The Judds, Ray Charles join the Country Music Hall of Fame

AP News ^ | Kristin M. Hall

[Mozilla]

He put out albums with country songs.

[Mozilla]

Haven’t followed her since her marriage crumbled with Dario.

[Mozilla]

She went far left. Her 70s and 80s stuff was great. But she kind of lost me and then she got Parkinson and quit singing.

[nickcarraway]

Country AND Western.

I'm not sure why that surprises people. Chuck Berry said Hank Williams was his no. 1 influence.

[Salvavida]

Wow. Only 3 black artists inducted into the C&W Hall of Fame to date:

DeFord Bailey
Charlie Pride
Mister Ray Charles

[ViLaLuz]

That’s the result of being a Clintonian Naaaaasty Woman.

[FlingWingFlyer]

A lot of the songs on the Ray Charles C&W albums were Hank Williams songs.

[Zionist Conspirator]

Didn’t know Ray Charles was a country singer. Hell of an artist though, however you want classify him.

He was. Released the classic album "Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music" and was even on an episode of "Hee Haw."

[FlingWingFlyer]

Yup. You got it.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Yes! Good call! :)

[nickcarraway]

I wonder if they could add Lionel Richie and The Pointer Sisters, who both liked to do country songs. Richie also wrote one of the biggest country songs of the 80s: Lady by Kenny Rogers. And he produced some other country hits for Rogers and a no. 1 country song.

[Salvavida]

I was thinking about Richie too. “Stuck on You” also crossed over and topped the C&W charts. But I think on the face of both careers, only Charles really deserves to be inducted into the HOF because an entire album was a mainstay in the genre, and had more impact when it came out during the Civil Rights era.

[nickcarraway]

The song her wrote and recorded for Alabama, Deep River Woman was an even bigger hit on the country charts. And in 2012 he did a whole album of duets with country performers that was no. 1 on the pop and country charts.