The Steel Guitar Forum

Chris Templeton wrote:Jerry Byrd?

scott murray wrote:Jerry's not in there. Pete was the first steel guitarist to be inducted, unbelievably.

here's a list of all the members: https://countrymusichalloffame.org/hall ... e/members/

{Apologies to my friend Pete Finney who has already provided some of this info}
Pete Drake is the 6th musician inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame with the 2021 class, not the first (Floyd Cramer and Chet Atkins were inducted much earlier, but as artists, not musicians, per se). But Pete is the very first steel player inducted so the glass ceiling has now been broken and almost certainly there will be others down the line.
The first 5 musicians inducted, in this order, were: Harold Bradley,2006…Charlie McCoy,2009…Hargus “Pig” Robbins,2012…Grady Martin,2015…Johnny Gimble, 2018.
A musician is inducted only once every third year.
Incidentally, the Hall of Fame members aren’t selected by the Hall of Fame but by the Country Music Association’s voting members and includes a complicated set of rules. The Medallion, or induction ceremony and dinner is held each year (excluding last years Covid one) at the Country Music Hall of Fame and it is also the repository for the plaques on the wall in the rotunda. But they have nothing to do with the voting, so if there are any stones of disagreement they rightfully should be cast at the Country Music Association.
Ironically, being the first Nashville Cats honoree in February, 2006 at the H. of F. and having helped design the format used today with their interviews, I was asked by the Hall of Fame committee who else would be good recipients who could speak articulately and with an accurate memory.
The 3 names I provided, and whose recall and resumes were at least equal to mine, were the next Nashville Cats honored and became…….the first 3 musician members of the Country Music Hall of Fame; H. Bradley, C. McCoy, and “Pig” Robbins!


Lloyd Green