Daniels, Travis & Foster to join Country Music Hall of Fame

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Fiddler Charlie Daniels, singer Randy Travis, and producer and label owner Fred Foster are joining the Country Music Hall of Fame.

The announcement was made Tuesday by the Hall of Fame and Museum, along with the Country Music Association, at a press conference in Nashville, Tennessee. They will be inducted during a ceremony later this year.

Travis, who is recovering from a stroke suffered in 2013, is a seven-time Grammy winner whose hits include "Forever and Ever, Amen" and "Three Wooden Crosses." Travis, 56, spoke a few words at the press conference, saying "thank you" when he got a standing ovation from other Hall of Fame musicians and music industry executives.

Travis was inducted in the modern artist category. He broke out as a singer on his 1986 album, "Storms of Life," which was the first of six straight platinum certifications. He also had an acting career in the 1990s, appearing in dozens of films and television roles.

Daniels, 79, who was inducted in the veteran artist category, is a multi-instrumentalist best known as the fiddler behind the classic "The Devil Went Down to Georgia." As the bandleader of the Charlie Daniels Band, he blends country, boogie and blues music. He got his start in Nashville as a talented session player, including playing on records like "Nashville Skyline" by Bob Dylan and Ringo Starr's "Beaucoups of Blues."

"I am very humbled this morning to think about the shoulders that I stand on," Daniels said. "The artists who blazed a trail down millions of miles of two-lane blacktop to take this music to the people who loved it, the common man, the people in the far-flung corners of this nation."

Fred Foster moved Monument Records from Washington, D.C., to Nashville in 1960 where he signed Roy Orbison. That led to some of the singer's most iconic recordings including "Only the Lonely," ''Crying" and "Oh, Pretty Woman."

Foster, 84, also signed a young Dolly Parton and worked with several country stars including Willie Nelson, Ray Price and Jeannie Seely. But it was his work with Kris Kristofferson that turned the songwriter into a star. He even shares a co-writer credit on the iconic "Me and Bobby McGee."

"To say that I thought this day would never come is an understatement," Foster said. "If you are involved in country music in any way and you are inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, it can't get any better than that."

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Online:

www.countrymusichalloffame.org/