The recently-created West Virginia Music Hall of Fame celebrates its first ten inductees with a ceremony tomorrow, Friday, Nov. 16.
Among those honored are Grand Ole Opry star Little Jimmy Dickens, pop singer Bill Withers, folk musician Hazel Dickens and Swannanoa, N.C.-based songwriter Billy Edd Wheeler.
Wheeler was born in 1932 in West Virginia (hence his induction into that state’s hall of fame), but moved to N.C. as a teen to attend Warren Wilson College — then a junior college. From there, he went on to graduate from Yale’s School of Drama, and then moved back to Swannanoa, where he’s lived for more than 40 years.
During his career, Wheeler’s songs have been recorded by the likes of Judy Collins, Johnny Cash, Neil Young and Elvis (along with nearly 100 other artists). He’s received 13 awards from ASCAP and is a member of the Nashville Songwriter’s Foundation Hall of Fame.
—Alli Marshall, A&E reporter
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