Earthtimes.org - USA - The Country Music Association announced today that influential radio and television personality Ralph Emery, multi-award-winning entertainer Vince Gill and legendary singer/songwriter Mel Tillis will become the newest members of the coveted Country Music Hall of Fame.

Emery will be inducted in the "Non-Performer" category, which is awarded every third year in a rotation with the "Career Achieved National Prominence Prior to World War II" and "Recording and/or Touring Musician Active Prior to 1980" categories. Gill will be the third artist inducted in the "Career Achieved National Prominence Between 1975 and the Present" category, which was created in 2005. Tillis will be

CMT.com - Nashville, TN, USA - "I was in my garden ... holding an eggplant when my cell phone went off," said Mel Tillis, recalling how he first heard he'd been selected to the Country Music Hall of Fame. The announcement that Tillis, Vince Gill and radio and TV personality Ralph
Emery are the Hall's newest additions was made Tuesday (Aug. 7) at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum's Ford Theater in Nashville. All three honorees were on hand for the event.

The voice at the other end of Tillis' cell call was Tammy Genovese, chief operating officer of the Country Music Association, the organization that

USA Today - USA - Vince Gill, Mel Tillis and Ralph Emery have been selected for induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

The announcement was made Tuesday at the Hall of Fame by Barbara Mandrell, Brenda Lee and Hall of Fame Director Kyle Young.

Gill, who was joined by his wife, Amy Grant, said he was overwhelmed.

"Out of all the things you've ever done — it just matters, it matters so much," the 50-year-old country star said in an emotional speech. "We're so blessed to get to be able to do this."