Dean Dillon, Hank Williams Jr. to be inducted into Country Music Hall of Fame

Aug. 12 (UPI) -- Country music icons Dean Dillon, Marty Stuart and Hank Williams are to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

"New members, elected annually by a panel of industry executives chosen by the Country Music Association, are inducted formally during the Medallion Ceremony, part of the annual reunion of Country Music Hall of Fame members hosted by the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum," the hall of fame's website said.

"On that celebrated and private occasion, members of that august body join the members-elect, their families, friends, and business associates to welcome the new class of honorees into their midst."

Dillon, 65, is being recognized in the "songwriter" category, while Stuart, 61, will be honored as a "modern era artist" and Williams, 71, is being enshrined in the "veterans era artist" category.

"It's a bright spot during a difficult year," Williams, whose 27-year-old daughter Katherine Williams-Dunning died in a car crash in June, said in a statement about his Hall of Fame induction on Wednesday.

"I have been making Top 10 records for 56 years," the artist added. "I fell off a mountain and tried to reinvent myself as a truly individual artist and one who stepped out of the shadows of a very famous man... one of the greatest. I've got to thank all those rowdy friends who, year after year, still show up for me. It's an honor to carry on this family tradition."

Williams Jr. is the son of the late Hank Williams, who was among the hall of fame's first group of inductees in 1961. He died in 1953 at age 29.