乡村音乐大腕肯尼·罗杰斯、巴比·贝尔入驻乡村音乐名人堂

    Kenny Rogers, Bobby Bare and the late “Cowboy” Jack Clement — three men whose influence still ripples* across the surface of modern music — are now members of the Country Music Hall of Fame.

    The three were saluted by stars Garth Brooks, Kris Kristofferson, Emmylou Harris, Barry Gibb, John Prine and others during a ceremony on Sunday at the newly expanded Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.

    Each of the three inductees had a profound effect on music in his own way, and one could argue each deserved a place among the genre’s greatest names long ago.

    “I’m flattered*, I’m honored and I’m nervous,” Rogers said before the ceremony.

    Rogers, 75, helped lead the way for crossover country pop hits and was in a reflective mood.

    “What I’ve realized is that success is not a happening, it’s a journey,” he said.

    “I think without this it would have been incomplete.”

    Singer Alison Krauss said of Rogers’ addition to the Hall of Fame that “justice has been done,” while Garth Brooks revealed the star took him on his first major tour as one of his opening acts.

    “If there was an entertainer university, I can vouch* firsthand that Kenny Rogers would be the professor of that class,” said Brooks.

    Bare, 78, whose hits include “Dee-troit City” and “How I Got to Memphis,” said of his induction, “It means that I will forever be referred to as a hall of famer. It sounds real good.”

    Fellow inductee Clement died from liver cancer in August this year at 82, but he had found out five months earlier that he would be honored.

    He was inducted as a producer, songwriter and performer, having penned some of Johnny Cash’s early hits and been responsible for the famous mariachi* horns on “Ring of Fire,” which was performed at the ceremony.

    Clement also worked with Jerry Lee Lewis and discovered Charley Pride.(SD-Agencies)