Toby Keith, John Anderson & James Burton unveiled as 2024 Country Music Hall of Fame inductees

On Monday (March 18), three members of the country music community were announced as the next inductees into the Country Music Hall of Fame, making up the class of 2024.

The late Toby Keith was named as the inductee in the Artist of the Modern Age category. Jon Anderson will be inducted into the Veteran Era Artist category and guitarist James Burton will be inducted into the Recording and/or Touring Musicians category. He joins 152 other Country Music Hall of Fame inductees and will be officially inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame during the annual medal ceremony, set for this October. The CMA created the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1961 to recognize artists and industry professionals with country music's highest honor.

“Each of these inductees has made an indelible impact on country music,” Country Music Association CEO Sarah Trahern told the audience gathered in the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum rotunda that morning.

Louisiana native and guitarist Burton, who in the 1950s developed the 'chicken pickin' style of guitar playing, was announced as an inductee by Brooks & Dunn Hall members. Fellow Louisiana native Brooks called Burton a “hometown hero.”

“Honored. It's just amazing. I'm actually really surprised. I want to thank you all for your love and support. It's really an honor,” Burton told the crowd.

Burton began playing guitar at age 13, inspired by a 1953 white Telecaster electric guitar and the work of his musical heroes, including Chet Atkins and Les Paul. Barton developed a hybrid picking style that used a flat pick between his thumb and forefinger, as well as a finger pick on his middle finger. It would mimic the transparency of a pedal steel, but also mix in staccato notes — the style became known as chicken pickin. Burton quickly became the youngest staff musician on the country music show Louisiana Hayride. A few years later, Dale Hawkins set lyrics to the orchestral guitar that Burton had written, resulting in the Billboard top 30 hit “Susie-Q” in 1957. Burton soon joined Ricky Nelson's band and continued to play on records by Buck Owens, Merle. Haggard, Waylon Jennings, Glen Campbell, Everly Brothers, Monkees and others. His work is heard on soundtracks for films including Rio Bravo and Viva Las Vegas. When Elvis Presley made his debut at the International Hotel in Las Vegas in 1969, Presley called Burton and asked him to form a band. The result was Burton becoming the band leader and lead guitarist for Presley's “Takin' Care of Business” band. Burton played with Presley for the rest of his life. He played at Gram Parson's gigabytes and Sad Angels album and was on the first edition of Emmylou Harris's Hot Band. After Presley's death in 1977, Burton played in John Denver's band for two decades. Burton was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001 and the Musicians Hall of Fame in 2007. Burton became so associated with the Fender Telecaster that when Fender released the first “signature” Telecaster in 1990, it bore Burton's name.

Last month, on February 6, it was announced that Keith had died after a battle with stomach cancer. On Monday morning, CMA CEO Sarah Trahern told the audience gathered in the Hall of Fame's rotunda that she learned Keith would become one of the newest inductees just hours after Keith's death.

Trahern noted that while election rules do not allow someone to be elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in the year they die, that is not the case, as Keith was elected before his death.

“Nominations took place in the fall of 2023 with the first ballot sent to voters before the holidays, with the final ballot closing on Friday, February 2,” Trahern said. “Our professional services partners at Deloitte released the results to us just a few days later. This year, we expected to receive the names of our final inductees on Tuesday, February 6. As we now know, we woke up that morning to the heartbreaking news that our friend Toby Keith had lost his long battle with stomach cancer. The bittersweet thing is that just a few hours later, our team received word from Deloitte that it had been selected in the contemporary category. Truly one of the greatest honors of my work is to inform these inductees that they are the newest members of the hallowed order. My heart sank that Tuesday afternoon, knowing that we missed the opportunity to update Toby while he was still with us, but I have no doubt that he is smiling down on us, knowing that he will always be 'as good as he once was.''

Keith from Oklahoma started playing guitar on an instrument his grandmother bought him. He later began touring regionally with his band Easy Money. Keith admired artists such as Merle Haggard and Bob Seger, who also wrote their own songs. When Keith went to Nashville, he had a tape of some of what he considered his best songs. A label head noted that the songs weren't good enough, so Keith returned to Oklahoma. However, Harold Shedd (head of Mercury Records Nashville at the time) heard about Keith's music and traveled to Oklahoma City to meet him. The songs on that tape included three of what would become Keith's first four singles, including “Should've Been a Cowboy,” “Wish I Didn't Know Now,” and “He Ain't Worth Missing.” . The fourth song was 'Does that Blue Moon Ever Shine on You', which became a No.1 hit from Keith's 1996 album Blue Moon. “Should've Been a Cowboy” was an instant hit for Keith. During his career, Keith earned 20 Billboard Country Airplay hits and was a writer or co-writer on many of them. Keith's label at the time, Mercury, shuffled him from imprint to imprint, including Polydor, A&M and back to Mercury. When Mercury rejected his fifth album, Keith asked the label to release him from his contract. Keith paid Mercury for the album and then took it to DreamWorks Nashville, which was managed by producer James Stroud. The album's first single, “How Do You Like Me Now?!”, spent five weeks at No. 1 on the Country Airplay chart. His five DreamWorks albums have all gone multi-platinum, with 2002's Unleashed and of 2003 Shock to everyone reaching 5x Platinum. His songs such as “You Shouldn't Kiss Me Like This”, “I Love This Bar” and “American Soldier” spent several weeks at the top of the Country Airplay chart, while “As Good As I Once Was” and a duet with Willie Nelson. called 'Beer for My Horses' each spent six weeks at No.1.

Keith wrote “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)” in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks and after his father's death in March of that year. The song became a lightning rod of controversy. Always an ardent supporter of the US military, Keith appeared on 11 USO tours, playing over 200 shows for members of the US Armed Forces. He also won the hit “American Soldier,” which details the daily sacrifices and struggles of those in the U.S. armed forces. In 2005, Keith launched his own record label, Show Dog Records, releasing songs such as 'Get Drunk and Be Somebody', 'American Ride', 'Red Solo Cup', 'Hope on the Rocks', 'Made In America' , “God Love Her” and “Don't Let the Old Man In,” which he wrote after being inspired by Clint Eastwood, who later featured it in the 2018 film The Mulari. Keith was inducted into the Oklahoma Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2007, the all-genre Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2015, and the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2021. Keith was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 2020 and the BMI Icon Award in 2022.

Florida native Anderson was named in the Veteran Era Artist category.

“This is probably the greatest honor I could ever receive, standing on this stage today … I'm still trying to grasp the reality of what's happening to me. I'm so proud and so honored,” Anderson told the crowd in accepting the honor, thanking fans and the crowd at the CMAs and the Hall of Fame. “Many, many people to thank along the way. This is an institution that preserves greatness and I know it is because I have many dear friends who are in the Hall of Fame…. To have the opportunity to be in the midst of this kind of greatness, words can't really explain to me how important it is. Music has been what has kept me going since I was a kid and I have so much to be thankful for.”

Anderson released several singles in the 1970s, including 1979's “Your Lying Blue Eyes” and “She Just Started Liking Cheatin' Songs” before releasing his debut album in 1980. Anderson's penchant for remixes, waltzes and ballads brought his first Top 5 Country Hot Songs hit with a cover of Billy Joe Shaver's “I'm Just An Old Chunk of Coal (But I'm Gonna Be a Diamond Someday). In September 1982, the title track for his album Wild and Blue was poised to become his first Hot Country Songs No. 1 (staying there for two weeks), when radio stations also began playing another song from the album. Three weeks after “Wild and Blue” hit No. 1, Anderson's “Swingin'” reached the Hot Country Songs chart and 10 weeks later became Anderson's second No. 1 hit. “Swingin'” was honored as Single of the Year at the 1983 CMA Awards, the same night Anderson won the Horizon Award. Between 1981 and 1983, Anderson scored six top 10 hits on the Hot Country Songs and three No. 1s on that chart. His singles began to peak lower on the chart in the following years, until his career began to roar back in the 1990s with songs such as the Hot Country Songs No. 1 “Straight Tequila Night” and “Money in the Bank,” as well as the Top 5 Hot Country Songs “I Wish I Could Have Been There.” Another of those '90s hits, the No. 2 Hot Country Songs hit “Seminole Wind,” had an environmental conscience. Although Anderson did not write the song, he recognized its potential. “Seminole Wind” sold three million copies and became a song that defined Anderson's career. In addition to Anderson's two 1980 CMA Awards, he was up for album of the Year in 1994 for Common thread: The songs of eagles, in which he covered “Heartache Tonight.” That same year, the Academy of Country Music honored him with its Lifetime Achievement Award.