Country Music Hall Becomes A Reality – Today In Country Music History [VIDEO]

November 3, 1961

The Country Music Hall of Fame was established. The first inductees were Jimmie Rogers, Hank Williams and songwriter Fred Rose.

Fred Rose started in the music industry with a radio show in his home town of Nashville, but moved to New York to try in hopes of making a living as a songwriter in New York City's infamous Tin Pan Alley.

In 1942 he returned to Nashville, teaming up with Roy Acuff to create the first Nashville-based music publishing company. Their Acuff-Rose Music was almost immediately successful, particularly with the enormous hits of client Hank Williams. Acuff-Rose Music remained a foundation of the country music business even after Fred's death; his son, Wesley Rose, took over the presidency and continued with Roy Acuff until 1985, when the company's catalog was sold to Gaylord Entertainment Company, parent company of the Grand Ole Opry.

While running the business, Fred Rose continued to write numerous country songs and eventually became one of the industry's most important personalities. He also wrote songs under the name Floyd Jenkins.

Jimmie Rogers influence as both a performer and a songwriter goes beyond the boundaries of country music. Rogers' songs have been covered by artists from all genres, from Bob Dylan to Merle Haggard, from Muddy Waters to Jerry Garcia and from Elvis Presley to Lynyrd Skynyrd to U2. His influence on music spans style, generation and genre. The 1982 Clint Eastwood film Honkytonk Man is loosely based on Rogers life. His most famous compositions are probably "Blue Yodel no. 1 (T for Texas)", "Frankie & Johnnie" and "I'm In The Jail House Now."

Rogers died of tuberculosis just days after his final recording sessions in May of 1933. True to form, his final recording was a song he wrote and recorded completely by himself, "Years Ago."

Known primarily as a performer, Hank Williams was also a prolific songwriter. Many of his songs went unrecorded until after his death, when they were covered by artists such as Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Jerry Lee Lewis, Merle Haggard, Gene Vincent, Carl Perkins, Ricky Nelson, Jack Scott and Conway Twitty.

On April 12, 2010, the Pulitzer Prize Board awarded Williams a posthumous special citation that paid tribute to his "craftsmanship as a songwriter who expressed universal feelings with poignant simplicity and played a pivotal role in transforming country music into a major musical and cultural force in American life."