Mervyn Conn. 0018 ~ Bob McKinlay. 0019 ~ Ed Pearson. 0020 ~ Hillsiders. 0021

The proposal to set up a British Country Music Hall of Fame was born with the launch of the British Country magazine, Cross Country. It had long been felt that there was no formal recognition of the talent, devotion, skill and belief in the grass roots of British Country music and the ability to turn out on a foggy February midweek gig for a half full venue and still give a great show.

Cross Country magazine promotes Country music in all areas as entertainment for people who just love good songs and to promote festivals and the club scene.

With over 450 clubs listed each month in the magazine with various artists who travel the length and breadth of the UK, we believe that the British market can match the Americans, the Canadians and the Australians in music that we started anyway. When the early settlers who travelled to the USA took their own music played on simple instruments, the English, Irish, Scottish and Welsh folk music got intermixed with the French and the German and became America's national music - Country music. We have now taken it back in our own way.

We felt that people did not have to make the pages of Hello, Q, Mojo or the Sunday supplements to be heroes. Yes, we are copying the CMA (Country Music Association), they do it well and so do we! We now also have a Country Music Hall of Fame, only ours is the British CMH of F and with it will become a museum to house memories and exhibits. The exhibit will be at Great Birchwood Country Park, Warton, Preston, Lancashire.