Kenny Chesney, June Carter Cash, Tony Brown Announced as Country Music Hall of Fame’s 2025 Inductees

variety.com:

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Kenny Chesney, June Carter Cash and producer Tony Brown were announced Tuesday as the newest members of the Country Music Hall of Fame, due to be officially inducted in a formal ceremony in fall 2025.

The new trio of inductees were revealed during a morning news conference hosted by Vince Gill, who shared personal connections with all three of the incoming honorees. “I had a really big dream that not a lot of people saw coming,” said Chesney, stepping to the mic in the hall’s famous rotunda. “My dream started on the shoulders of the dreams of George Jones,” he said, and on the shoulders of Alabama, Conway Twitty and Doc Watson, he added — noting that “I spent a whole summer trying to figure out how to play ‘Deep River Blues’ on guitar.” Chesney said that it was “amazing to know you’re going into the Hall of Fame with three fellow east Tennesseans,” citing his regional neighbors Chet Atkins, Dolly Parton and songwriter Dean Dillon. “I had a big dream, and I’m still pushing that dream as far as I can… I just wanted to spread as much love and positive energy as I could,” Chesney said. “Standing up here, I know it’s not a dream, it’s real, but it’s so surreal.” Chesney is set to to be inducted in the modern performer category, being a relative newcomer compared to many of the hall’s inductees; as Gill noted, he made his first record in 1994 and had his first No.

1 hit in 1997. Reading from a script, Gill took slight issue when the text had him refer to Chesney as “the first country music artist to play the Sphere in Las Vegas,” referencing the star’s upcoming residency.