This year's Musicians Hall of Fame induction ceremony, hosted Oct. 22 at Nashville's Schermerhorn Symphony Center, will have a distinct country flavor. Steve Wariner, Don Everly of the Everly Brothers, legendary producer Billy Sherill, Music Row pioneer Owen Bradley and the Nashville A-Team of studio musicians will be inducted that night, while legendary band Alabama gets awarded with both a Hall of Fame membership and the organization's first-ever Lifetime Achievement Award.
"Getting the first Lifetime Achievement Award and going in the Musicians Hall of Fame is very humbling," said Alabama singer and rhythm guitarist Randy Owen in a press release. "I am thankful to be a musician, a singer, a songwriter and for being able to make a living through touring and recording for the last 50 years."
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It's the latest honor for a band that emerged from the tiny town of Fort Payne, Ala. and played clubs around Myrtle Beach, S.C. while dreaming of just a small taste of the immense fame and critical acclaim sustained since the breakthrough success of the 1980 single 'Tennessee River'."
"This is a great honor. I've always thought of myself as a musician first," says guitarist and fiddler Jeff Cook.
Per a report from the Tennessean's Dave Paulson, Wariner seconds Cook's emotion. "I came to Nashville to be a musician," says Wariner. "People ask me about the singing and the writing...but the roots, for me, is the playing."
The Musicians Hall of Fame & Museum is located in Nashville near another spot with an affinity for old Alabama, the Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum.
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