NASHVILLE, Tenn. – June Carter, Kenny Chesney and Tony Brown have been invited to join the Country Music Hall of Fame.
The Country Music Association announced the new 2025 inductees on Tuesday in Nashville, Tennessee.
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Carter, the Grammy-winning member of one of country music’s pioneering families and the wife of country giant Johnny Cash, joins as this year's veteran era artist. Chesney, who has won the CMA Awards entertainer of the year four times, joins as the modern era artist. And Brown, a Nashville producer who has supervised a wide array of best-selling hits by Vince Gill, Reba McEntire, George Strait and many others, will join the non-performer category.
The three will be formally inducted during a ceremony in the fall.
Tuesday's celebratory ceremony focused on their contributions to country music over the decades, highlighting their influence, even when they were overlooked at times.
“Johnny once said that his wife was one of the most neglected artists in country music,” said country singer Vince Gill, who introduced the inductees. He said Cash worried that his wife's contributions would “under-recognized simply because she's my wife.”
“That changes as she takes her rightful place among family, friends and legends in the Country Music Hall of Fame,” Gill said.
Some of Carter's accomplishments include writing more than 100 songs, including co-writing “Ring of Fire,” a top hit for Cash. The two married in 1968 and recorded several Grammy-award winning hits like “Jackson” and “If I Were a Carpenter.”
But Carter had been singing since she was 10, long before marrying Cash. Her mother, Maybelle Carter, was in the Carter Family music act with her cousin Sara Carter and Sara’s husband, A.P. Carter. The family act broke up, but mother and daughters June, Helen and Anita continued on as Mother Maybelle & the Carter Sisters, with little June playing autoharp.
The Carters went on to become staples of the Grand Ole Opry country music show in Nashville.
Carlene Carter described her mother as a “force of nature” who was “anchored in love.”
“Anything that’s good about me is because of that mom,” said Carlene Carter, who continued in the family business as a country singer and songwriter.
Chesney, who grew up in eastern Tennessee, told the crowd on Tuesday that if someone had said he would one day be inducted into the same Hall of Fame class as June Carter Cash, he would have called it “unbelievable.”
Chesney's career includes 16 platinum albums and more than 50 Top Ten country hits. After receiving a standing ovation, he said he was just hoping to spread love and positivity through his music.
”I had a really big dream and I’m still pushing that dream as far as I can,” Chesney said. “I just wanted to record and write songs that reflected the lives of a lot of people that came to our shows."
For Brown, getting the call about his induction into the Hall of Fame almost knocked him over. He called it one of the biggest accomplishments of his career.
Every year, the Country Music Hall of Fame chooses just three inductees, one of which rotates between songwriters, recording/touring musicians and non-performers.
Brown backed Elvis Presley until his death in 1977, then played with Emmylou Harris & The Hot Band, as well as Rodney Crowell & The Cherry Bombs. But he's being honored more for his production work, as president of MCA Nashville, with RCA Records and eventually as co-founder of Universal South Records.
“You make records and you make some money, but this is better than money,” Brown said. “This is about making an impact.”