NASHVILLE – The Music City Walk of Fame will induct multi-platinum singer/songwriter Dierks Bentley; genre-bending blues and Americana artist Keb’ Mo’; country legend Bobby Bare; and the “Sweetheart of the Grand Ole Opry” Connie Smith, the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp announced today. An induction ceremony is planned for 2 p.m. on April 5, 2022, at Music City Walk of Fame Park.
The ceremony will be the first induction ceremony in more than two years due to the coronavirus pandemic. The artists will receive the 90th, 91st, 92nd and 93rd stars on the Music City Walk of Fame. Inductees are recognized for their significant contributions to preserving the musical heritage of Nashville and for contributing to the world through song.
“We are proud to bring back a Music City Walk of Fame ceremony with such a distinguished and diverse group of inductees who span various genres and eras of music,” said Ed Hardy, a distinguished Music Row executive and chairman of Music City Inc., the NCVC foundation that oversees the Music City Walk of Fame. “The individuals in the Walk of Fame remind us of Nashville’s rich history as Music City, and we congratulate the newest four members.”
The induction ceremony will include appearances by Bentley, Keb’ Mo’, Bare and Smith as they unveil their stars embedded in the walkway at Music City Walk of Fame Park in SoBro. The first induction ceremony was held in 2006 with the induction of the Fisk Jubilee Singers, Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, Reba McEntire, Ronnie Milsap, Roy Orbison and Kenneth D. Schermerhorn of the Nashville Symphony.
“Gibson is proud to honor the artistry and creativity of songwriters, musicians, and artists of the Music City Walk of Fame who represent the soul of Music City,” says James “JC” Curleigh, President and CEO of Gibson Brands, sponsor of the Music City Walk of Fame. “Each induction ceremony is a special way to pay tribute to every honoree and a time to appreciate and enjoy the tightly-knit music community we have here in Nashville."
Bentley is a Grand Ole Opry member with 20 No. One hits that has earned multiple awards from the ACMs, CMAs and more while also collecting 14 GRAMMY nominations. Keb’ Mo’ has won five GRAMMY Awards including the 2019 release, Oklahoma, for Best Americana Album. He will release a new album Good To Be on January 21, 2022 via Rounder Records. He has also appeared in films and TV, as well as Visit Music City’s recent commercial: While You’ve Been Away, We’ve Been Creating.
Bare has scored nearly five dozen top 40 hits from 1962 to 1983. He won a GRAMMY in 1964 for “Detroit City.” Smith was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry in 1965 and was later dubbed by Roy Acuff as the “Sweetheart of the Grand Ole Opry.” Her “Once a Day” became the first-ever debut single by a female country act to reach No. 1, and she has been nominated for 11 GRAMMY Awards.
The Music City Walk of Fame was created in 2006 on Nashville’s Music Mile, a roughly one mile stretch that connects downtown to Music Row. Permanent sidewalk medallions with the names of inductees are displayed in a star design.
The Music City Walk of Fame is an official project of Music City Inc., the charitable foundation of the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp and is produced with the support of founding sponsor Gibson Brands. Additional sponsors include the City of Nashville and Metro Parks and Recreation. Nominations are open to the public and are accepted in the categories of Artist, Musician, Songwriter and Producer/Music Industry Executive. Application forms are reviewed by the Music City Walk of Fame anonymous selection committee. For more information about the Music City Walk of Fame, go to visitmusiccity.com/walkoffame.
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Dierks Bentley
Dierks Bentley continues to be a dominant voice for the genre with over 6.4 billion streams as his new single “Beers On Me” with BRELAND and HARDY races up the radio charts. Reaching a new creative high while “making music designed to challenge” (New York Times), Bentley co-wrote 10 of 13 tracks on his latest full-length release THE MOUNTAIN, which earned him the highest debut sales of his career and became his seventh chart-topping release. Last year, Bentley surprised fans with his LIVE FROM TELLURIDE collection that was touted as “a gift that Country music fans didn't know they needed” (The Tennesseean). Bentley will celebrate his 16th year anniversary as a member of the Grand Ole Opry in 2022. He also has created professional endeavors outside of the music with his Flag & Anthem lifestyle collection Desert Son, along with his “Dierks Bentley’s Whiskey Row” franchise hosting four locations. dierks.com.
Keb’ Mo’
Keb’ Mo’ has been recognized for five GRAMMYs, 14 Blues Foundation Awards, and a groundbreaking career spanning nearly 50 years under his belt. In 1994 he introduced the world to Keb’ Mo’ with the release of his widely acclaimed self-titled debut. Critics were quick to take note of Keb’s modern, genre-bending take on old school sounds, and two years later, he garnered his first GRAMMY Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album with Just Like You. In the decades to come, Keb’ would take home four more GRAMMY Awards; top the Billboard Blues Chart seven times; perform everywhere from Carnegie Hall to The White House; collaborate with many including Taj Mahal, Willie Nelson, Bonnie Raitt, The Chicks, and Lyle Lovett; have compositions recorded and sampled by artists as diverse as B.B. King, Zac Brown, and BTS; release signature guitars with both Gibson and Martin; compose music for television series like Mike and Molly, Memphis Beat, B Positive, and Martha Stewart Living; and earn the Americana Music Association’s 2021 award for Lifetime Achievement in Performance. In addition to his extraordinary musical output, Keb’ also established himself as a captivating onscreen presence over the years, appearing as himself in Martin Scorsese’s The Blues, Aaron Sorkin’s The West Wing, and even the iconic children’s series Sesame Street. A passionate philanthropist and outspoken activist, Keb’ has helped raise hundreds of thousands of dollars in support of social, environmental, and racial justice throughout his career and was a celebrity mentor with The Kennedy Center’s Turnaround Arts Program. He will release a new album Good To Be on January 21, 2022 via Rounder Records. kebmo.com
Bobby Bare
Born in Ohio, Country Music Hall of Fame and Grand Ole Opry member Bobby Bare is one of the most iconic country artists of our time with chart-topping songs like “Detroit City,” “500 Miles,” “Marie Laveau” and many more. From country legends like Little Jimmy Dickens and Hank Williams to big band acts like Phil Harris and the Dominoes, Bare’s style was molded and led him to nearly five dozen Top 40 hits from 1962 to 1983. The original “Outlaw” of country music, Bare was honored with many awards and accolades, multiple GRAMMY nominations and wins and an induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2013. In 2017, Rolling Stone named him in the top 50 of the “100 Greatest Country Artists of All Time” and Pitchfork identifies him as an integral part of the Outlaw Country movement in the 1970’s. 2017 and 2018 marked his 60th anniversary in the music business and the release of his studio album, Things Change, and two new music videos. A pinnacle moment in his life occurred in 2018 as he was welcomed back home as a member of the Grand Ole Opry by Garth Brooks. In 2020 Bare celebrated his 85th Birthday and released an album of Shel Silverstein songs recorded in the late ‘70s but never-before released titled Great American Saturday Night. For more information, visit bobbybare.com.
Connie Smith
The deeply emotive vocal style of Connie Smith has never wavered since her national debut in 1964 with the smash C&W hit, “Once a Day” – a chart-topper for eight weeks. The RCA single, recently selected by the Library of Congress for its National Song Registry, set the template for Smith’s aching contralto that still sends chills down the spine. But Smith takes her time and makes her public wait: First, after a decade of stardom, she stepped back to raise her five children, before returning to the studio in the late 1990s with master musician, recording artist, and producer Marty Stuart. They not only made a great album, but they also fell in love and married; another well-received Stuart-produced Smith LP followed in 2011. Smith’s latest 2021 release on the alternative rock label, Fat Possum Records, the powerful new “Cry of the Hear,t” marks the couple’s third classic-country collaboration, and Smith’s first album in a decade. It is also her 54th album. She was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry in 1965 and was later dubbed by Roy Acuff as the “Sweetheart of the Grand Ole Opry.” Her “Once a Day” became the first-ever debut single by a female country act to reach No. 1. She has been nominated for 11 GRAMMY Awards, one Academy of Country Music award and three Country Music Association awards. She is a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame.
The Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp
The mission of the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp is to maximize the economic contribution of the convention and tourism industry to the community by developing and marketing Nashville as a premier destination. Visit the NCVC’s website at www.visitmusiccity.com and follow us on social media:
