Chet Atkins
Inducted CM HOF: 1973
Inducted R&R HOF: 2002
Top country hit: the instrumental “Yakety Axe” (No. 4 in 1965)
Died: 2001 (age 77)
Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton & More Stars in Both the Country Music and Rock & Roll Halls of Fame
Written by djfrosty on May 3, 2023
With Willie Nelson’s induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame this year, 30 years after he was selected for the Country Music Hall of Fame, 16 artists or executives have been chosen to join both Halls.
Nelson, 90, is one of only three of these double (Rock and Country) inductees who is still living. The others are Brenda Lee, 78, and Dolly Parton, 77. Three double inductees – Johnny Cash, The Everly Brothers and Sam Phillips — lived to see both of their inductions, though they have since died.
Nelson, Parton and the late Jerry Lee Lewis have joined the list of double inductees in the past year.
The roster of double honorees includes 13 male artists or executives (the exec being Sun Records founder Phillips); two female artists (Lee and Parton); and one duo (the Everly Brothers).
Bob Wills was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame as a solo artist but was inducted into the Rock Hall as the leader of Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys.
Impressively, singer, songwriter and guitarist Jimmie Rodgers was in the inaugural class in both Halls. He was one of the first three people inaugurated into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1961 and one of the 16 initial inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986. Rodgers, nicknamed The Singing Brakeman, was just 35 when he died of a pulmonary hemorrhage brought on by tuberculosis in 1933. (He is unrelated to the recording and TV star also named Jimmie Rodgers who had a string of pop and country hits in the late ’50s.)
Floyd Cramer, a top session musician who recorded such crossover hits of his own as “Last Date” and “San Antonio Rose,” is the only person who was inducted into both the Country and Rock Halls of Fame in the same year (2003). Unfortunately, the pianist didn’t live to see this multi-genre appreciation; he died in 1997.
Like Cramer, Chet Atkins also had some hit recordings, but his main contributions were behind-the-scenes as a studio guitarist, producer and record executive (for RCA).
Here’s a list, in alphabetical order, of everyone who has been inducted into both of these Halls of Fame. We show the year each person was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame (CM HOF); the year each was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (R&R HOF); their highest-charting hit on what is now called Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart (which originated as Hot C&W Sides in October 1958); and, finally, the year of death for those who are no longer with us.
Note: Many of these acts had hits that pre-dated the introduction of Hot C&W Sides. The hit tallies shown here and the identification of the artists’ biggest hits are for the period starting in October 1958 only.
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Image Credit: Michael Ochs Archives/GI -
Johnny Cash
Inducted CM HOF: 1980
Inducted R&R HOF: 1992
Top country hit: “Ring of Fire” (seven weeks at No. 1 in the summer of 1963). Cash had nine No. 1 hits between “Don’t Take Your Guns to Town” in February 1959 and “One Piece at a Time” in May 1976.
Died: 2003 (age 71)
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Ray Charles
Inducted CM HOF: 2021
Inducted R&R HOF: 1986 (inaugural class)
Top country hit: “Seven Spanish Angels” (with Willie Nelson) No. 1 for one week in March 1985
Died: 2004 (age 73)
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Floyd Cramer
Inducted CM HOF: 2003
Inducted R&R HOF: 2003
Top country hit: the instrumental hit “San Antonio Rose” (No. 8 in 1961)
Died: 1997 (age 64)
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The Everly Brothers
Image Credit: Keystone/Hulton Archive/GI Inducted CM HOF: 2001
Inducted R&R HOF: 1986 (inaugural class)
Top country hit: “(‘Til I Kissed You)” (No. 8 in 1959)
Died: Phil: 2014 (age 74); Don: 2021 (age 84)
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Johnny Gimble
Inducted CM HOF: 2018
Inducted R&R HOF: 1999 (as early influence with Bob Wills & His Texas Cowboys)
Top country hit: “One Fiddle, Two Fiddle”/“San Antonio Rose” (both by Ray Price with Johnny Gimble & The Texas Swing Band, No. 70 in 1983)
Died: 2015 (age 88)
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Brenda Lee
Inducted CM HOF: 1997
Inducted R&R HOF: 2002
Top country hit: “Big Four Poster Bed” (No. 4 in 1974)
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Jerry Lee Lewis
Inducted CM HOF: 2022
Inducted R&R HOF: 1986 (inaugural class)
Top country hit: “Chantilly Lace” (No. 1 for three weeks in the spring of 1972). Lewis had four No. 1 hits between “To Make Love Sweeter for You” in March 1969 and “Chantilly Lace.”
Died: 2022 (age 87)
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Bill Monroe
Inducted CM HOF: 1970
Inducted R&R HOF: 1997
Top country hit: “Gotta Travel On” (credited to Bill Monroe and His Blue Grass Boys, No. 15 in 1959).
Died: 1996 (age 84)
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Willie Nelson
Inducted CM HOF: 1993
Inducted R&R HOF: 2013
Top country hit: Toby Keith with Willie Nelson’s “Beer for My Horses” (No. 1 for six weeks in the summer of 2003). Nelson had 20 No. 1 hits between “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain” in October 1975 and “Beer for My Horses.”
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Dolly Parton
Image Credit: Michael Ochs Archives/GI Inducted CM HOF: 1999
Inducted R&R HOF: 2022
Top country hit: “Here You Come Again” (No. 1 for five weeks in December 1977). Parton has had 25 No. 1 hits, from “Joshua” in February 1971 to “When I Get Where I’m Going” (by Brad Paisley with Dolly Parton) in March 2006.
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Sam Phillips
Inducted CM HOF: 2001
Inducted R&R HOF: 1986 (inaugural class)
Top country hit: not a recording artist
Died: 2003 (age 80)
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Elvis Presley
Inducted CM HOF: 1998
Inducted R&R HOF: 1986 (inaugural class)
Top country hits: “Moody Blue” and “Way Down” (both in 1977) and the posthumous release “Guitar Man” (1981). All three logged a single week at No. 1.
Died: 1977 (age 42)
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Jimmie Rodgers
Inducted CM HOF: 1961 (inaugural class)
Inducted R&R HOF: 1986 (inaugural class)
Top country hit: none since 1958
Died: 1933 (age 35)
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Hank Williams
Inducted CM HOF: 1961 (inaugural class)
Inducted R&R HOF: 1987
Top country hit: “There’s a Tear in My Beer” (by Hank Williams, Jr. with Hank Williams, Sr., No. 7 in 1989)
Died: 1953 (age 29)
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Bob Wills
Inducted CM HOF: 1968
Inducted R&R HOF: 1999 (with Bob Wills and His Texas Cowboys, which also included Tommy Duncan, Leon McAuliffe, Johnny Gimble, Joe “Jody” Holley, Tiny Moore, Herb Remington, Eldon Shamblin, and Al Stricklin).
Top country hit: “Heart to Heart Talk” (by Bob Wills with Tommy Duncan and the Texas Playboys, No. 5 in 1960)
Died: 1975 (age 70)