Music City, Inc. announced the seventh class of inductees to the Music City Walk of Fame earlier this week. The inductees are Tootsie Bess, Charlie Daniels, Dolly Parton, Kid Rock and Ernest Tubb, and they will be officially recognized Sunday, November 8 in the Hall of Fame Park in downtown Nashville. The induction ceremony will be free and open to the public.
Music City, Inc. is the charitable foundation of the Nashville Convention & Visitors Bureau, and production support comes from founding sponsor Gibson Guitar, as well as GAC, the City of Nashville, Metro Parks, Makers Mark and Hard Rock Café.
The Music City Walk of Fame was created in 2006 on Nashville's Music Mile, and it is recognized as a tribute to those "who have made significant contributions to preserving the musical heritage of Nashville and have contributed to the world through song or other industry collaboration," according to a Music City, Inc. press release.
Tootsie Bess
Tootsie Bess purchased Mom's Bar in Nashville in 1960, close to the Ryman Auditorium, and after repainting it she renamed it Tootsie's Orchid Lounge.
Many performers performed early in their career at Tootsie's, including Tom T. Hall, Roger Miller, Patsy Cline, Waylon Jennings and Hank Williams, and Willie Nelson got his first songwriting job after singing there.
Tootsie also sang herself, and she performed with "Big Jeff & The Radio Playboys," which was led by her husband Jeff Bess. Some of her more well-known songs are "My Little Red Wagon" and "Tootsie's Wall of Fame."
Tootsie's Orchid Lounge was more than just a bar though. According to Tom T. Hall, "she ran a beer joint, but to young songwriters and musicians, she was a small finance company, a booking agent and a counselor."
Charlie Daniels
Charlie Daniels got his start during the mid 50s, and after moving to middle Tennessee he worked with the likes of Bob Dylan, the Youngbloods, Al Kooper and Marty Robbins.
In 1976 Daniels signed with Epic Records, and his contract was the largest ever given to a Nashville act at the time. While with Epic Records he made "The Devil Went Down to Georgia," which went platinum, won a Grammy Award and three Country Music Association trophies.
Daniels held an annual Volunteer Jam concert, where music from the likes of Roy Acuff, Don Henley, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, James Brown, Pat Boone, Willie Nelson, the Allman Brothers, B. B. King and Stevie Ray Vaughn among others could be heard.
In April 1998, Daniels was given the Pioneer Award from the Academy of Country Music, and in January 2008 he was inducted as a member of the Grand Ole Opry.
Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton is well known for blurring the lines between country and pop music, but she did it without altering her unmistakable image. She was featured in movies like 9 to 5, Steel Magnolias, Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Rhinestone, and Straight Talk, and she received Oscar nominations and Grammy Awards for the songs she wrote for some of these movies.
Dolly was born in Seveir County, Tennessee, and though her family struggled constantly to make ends meet, she was performing on local TV and radio by age 10.
She left for Nashville after she graduated high school, and she met her husband, Carl Dean, her first afternoon there.
Her career took off in 1967, when she started working with Porter Wagoner, and together they have 14 Top Ten hits.
Among her accomplishments, Dolly was voted Country Music Association Female Artist of the Year two years in a row, CMA Entertainer of the Year in 1978, and she has won 7 Grammy Awards, 10 CMA Awards, five Academy of Country Music Awards, and three American Music Awards.
Ernest Tubb
Ernest Tubb started on the radio in Texas in 1932, and by the end of 1942 he made his way to Nashville. He joined the Grand Ole Opry in 1943, and he was the first musician to use an electric guitar in the Opry.
In 1947 he opened the Ernest Tubb Record Shop in Nashville, and he promoted it through the Midnight Jamboree. He also became the first country music artist to play Carnegie Hall in New York that year.
Tubb had 13 hit singles in 1949, a remarkable achievement considering the chart had only 15 positions each week. Among those hits were "Have You Ever Been Lonely?", "Let's Say Goodbye Like We Said Hello," "I'm Biting My Fingernails and Thinking of You," "Slipping Around," and "Blue Christmas." He followed those hits with 11 more hit singles in 1950.
Tubb was diagnosed with emphysema in 1966, but despite doctors' warnings he continued touring and recording. He was the sixth person inducted to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1965, and he was the first artist inducted to the Nashville Songwriters International Hall of Fame in 1970.
Tubb died on September 6, 1984 from emphysema.
Kid Rock
Kid Rock spent most of the 1990s in general obscurity, selling mostly to a local fan base in Detroit, but his fourth album Devil Without a Cause brought him national attention.
Born in Romeo, Michigan, Bob "Kid Rock" Ritchie loved rap music, and he learned to breakdance. He incorporated much of this in his rap-metal style. Once rap-metal acts like Korn, Limp Bizkit and Rage Against the Machine took off, Atlantic Records signed Kid Rock and he created his successful Devil Without a Cause album.
Among the album's hit singles were "Bawitdaba" and "Cowboy," and his seven-times-platinum album landed him a gig at Woodstock '99.
