The Kentucky Music Hall of Fame has announced their 2015 honorees, and bluegrass singer/songwriter Larry Cordle is on the list.
Located in Renfro Valley, the Hall of Fame exists to honor “Kentucky performers, songwriters, publishers, promoters, managers, broadcasters, comedians and other music professionals who have made significant contributions to the music industry in Kentucky and around the world.”
While many folks might associate Larry Cordle with Nashville, he was actually born and raised in eastern Kentucky, where music played a special part in his life. He has related many times how his family lived so far from everyone else that they had to make their own entertainment, and singing and dancing to old time music was often how they passed the time.
Cord went to school at nearby Morehead State University with an eye towards an accounting degree after a stint in the Navy, but was also playing clubs in the evenings trying to keep his music dreams alive. When his boyhood chum Ricky Skaggs made it big in country music, he called Larry to Nashville for a staff writing job at Skaggs’ new publishing company, and recorded Highway 40 Blues, which Cord had written some years back.
From there it’s been hit after hit for the talented Kentucky songwriter, who has also had a successful career as a bluegrass artist with his Lonesome Standard Time group. He’s also written songs recorded by Loretta Lynn, George Strait, Diamond Rio, Garth Brooks, Kathy Mattea, Alison Krauss, Dierks Bentley, Del McCoury and many other county and bluegrass artists.
Also to be inducted in the 2015 class are Kentuckians Montgomery Gentry, Backstreet Boys’ Kevin Richardson and Brian Littrell, Clarence Spalding, Pete Stamper, and Doc Hopkins & The Moonglows. The ceremony will be held April 10, 2015.
Congratulations Larry Cordle!