CMA announces Hall of Fame inductees

The newest class of the Country Music Hall of Fame includes two “Hee-Haw” cast members and the only female to be “Entertainer of the Year” twice.

Best known for her songs “Sleeping Single in a Double Bed” and “I Was Country When Country Wasn’t Cool,” Barbara Mandrell dominated the country charts during the late 70s and early 80s.

As a child, the blonde, blue-eyed Californian was known as a musical prodigy -– particularly with the steel guitar. It’s this image that sister Louise used to introduce Barbara as a 2009 inductee.

Remembering a Las Vegas show when Barbara was 11-years-old, Louise said her sister took the stage, ready to play her guitar but found herself without the steel bar.

“Well she calmly sat down, leaned over and asked someone in the audience, ‘Can I borrow a glass?’ They emptied it, handed it to her and she played the steel guitar with a glass – and tore up the house.”

In addition to her music, Mandrell stared with her sisters in a 1980 NBC variety show.

Roy Clark established his career as a comedic host on the country-themed show “Hee-Haw.”

Clark said he had always wanted to be a part of the Hall of Fame but wouldn’t let himself dwell on it because he didn’t want to be disappointed.

“It dawned on me that all the people –- almost 98 percent of the people in the Country Music Hall of Fame -– I knew. And I think what happened was, I lasted long enough till they run out.

Clark hosted “Hee-Haw” for its entire 23-year television run. 19 of those years Charlie McCoy oversaw the music for the show. McCoy rounds out the class of 2009.

Best known as a Nashville studio musician, McCoy’s harmonica playing not only influenced country music, but folk artists like Simon and Garfunkel, Joan Baez, and Bob Dylan.

The official induction for Mandrell, Clark and McCoy will be in May.