Get to know the 2017 Country Music Hall of Fame inductees

The country music legend was born on October 17, 1958 in Newnan, Georgia (just outside of Atlanta). He grew up poor in a house so small that Jackson’s “bedroom” was, for a time, in the hallway. He was raised Baptist, attended church regularly with his parents and only listened to gospel music as a child. Then a friend introduced him to Gene Watson, John Anderson and Bocephus. Jackson had found his life’s calling.

After busting his hump in The Nashville Network’s mailroom, Jackson became the first country artist signed to Arista Records’ newly created “Nashville” label. The commitment paid off immediately with Jackson’s popular debut LP “Here in the Real World” (1990), but he attained country superstardom with his multi-platinum follow-up “Don’t Rock the Jukebox” which shot five singles to the top of Billboard’s country chart.

The hits kept coming with Jackson’s third album “A Lot About Livin’ (And a Little ‘bout Love).” The LP produced five hit singles, including the immortal “Chattahoochee” which parked itself atop the Billboard Country chart for five weeks during the summer of 1993. That was followed by 1994’s “Who Am I,” for which Jackson recorded a number of covers including a good ‘ol rockabilly take on Eddie Cochran’s rock-and-roll classic “Summertime Blues.”

ABC’s “Home Improvement” was one of the most popular shows on television when Jackson dropped by in 1996 for the “When Harry Kept Delores” episode. The country star helped Harry of Harry’s Hardware save his marriage (after Tim accidentally caused them to separate), and treated viewers to a lively performance of “Mercury Blues.”

Jackson has always been evangelical when it comes to the “purity” of country music. When the genre started crossing over into mainstream pop, Jackson fought back in a variety of ways. He protested a perceived slight of George Jones at the 1999 Country Music Awards by halting a performance of his own song to sing Jones’s “Choices.” He then paired with George Strait for the anti-pop screed “Murder on Music Row” in 2000. Jackson repeatedly stated that if he were a young artist trying to start his career in that climate, he’d never get signed.

Jackson was resistant to pop-country, but he made his own concessions to the genre’s evolving sound with some mainstream friendly albums in the 2000s. He teamed with bluegrass artist Alison Krauss for what some of his fans considered a crossover LP in 2006’s “Like Red on a Rose.” Jackson took stock of the reception and fired back with the old-school country of “Good Time.” The album launched three songs to number one on the Billboard country chart, and, most importantly, hit the bull’s eye with his fans.

The quintessential “good ol’ boy,” Jerry Reed was born on March 20, 1937 in Atlanta, Georgia. He endured a rough early childhood after his parents separated when he was still an infant, but he found a sanctuary in country music. He always had his sights set on Nashville, and, after two years of military service, finally got there in 1961. He’d already written hits for Gene Vincent and Brenda Lee, and soon found himself collaborating with Chet Atkins for the 1965 single “If I Don’t Live Up to It."

Reed scored a minor country hit when he wrote and recorded the single “Guitar Man” in 1967. The song struck the fancy of a fella named Elvis Presley, who promptly covered the tune with Reed playing guitar. Reed quickly became one of The King’s favorite songwriters, which led other artists to browse through Reed’s rapidly expanding library of potential hits. Johnny Cash took a shine to “A Thing Called Love,” and took the song to number two on the Billboard Country chart. Reed had been anointed by The King and The Man in Black. Stardom awaited.

Reed kicked off the 1970s with the unexpected crossover hit “Amos Moses” which peaked at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100. He recorded a popular duet LP with Chet Atkins called “Me & Jerry,” and shot to the top of the country chart with the hilarious storytelling classic “When You’re Hot, You’re Hot.” While Reed was reeling off the hits, he started flirting with acting. His first “performance” was as himself, animated, in “The New Scooby-Doo Movies.” Then his buddy Burt Reynolds came calling, and a new form of stardom awaited.

Reed made his feature film debut in the Burt Reynolds vehicle “W.W. and the Dixie Dancekings” and turned up in the star’s “White Lightning” sequel, “Gator.” But it was Reed’s turn as trucker Cledus “Snowman” Snow in 1977’s “Smokey and the Bandit” (the second highest grossing movie of that year behind “Star Wars”) that made him a legitimate movie star. He was co-lead with Peter Fonda in “High Ballin’” and Dom Deluise in “Hot Stuff” and, when Reynolds bailed, became a full-fledged leading man in “Smokey and the Bandit Part 3.” Unfortunately, the third “Smokey” film bombed, thus killing Reed’s shot at subsequent star vehicles.

Reed’s country music career definitely took a backseat to his motion picture ambitions, but he made a triumphant return to the top of Billboard’s Country chart with 1982’s amusing divorce lament, “She Got the Goldmine (I Got the Shaft).” He dropped a few more hits (most notably “The Bird” and “Down on the Corner”) but his music declined in popularity as the genre began to favor younger artists with a poppier sound.

Jerry Reed’s attempt to recapture the old duet magic with Chet Atkins didn’t work out so well with 1992’s “Sneakin’ Around.” Reed continued to tour and would always show up if asked to appear on one of Burt Reynolds’s television shows, but his star had unquestionably dimmed. It’s a shame his wonderful supergroup collaboration with Waylon Jennings, Mel Tillis, Bobby Bare and songwriter Shel Silverstein, “Old Dogs” didn’t make more of an impact. But even in the twilight of his career, his contemporaries and successors were always quick with praise. Reed passed away on September 1, 2008 at the age of seventy-one.

The Durham, North Carolina-born Don Schlitz was only twenty-three years old when he wrote the ultimate poker anthem, “The Gambler.” Bobby Bare, Johnny Cash and Schlitz tried to ride the song to the summit of Billboard’s Country chart, but they all came up well short. Then Kenny Rogers laid his cards on the table in 1978, and showed the world he knew when to hold ‘em, fold ‘em and walk away to launch a rotisserie chicken franchise.

Don Schlitz wrote this song with Paul Overstreet at the tail end of a frustratingly long and unproductive day. They didn’t think much of the song initially, but when Keith Whitley heard it, he insisted on recording the ballad during his “Don’t Close Your Eyes” sessions in 1987. The song became a posthumous hit for Whitley in December of 1988, and nearly hit number one again when Alison Krauss recorded it for a Whitley tribute LP in 1995. Ronan Keating covered it in 1999, and, thanks to being prominently featured in the Julia Roberts-Hugh Grant box office smash “Notting Hill,” the song charted at or near number one all over Europe.

Being inducted to the Country Music Hall of Fame is just the latest high honor of Don Schlitz’s career. He was named ASCAP Country Songwriter of the Year four times in a row from 1988 to 1991, and joined the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2012 alongside such esteemed tunesmiths as Gordon Lightfoot, Bob Seger, Tom Jones, Harvey Schmidt and Jim Steinman. Now sixty-five years old, Schlitz is still turning out hits for country music’s biggest names.