Steve Wariner, Charlie DanielsA Kris Kristofferson song came to mind when Charlie Daniels was told he was being inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame.

"My first thought was 'Why me? How in the world [did that happen] with all the people out there that deserve this award at lot more than I do," the fiddle playing superstar told The Boot just prior to his induction at Nashville's Schermerhorn Symphony Center.

"I'm not being modest when I say that," Charlie continued. "I really mean that. To be recognized by your peers and by the industry that I have put my life into, what can you say? It's absolutely wonderful!"

Steve Wariner (pictured above, with Charlie) hosted a salute to Chet Atkins and performed both solo and with "Mister Guitar"'s longtime sideman Paul Yandell. When asked what Chet would have said about the induction, Steve smiled and replied, "He would say 'I don't know if I'm gonna go to this thing or not..' I can hear him now saying, 'It's gonna be a lot of people there. I guess I'll go. I don't know why they're honoring me, but I guess I'll go.' He was so humble, he'd say that."

The Musicians Hall of Fame, founded by Nashville songwriter/musician Joe Chambers, honors musicians from all genres of music for the work they've done throughout their careers. Among those honored who are not based in Nashville were members of the pop/rock band Toto. Rascal Flatts' members Gary LeVox, Joe Don Rooney and Jay DeMarcus presented them with their Hall of Fame plaques, then after a brief video retrospective of the band's career, they joined Toto on stage to perform 'Rosanna,' 'I'll Be Over You,' 'Hold the Line,' and 'Africa.' "My entire life, I've been a Toto fanatic," Jay said before presenting Steve Lukather, David Paich, David Hungate, and Steve Porcaro their honors.

Before the show began, Lukather admitted his surprise when he first heard about their induction. "David Hungate, our original bass player, and dear friend of mine for almost 34 years, lives here and works here a lot. He called and said, 'You won't believe this, they want to induct us into the Musicians Hall of Fame.' I never thought I'd be in any Hall of Fame. Hall of Shame perhaps, but that's a whole other story," he said with a mischievous laugh. "Just to be here and to be inducted with all the people who've come prior to us, the names of the people on those records I studied that made me the person I am and the musician that I am, it's surreal and wonderful. I'm very humbled and very honored. I still can't believe it's really happening. I've got to take it all in."

He was also excited about performing with Rascal Flatts. "We're going to dig into our trick bag of past hits," he said. "They are really good friends of mine and they love our music, so they knew it all."

Paich says he appreciates the warm welcome the band has gotten from Nashville. "This is a dream come true [being] inducted with people like Chet Atkins and everybody here. We are so honored. We are living the dream," he says. "This is unbelievable and Rascal Flatts is like my favorite group right now and they are going to be singing our songs with us tonight. And Dickey Betts and Charlie Daniels -- we grew up on all these people. For Nashville to roll out the red carpet for us who live in L.A., it really exemplifies the greatness of Nashville and how diversified they are in extending this to us. We're a progressive rock group and yet they still wrapped their arms around us."

Charlie, a North Carolina native who began his career in bluegrass and migrated over to Southern rock, then country and most recently gospel, embodies what the Musicians Hall of Fame is all about. "The great thing about this is the diversity of the people that they're honoring in all different genres of music [including] people you're very familiar with and people who people are not familiar with," he said. "Everyone from Chet Atkins to someone who was a studio musician that they are honoring. To me, this is what a Hall of Fame should be about. It shouldn't be a popularity contest about who had the biggest record, but who contributed the most to the business and that's why it's such an honor."

The Hall of Fame medallions were presented to the inductees in a special ceremony before last night's show. Inductees were also presented with a leather jacket with their name and the Hall of Fame logo courtesy of the Nashville Convention and Visitors Bureau. In addition to Daniels, Atkins, Cox and Toto other 2009 inductees were Dick Dale, dubbed "King of the Surf Guitar;" multi-instrumentalist Victor Feldman; Motown arranger Paul Riser and legendary Nashville producer/Monument Records founder Fred Foster, whose video introduction included loving tributes by Kristofferson and Dolly Parton.

"Everything you predicted about me came true," Dolly said of Foster foreshadowing her phenomenal success. "I'm sorry I can't be there tonight, but it's your own damn fault. You made me famous!"

No matter where you look, there's always a Nashville connection. Billy Cox, one of last night's inductees, played bass for Jimi Hendrix. Hendrix and Cox played the "chitlin' club circuit" and Nashville's famed Printer's Alley. Hendrix went on to play in other bands and tour Europe, then called Billy to join him when he headed for Woodstock.

Tony Joe White saluted Foster with a performance of 'Polk Salad Annie.' Among the other musical highlights were Gary Puckett's 'Woman Woman' and 'Young Girl' and the Beach Boys' Al Jardine singing 'Help Me Rhonda' before inducting Dick Dale.

Charlie Daniels delivered a fiery four-song set, which included bringing the Allman Brothers' Dickey Betts on stage for 'Southbound' and finishing up with 'The Devil Went Down to Georgia.'

"Early on, I was a bluegrass picker. When I first started playing fiddle, I got into Bill Monroe, Flatt & Scruggs and all those people. That was my first love-bluegrass music," said Charlie. "Then Elvis [Presley] made a great big impact on everybody who came along after he did. Duane Allman is one of my heroes and tonight Dickey Betts is jammin' with us!"

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