McEntire, who is back on the charts with her country take on Beyonce's pop-R&B hit "If I Were a Boy," is this year's "Modern Era" Hall of Fame selection. When I was a young girl, we would take vacations to Nashville and tour the Country Music Hall of Fame, McEntire said in a statement that accompanied the announcement. And now, for me to be inducted, is a dream come true.
Shepard, who posted 45 singles on the country charts from 1953 through 1978, gets the nod in the hall's "Veteran Era" category.
As the co-writer, with Curly Putman, of the country classics "He Stopped Loving Her Today" for George Jones and "D-I-V-O-R-C-E" for Tammy Wynette, among the hundreds of songs he's written or co-written over more than half a century, Braddock is the first inductee in the hall's new songwriter category.
