As Avery Anna, Carter Faith, Emily Ann Roberts, Tucker Wetmore and Stephen Wilson Jr. settle into their seats at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Nov. 18 for this year’s CMA Awards, anxiously awaiting to hear which of them will take home the award for new artist of the year, they should keep in mind that this is just the start of their journey. If they’re lucky, their careers will continue for decades, and if they’re really lucky, they’ll one day be enshrined in the Country Music Hall of Fame.
The CMA introduced the Horizon Award – the award’s original name — in 1981; it was renamed new artist of the year in 2008. Since then, 14 artists who were nominated in that category have gone on to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. The most recent case is Tim McGraw, who was nominated for the Horizon Award in 1994 and was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame this year.
You may have noticed that I said McGraw was nominated for the Horizon Award. He didn’t win. He’s not alone in that. Nine of the 14 artists who were nominated for the Horizon Award and went on to be inducted into the Hall of Fame didn’t win the newcomer award. Patty Loveless was nominated twice and lost both times – to Ricky Van Shelton in 1988 and to Clint Black in 1989. (Neither of those men has yet been inducted into the Country Music HOF, though they may be in the future.)
Moral of the story: If you’re nominated for a new artist award and don’t win, keep going. There are many chapters ahead of you.
Garth Brooks was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame just 22 years after he was nominated for (and won) the Horizon Award – the fastest climb of any artist. Other artists who made this climb quickly are George Strait (23 years), Kenny Chesney (26 years) and Alan Jackson and Brooks & Dunn (27 years each).
Here’s a complete list of the 14 artists who were nominated for the CMA’s Horizon Award and went on to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. We show the year they were nominated for (and in some cases, won) the award; the year they were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, their number of CMA Awards to date; their number of No. 1 hits on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart to date; and their number of No. 1 albums on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart to date.
We’ll update this list in years to come as more Horizon Award, and eventually new artist of the year nominees/winners, are inducted into the Hall.