The public has been invited to help pick the next crop of music-makers inducted into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame. Here are a few suggestions, and a chance to vote on them.
Editor's note: It's still possible to vote in the accompany survey, but the deadline for suggesting nominees to the Hall of Fame has passed. Click here for a follow-up story on our survey's results.
First, a little background. Induction is the highest state honor a music-maker can receive. The next awards ceremony will be held in February; the Alabama Tourism Department recently issued a call for nominations. All you have to do is email your suggestion to dconnell@alamhof.org. The deadline is Friday, July 31.
But before you do that, take a quick look at the list of people who've already been inducted. It's not limited to artists, and includes executives, studio musicians, songwriters and other influential figures. And it is impressive: Nat King Cole, Buddy Killen, Hank Williams Sr., W.C. Handy, Sonny James, Sam Phillips, William L. Dawson, The Delmore Brothers, Erskine Hawkins, The Louvin Brothers, Dinah Washington, John "Fess" Whatley, Alabama, Curly Putman, Percy Sledge, Tammy Wynette, The Commodores, The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, Martha Reeves, Billy Sherrill, Don Davis, William Lee Golden, Kelso Herston, Lionel Richie, The Speer Family, David Briggs, Bobby Goldsboro, Wilson Pickett, The Temptations, Freddie Hart, Hugh Martin, Jim Nabors, Clarence Carter, Eddie Floyd, Emmylou Harris, Mack Vickery, Vern Gosdin, Norbert Putnam, Ray Sawyer, The Thrasher Brothers, Ernie Ashworth, Cleve Eaton, Donnie Fritts, Tommy Shaw, Paul Hornsby, The Blind Boys of Alabama, Jerry Carrigan, Eddie Levert, Buddie Buie, Rick Hall, Jerry Wexler, Joe L. Frank, James Joiner, Jimmie Rodgers, Jake Hess, Rose Maddox, Donna Hilley, J.R. "Pap" Baxter, James Reese Europe, Arthur Alexander, Boyd Bennett, Bobby Denton, Terry Thompson, Hank Locklin, Candi Staton, Charlie Monk, Dan Penn, Spooner Oldham and Sun Ra.
Whew. Get in that club, and you're in good company. (If you want to know what any of those folks did to deserve inclusion, go look them up at the Hall's website, alamhof.org.)
Here's a list of 11 people or groups who are, to me, natural candidates for induction, and a poll where you can rank them as you see fit. It wasn't easy to narrow it down to 11; among other hard decisions, I opted to omit relatively young acts such as The Drive-By Truckers, The Alabama Shakes and Jason Isbell. If they keep up what they're doing, they're well on their way to joining the hall a few years down the line.
One thing about the Hall of Fame, it preserves and promotes a musical wealth of which Alabamians can be unabashedly proud.
A few words on my 11, in alphabetical order:
1. Jimmy Buffett - As Buffett has said, when he started out they didn't know what category to put him in - but now he is a category. He was born in Mississippi, but grew up in Mobile, so Alabama can lay claim to him with pride.
2. Anthony Crawford - You might not know him, except maybe as a member of duo Sugarcane Jane and songwriter supergroup Willie Sugarcapps. But Crawford is a multitalented songwriter, performer and studio wizard whose vast credits include work with Neil Young, Steve Winwood, Roseanne Cash, Steve Forbert and more artists of note.
3. Chuck Leavell - If the Rolling Stones have you on speed-dial, you belong in the Hall. That's a rule, or at least it should be. Birmingham native Leavell has played keys on tour and in the studio for numerous A-list acts, including the Stones, the Allman Brothers, Eric Clapton, George Harrison and The Black Crowes.
4. Lil Greenwood - A sentimental choice, Prichard native Greenwood was handpicked by Duke Ellington to tour with his band, which she did throughout the '60s. "Walking and Singing the Blues" became her signature song. There's not much of a recorded legacy from those years, however, and she lived mostly out of the public eye from the '80s onward. But an Ace reissue of the '50s singles she recorded on the West Coast leaves no doubts about her talents.
5. Shelby Lynne - Lynne, who grew up in the Mobile area, showed promise in Nashville but couldn't fit the mold, then earned a Grammy with a transformative pop album, then went on to establish herself as a model for fierce artistic independence.
6. Johnny Sandlin - According to information provided by the Hall itself, this producer and engineer had a hand in seminal Allman Brothers albums including "Brothers and Sister," "Eat a Peach" and "Live at Fillmore East." Other acts he worked with include Eddie Kendricks, Elvin Bishop, Bonnie Bramlett, Cowboy and Delbert McClinton.
7. Ward Swingle - This bandleader from Mobile founded a Grammy-winning, internationally renowned vocal ensemble, The Swingle Singers, in France in the 1960s. A contemporary version of the group, with new personnel, continues to this day. In 2004, he was honored as an Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French government, and his death in January made international headlines.
8. Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton - Thornton was born in 1926 near Montgomery; her music career was underway by the early 1940s, and she experienced extreme highs and lows as the blues came in and out of fashion - but she endured, and to younger generations of artists, she became a link to blues tradition. She sang "Hound Dog" before Elvis and "Ball and Chain" before Janis - enough said.
9. Fred Wesley Jr. - As a young man, this trombonist from Mobile toured with Ike & Tina Turner. He went on to serve two stints as bandleader for James Brown; his ability to chart complex new music also made him a key architect of '70s funk alongside George Clinton and Bootsy Collins. His biography, "Hit Me, Fred," is required readinig.
10. Hank Williams Jr. - Maybe this one is a stretch: Hank Jr. was born in Louisiana and grew up in Nashville. But in the mid-'70s he moved to Cullman, Ala., to reinvent his career with "Hank Williams Jr. and Friends," the album that broke him out of his father's shadow and set him on the path to superstardom.
11. Wet Willie - This Mobile band was at the heart of the Southern Rock movement, scoring a Top 10 hit with "Keep on Smiling." They've been inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame. Their home state needs to second that emotion.