, but that could be because I live near his hometown of Jenkins. Often when I pass through, I eat breakfast in the Hardee’s parking lot while admiring his mural that is painted on the side of a building on main street.
Side note: As some had already mentioned, the life and death of Roy Lee Centers would make a fantastic article on this site. He filled the shoes of the legendary Carter Stanley, and according to Ralph himself, was the closest anyone ever came to sounding like him. His was tragically taken way too soon.