Tanya Tucker, Patty Loveless, Bob McDill named to country hall

Powerhouse singers Tanya Tucker and Patty Loveless will join hit-making songwriter Bob McDill as the newest inductees immortalized in the Country Music Hall of Fame.

• The announcement ceremony Monday was emceed by Hall-of-Famer Vince Gill.

State of play: Tucker has been mentioned for years as one of the most accomplished country artists not inducted into the Hall of Fame.

• Her iconic performance of "Delta Dawn" made her a household name as a teenager.
• She parlayed that early success into a four-decade career, but her name recognition had waned some before her Grammy-winning 2019 comeback album, which was a collaboration with Brandi Carlile and Shooter Jennings.

What she's saying: "When I hear that song, I think, 'How did I do that?'" Tucker told the audience at the announcement ceremony about recording "Delta Dawn."

• "It's like it was another person. I don't think I could have done it now. It was a time when it was almost like everything was already written for me."

Loveless launched her career in the 1980s and helped spearhead a wave of critically and commercially successful artists during the country music boom of the early 1990s.

• She reemerged at the forefront of the country music discourse last November thanks to a searing duet of "You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive" with Chris Stapleton.

Gill described McDill as "arguably one of the best [songwriters] ever." He penned hits such as "Big Wheels in the Moonlight," co-written with singer Dan Seals, and "Song of the South" by Alabama.

• "This guy paints some of the greatest pictures I've ever seen in songs," Gill said, adding that McDill represented the bridge between the traditional and modern styles of country music.

Watch the announcement