Bill Monroe Bluegrass Hall of Fame Announces Miss Dixie and Tom T. Hall as
2018 Hall of Fame Inductees
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The
Bill Monroe Bluegrass Hall of Fame is pleased to announce Miss Dixie
and Tom T. Hall as their 2018 Hall of Fame Inductees. The award ceremony
will be Saturday, September 22, in Bean Blossom, Indiana at the 44thAnnual Hall of Fame and Uncle Pen Bluegrass Festival.
Hall
of Fame selection is based on making substantial and enduring
contributions to bluegrass music, and the Halls have contributed in a
variety of ways for a half century.
Songwriting
has been their most public contribution, dating back to 50 years ago
when Miss Dixie co-wrote songs with Hall of Fame member Maybelle Carter
and Tom T. was writing for Hall of Famers Flatt & Scruggs. In 1999
Miss Dixie and Tom T. began writing songs together. Since then, 3,000
have been recorded. Miss Dixie, the most prolific female bluegrass song
writer of all time, has had over 500 of her own songs recorded.
The
Halls were so successful together, they won the Society for the
Preservation of Bluegrass Music in America’s (SPBGMA) “Bluegrass
Songwriters of the Year Award” for 10 consecutive years. At that time
they were awarded the Grand Masters Gold and had “their jerseys retired”
from the category. In a 10 year period, the Halls averaged over 2.4
songs a month on theBluegrass Unlimitedtop 30 song chart. Eleven of the Hall’s songs went to #1, and some
months they had as many as five songs at the same time on the chart! In
2004 they were awarded the International Bluegrass Music Association’s
(IBMA) “Distinguished Achievement Award” for their lifetime
contributions to bluegrass music.
Besides
songwriting, the Halls have had a positive influence on the genre by
helping young and struggling artists. They started their own publishing
company (Good Home Grown Music) and their own record label and studio
(Blue Circle Records) at home at Fox Hollow, near Franklin, TN. Often
the Halls provided rooms in their home, meals and free studio time to
young, up-and-coming artists. They also gave personal encouragement.
Miss Dixie felt the bluegrass community was her family, and she treated
artists in that way—helping build careers and increasing the number of
successful new bands along the way.
Helping
bluegrass was not new to Miss Dixie. As far back as the ‘60s, she
started promoting bluegrass groups in the UK and then moved to the
States where she promoted groups like The Stanley Brothers, The Lonesome
Pine Fiddlers and Bill Clifton for Starday Records.
Tom T. has recorded a number of significant bluegrass recordings:The Magnificent Music Machine, The Storytellerand the Banjo Man, andTom T. Sings Miss Dixie.
Because Tom T. was one of the biggest country music stars of his
generation, these recordings not only brought good music to the
bluegrass community, they also brought bluegrass into the homes of
country music fans not familiar with the genre.
Although
Miss Dixie left us too soon on January 16, 2015, the Halls’
contributions to bluegrass music continue to be felt. Their bluegrass
songs still top charts and the artists they encouraged are still
flourishing, three years after her passing.
For more information on the , please visitwww.billmonroemusicpark.com.