When the Kennedy Center Honors are presented at Capital One Arena in downtown Washington, D.C. on Dec. 7, a country artist will be in the honors class for the second year in a row. Barbara Mandrell is being honored this year. George Strait was an honoree last year. This will mark the first time in the history of the Kennedy Center Honors that country artists have been recognized in back-to-back years.
Over the years, Mandrell has worked with several of the country artists who have received Kennedy Center Honors previously. George Jones, who received the honor in 2008, sang a guest vocal on Mandrell’s 1981 anthem “I Was Country When Country Wasn’t Cool.”
The Kennedy Center Honors program was slow to recognize country – as it was a lot of popular music forms. The first country artist to be honored was Roy Acuff in 1991, in its 14th class of honorees.
The Kennedy Center Honors were first presented in 1978. The inaugural class consisted of contralto Marian Anderson, dancer-actor-singer Fred Astaire, choreographer George Balanchine, composer Richard Rodgers and pianist Arthur Rubinstein.
While the focus in the early years was on fine arts — heavy on classical and opera — over the decades, it has broadened to also include more popular forms of music. In 1987, B.B. King became the first blues artist to be inducted. Other performers who were the first in their genres to be honored were Acuff for country in 1991, Aretha Franklin for R&B in 1994, Pete Seeger for folk in 1994, Bob Dylan for rock in 1997, Gloria Estefan for Latin music in 2017 and LL Cool J for rap in 2017.
Here’s a complete list of country artists who have received Kennedy Center Honors. We show the year the artist received the honor, the year they were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, and their total of CMA Awards. For the ones who have passed on, we show the year of their deaths.
Roy Acuff
Kennedy Center Honor: 1991 (age 88)
Country Music HOF: 1962
CMA Awards: None. (Acuff’s peak years preceded the inception of the CMA Awards in 1967.)
Died: November 1992 (age 89)
Johnny Cash
Kennedy Center Honor: 1996 (age 64)
Country Music HOF: 1999
CMA Awards: Nine
Died: September 2003 (age 71)
Willie Nelson
Kennedy Center Honor: 1998 (age 65)
Country Music HOF: 1993
CMA Awards: 10
Loretta Lynn
Kennedy Center Honor: 2003 (age 71)
Country Music HOF: 1988
CMA Awards: Eight. In 1972, Lynn became the first woman to win entertainer of the year.
Died: October 2022 (age 90)
Dolly Parton
Kennedy Center Honor: 2006 (age 60)
Country Music HOF: 1999
CMA Awards: Nine
Died: August 2026 (age 80)
Notes: Parton was the youngest female country artist to receive the Kennedy Center Honors.
George Jones
Kennedy Center Honor: 2008 (age 77)
Country Music HOF: 1992
CMA Awards: Seven
Died: April 2013 (age 81)
Merle Haggard
Kennedy Center Honor: 2010 (age 73)
Country Music HOF: 1994
CMA Awards: six
Died: April 2016 (age 79)
Reba McEntire
Kennedy Center Honor: 2018 (age 63)
Country Music HOF: 2011
CMA Awards: Six
Garth Brooks
Kennedy Center Honor: 2020 (age 58)
Country Music HOF: 2012
CMA Awards: 14, including a record seven awards for entertainer of the year.
Notes: Brooks is the youngest country artist — male or female — to receive the Kennedy Center Honors.
George Strait
Kennedy Center Honor: 2025 (age 73)
Country Music HOF: 2006
CMA Awards: 17, including a record five awards for album of the year.
Barbara Mandrell
Kennedy Center Honor: 2026 (age 77)
Country Music HOF: 2009
CMA Awards: Four. In 1981, she became the performer to win entertainer of the year for a second time.
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