The West Virginia Music Hall of Fame will induct five new members in a ceremony next May.
Bluegrass musician Buddy Griffin will be among those joining in 2023.
Griffin played the fiddle on Wednesday at the announcement of his inclusion in the next class at Charleston Town Center. But he didn’t want the credit just for himself.
“Nothing I’ve ever done’s been great,” Griffin said. “But I’ve been able to stand on stage and rub elbows with a lot of great people.”
Also joining the Hall of Fame next year: Barbara Nissman, a concert pianist from Philadelphia who made West Virginia her home for the past three decades.
“The older I get, the more blessed I feel to be a musician, to be a piano player,” she said. “I’ve loved the piano since I was a child, even though my first teacher told my mother I didn’t have much talent. But you can persevere.”
Nissman will play at the induction ceremony next year at the Culture Center in Charleston.
Other inductees will include Fuzzy Haskins and Calvin Simon, founding members of Parliament Funkadelic.
The West Virginia Music Hall of Fame began inducting members in 2007. Director Michael Lipton said there’s no shortage of talent to add to the group.
“People said to me over the years, ‘Well, when are you going to run out of people?’” Lipton said. “And we’re not going to run out of people, because music is that important in West Virginia.”
Deceased members to be inducted include first-generation bluegrass group the Lonesome Pine Fiddlers and Hammond B-3 organ player Winston Wells.
West Virginia Public Broadcasting will air the induction ceremony live in May 2023.