MUSIC CITY WALK OF FAME PRESENTED BY GIBSON GUITAR ANNOUNCES INDUCTEES
Eddy Arnold, Little Jimmy Dickens, Bobby Hebb, Kris Kristofferson, Rascal Flatts and Mel Tillis
Earn Stars On Nashville's Music Mile
Nashville, Tenn. - Music City, Inc. today announced the eighth class of inductees to the Music City Walk of Fame, presented by founding sponsor Gibson Guitar: Eddy Arnold, Little Jimmy Dickens, Bobby Hebb, Kris Kristofferson, Rascal Flatts and Mel Tillis. The honorees will be recognized officially with the unveiling of commemorative sidewalk markers on Sunday, Nov. 7, beginning at 2 p.m. in Walk of Fame Park in downtown Nashville. The induction ceremony, which is sponsored by Great American Country (GAC), is free and open to the public.
The Music City Walk of Fame is an official project of Music City, Inc., the charitable foundation of the Nashville Convention & Visitors Bureau (NCVB), and is produced with the support of presenting sponsor Gibson Guitar and sponsors GAC, the City of Nashville and Metro Parks.
"We are pleased to honor this amazing class of inductees," said Butch Spyridon, president of the Nashville Convention & Visitors Bureau. "Each honoree represents the immense talent, creativity and diversity that have made Nashville, Music City."
Created in the fall of 2006, the Music City Walk of Fame, on Nashville's Music Mile, is a landmark tribute to those from all genres of music who have made significant contributions to preserving the musical heritage of Nashville and have contributed to the world through song or other industry collaboration. With the induction of this new class of honorees, there will be 48 total stars along the Walk of Fame.
Permanent sidewalk medallions made of stainless steel and terrazzo, with each honoree's name displayed in a star-and-guitar design, will be installed in the sidewalk along the Music Mile. The plaques for this class of inductees will be inlaid in Hall of Fame Park on Demonbreun, between 4th and 5th Avenues South.
Nominations were open to the public and accepted in the categories of Artist, Musician, Songwriter, and Producer/Music Industry Executive. Application forms were reviewed by the Music City Walk of Fame anonymous selection committee.
"Gibson Guitar is honored to continue the tradition of the Music City Walk of Fame which celebrates the vast wealth of talent and creativity that originates in Nashville," said Henry Juszkiewicz, Chairman and CEO of Gibson Guitar. "This class of inductees is no exception. From our own signature artist Kris Kristofferson to Rascal Flatts along with Little Jimmy Dickens, Bobby Hebb, Eddy Arnold and Mel Tillis, this exceptional group of artists keep Nashville's place in music history strong."
The November inductees for the Music City Walk of Fame:
Eddy Arnold
Eddy Arnold, one of the greatest singers in both country and pop genres, was born May 15, 1918 in Chester County, Tennessee. On his eleventh birthday, his father died; later that year the farm the family lived on was auctioned off and the family became sharecroppers on the farm they once owned. Arnold went to school through the ninth grade, then landed a job with a funeral home while he sang on the local radio station. Soon, he moved to Memphis, then St. Louis where he appeared on radio for several years before landing a job with Pee Wee King and the Golden West Cowboys.
During World War II Arnold toured all over the United States with the Camel Caravan, appearing at Armed Forces bases. After the tour, he embarked on a solo career with the Grand Ole Opry, with the moniker, "The Tennessee Plowboy" and was signed to host the show sponsored by Purina on the NBC network. In December, 1944, Arnold, already a star on the Grand Ole Opry, made his first recordings for Victor Records at the WSM Studios - the first recording session by a major label in Nashville.
In 1945, he joined forces with Colonel Tom Parker, who was his manager for the next eight years. During that time, Arnold had a string of #1 hits, and in 1947-1948, he had the #1 song on the country charts for 60 consecutive weeks. In fact, in 1948 he outsold the entire pop division of RCA Victor which helped persuade RCA Victor as well as other notable record companies to eventually invest in building and operating recording facilities in Nashville.
Despite his roots as a sharecropper, Arnold never employed the traditional "nasal" twang long associated with country artist of his time. His musical influences included Bing Crosby and Gene Autry, therefore Arnold's smooth baritone lent itself more to crooning which helped him cross over into the pop genre and gain favor with non-country audiences. That smooth style has never been paralleled in country music ever since.
During the 1950s Eddy Arnold became the first country artist to host a network prime time television show when he became the summer replacement for "The Perry Como Show." He also hosted a national network radio show, "The Checkerboard Jamboree" for CBS and starred in two movies for Columbia Pictures, "Feudin' Rhythm" and "Hoedown". Arnold became a major concert draw outside of the south during the late 1940s, and in 1952 "The Eddy Arnold Show" aired as a summer replacement show for Dinah Shore's variety show on CBS. His theme song was "Cattle Call," and he recorded it four different times. The 1955 version with the Hugo Winterhalter Orchestra was a number one record. Also, in 1955 he recorded the song "You Don't Know Me", a song he co-wrote with legendary songwriter, Cindy Walker. That song was made a standard by Ray Charles and has been covered by artists as diverse as Elvis Presley and Bob Dylan. Most recently it was recorded by Michael Bublé and Willie Nelson.
Despite a career downturn in the late 1950s and early 1960s, Eddy reemerged as a leading figure in the famed "Nashville Sound" movement which brought a more refined touch to country music and expanded its audience therefore giving it more mainstream appeal. In 1965, he scored his biggest hit of all, "Make The World Go Away," a record that is now in the Grammy Hall of Fame. In 1966 he was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame, and in 1967 he became the first person to win the Entertainer of the Year honor from the Country Music Association.
Eddy Arnold sold over 85 million records and is the only country artist to have charted records in seven different decades, one of which was a duet version of "Cattle Call" with LeAnn Rimes from her "Blue" album that was released by Curb Records in 1996. In 2000, he received the National Medal of the Arts from President Bill Clinton and was awarded a "Lifetime Achievement Grammy" in 2005. Eddy Arnold died on May 8th, 2008, thus silencing an unmistakable voice that inspired generations of singers and millions of fans alike. Following his death in May 2008, RCA Records released the single "To Life", a song from the album "After All These Years" and it debuted at No. 49 on the Hot Country Songs charts, which was his first entry into that particular chart in 25 years. Because of this feat, he also became the oldest artist to chart Billboard and it also set the record for the longest span between an artist's first chart single and the last: 62 years and 11 months ("Each Minute Seems Like a Million Years" debuted on June 30, 1945), and extended Arnold's career chart history to seven decades.
Little Jimmy Dickens
Born in Bolt, West Virginia, Dickens began his musical career in the late 1930s, performing on a local radio station while attending West Virginia University. He soon quit school to pursue a full-time music career, and traveled the country performing on various local radio stations under the name "Jimmy the Kid."
In 1948, Dickens was heard performing on a radio station in Saginaw, Michigan by Roy Acuff, who introduced him to Art Satherly at Columbia Records and officials from the Grand Ole Opry. Dickens signed with Columbia in September and joined the Opry in August. Around this time he began using the nickname, Little Jimmy Dickens, inspired by his short stature. Dickens recorded many novelty songs for Columbia, including "Country Boy," "A-Sleeping at the Foot of the Bed" and "I'm Little But I'm Loud." His song "Take an Old Cold Tater (And Wait)" inspired Hank Williams to nickname him "Tater". Later, telling Jimmy he needed a hit, Williams penned "Hey Good Lookin'" specifically for Dickens in only 20 minutes while on a Grand Ole Opry tour bus. A week later Williams cut the song himself, jokingly telling him, "That song's too good for you!"
In 1950, Dickens formed the Country Boys with musicians Jabbo Arrington, Grady Martin, Bob Moore and Thumbs Carllile. It was during this time that he discovered future Hall of Famer Marty Robbins at a television station while on tour with the Grand Ole Opry road show. In 1957, Dickens left the Grand Ole Opry to tour with the Philip Morris Country Music Show.
In 1962, Dickens released "The Violet and the Rose," his first top 10 single in 12 years. Two years later he became the first country artist to circle the globe while on tour. He also made numerous TV appearances including The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. In 1965, he released his biggest hit, "May the Bird of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose," reaching number one on the country chart and number 15 on the pop chart.
In the late 1960s, he left Columbia for Decca Records, before moving again to United Artists in 1971. That same year he married his wife, Mona. He returned to the Grand Ole Opry in 1975, and was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame a few years later.
He joined producers Randall Franks and Alan Autry for the In the Heat of the Night cast CD "Christma
© Moments By Moser Photography * Bev Moser
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