While I don't care personally for Nashvile (er, Ville), I have to applaud their new
Musician's Hall of Fame. Unlike the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame which is primarily about the stars of the idiom, this is primarily honoring the musicians without whom, there would be
NO music stars. This in no way diminishes the efforts of RNRHOF with their Sideman category but it is a second thought in favor of the aforementioned "
stars" IMO
In the November 26the 2007 inaugural ceremony, they honored the following group of studio legends (from their media announcement).
The Nashville A-Team (Harold Bradley, Ray Edenton, Charlie McCoy, Bob Moore, Hargus “Pig” Robbins, and Jerry Kennedy),
The Funk Brothers (Uriel Jones, Joe Messina, Eddie Willis, and Bob Babbitt),
The Wrecking Crew (Billy Strange, Don Randi, Larry Knechtel, Joe Osborn, Hal Blaine, Lyle Ritz, James Burton, Jim Horn, and Mike Deasy),
The Memphis Boys (Bobby Emmons, Bobby Wood, Gene Chrisman, Mike Leech, and Reggie Young),
The Tennessee Two (Marshall Grant and Bob Wooten, who replaced the late Luther Perkins);
The Blue Moon Boys (Scotty Moore and D.J. Fontana).
These musicians played (recorded) on mega-hits for such legendary superstars as the Beach Boys, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, George Harrison, Patsy Cline, Stevie Wonder, Bob Dylan, George Jones, the Supremes, and Frank Sinatra.
The Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum opened to the public June 9, 2006 and is the only one in the world. It honors great musicians of all genres regardless of instrument played. The museum consists of many historic instruments played on countless of famous recordings from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Bob Dylan, all of the Beatles individually, and to Hank Sr., George Jones and Garth Brooks. The complex also houses a school of music and a performance hall.
From what seems like a perfect harmonious chorus of appreciation for musicians (which is what I have dedicated 45 plus years of my life to being) I read of this one lone voice of descent from the website of the musician in question here in California.
If I were to call the name of this person, you would probably recognize them but I won't because they are not worthy. If you go to the website for Musician's Hall of Fame (
http://www.musicianshalloffame.com/) you will see what the rest of the industry has to say about the noble efforts of this institution.
I can understand why this person is excluded from so many major music award foundation honoring musicians with statements being made like "
We were never known as the Wrecking Crew". Well, it would seem that
Billy Strange, Don Randi, Larry Knechtel, Joe Osborn, Hal Blaine, Lyle Ritz, James Burton, Jim Horn, and Mike Deasy disagree with that statement.
I guess if someone honored this person with an award only to them and called them exactly what they (and their interesting credits) wanted to be called they would be happy. I hope they get what they want in that regard. The are in a class all by themselves but to me it won't mean much though as recording music is mostly a group participation activity as evidenced by the list above.
Any thoughts? BTW, if I wanted to name the individual in question I could have done so. There is no fear here but like I said earlier, they are not worthy... Anyway I am getting off my soapbox now.
