Reba McEntire among new Country Music Hall of Fame inductees

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Singers Reba McEntire and Jean Shepard and songwriter Bobby Braddock have been chosen to join the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, hall officials have announced.

McEntire, who is back on the charts with her country take on Beyonce’s pop-R&B hit ‘If I Were a Boy,’ is this year’s ‘Modern Era’ Hall of Fame selection. ‘When I was a young girl, we would take vacations to Nashville and tour the Country Music Hall of Fame,’ McEntire said in a statement that accompanied the announcement. And now, for me to be inducted, is a dream come true.’

Shepard, who posted 45 singles on the country charts from 1953 through 1978, gets the nod in the hall’s ‘Veteran Era’ category.

As the co-writer, with Curly Putman, of the country classics ‘He Stopped Loving Her Today’ for George Jones and ‘D-I-V-O-R-C-E’ for Tammy Wynette -- among the hundreds of songs he’s written or co-written over more than half a century -- Braddock is the first inductee in the hall’s new songwriter category.

The three honorees will be inducted at a ceremony to be held later this year at the Country Music Hall of Fame.

-- Randy Lewis

in 2009. Credit: Rick Diamond / WireImage