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Click to watch the 2023 Induction Ceremony in its entirety.

What the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame's 2023 Induction Ceremony on Youtube

Click to read about the 2023 Induction Ceremony.

WV Music Hall of Fame inducts class of 2023 by Matthew Young

Click to read about 2023 Inductee Buddy Griffin.

Buddy Griffin inducted into WV Music Hall of Fame by Matthew Young

Click to read about 2023 Inductee Barbara Nissman.

Barbara Nissman inducted into WV Music Hall of Fame by Matthew Young

Drummer Extraordinaire Butch Miles Passes

“Butch Miles was a man who realized his life dream – and then some. When we met, as students at West Virginia State College, his goal was to play drums with the Count Basie band. He worked hard and, when the opportunity presented itself, he was ready. And as they say, the rest is history. Butch went on to become one of the world’s greatest drummers, playing with many of the great legends in jazz. And, as he traveled the world, he never forgot his teacher here in Charleston, Frank Thompson, who constantly received cards and letters from him. Butch was a great musician, and a great friend to all who knew him. His passing is a great loss to the world of jazz.” – Jazz pianist Bob Thompson

“There are two driving principles in my drumming. The first came from my teacher Mr. Frank Thompson who told me, ‘Always let the band know where “1” is.’ The second came from the great Count Basie who said, ‘LISTEN’.” – Butch Miles

We are sad to share the news that 2011 West Virginia Music Hall of Fame inductee Charles “Butch” Miles passed away February 2, 2023.

While Butch’s career was bookeneded by stints with the world-renowned Count Basie Orchestra, the rest of his resume is no less impressive. He played and recorded with everyone from Sinatra, Brubeck and Ella Fitzgerald to Benny Goodman, Tony Bennett, Zubin Mehta and Itzhak Perlman.

Butch was born July 4, 1944, in Ironton, OH, while his mother, who lived in Hinton, WV (Summers County) was attending a family reunion in Russell, KY.

His family had moved to Charleston by the time he started school and at age nine, Butch had started playing drums. In high school, he played in local bands and studied with the great Charleston drummer Frank Thompson, who remained one of his most important mentors.

His “education” continued at after-hours jams at Charleston clubs like the Shallomar and Crazy Horse where out-of-town musicians gathered after their shows. Soon, Butch began playing with local dance bands, including Jules Micheaux’s group and the Monterreys. He majored in music at West Virginia State College and went on to join firebrand singer Iris Bell’s trio. That group played throughout the eastern U.S., finally settling in Ann Arbor, MI, where a two-week engagement at the Rubaiyat Supper Club turned into a seven-year residency.

From that point on, there was no stopping Butch Miles. He signed on with Mel Torme; then, thanks to a recommendation from none other than his idol Buddy Rich, he landed his dream job with The Count Basie Orchestra. Next came a stint with Dave Brubeck… Tony Bennett… Lena Horne… Ella Fitzgerald… Frank Sinatra… and finally, in 1997, a return to The Count Basie Orchestra. When Butch retired from the Basie band, he joined the faculty at Texas State University.

Butch performed at every major jazz festival in the world, toured Europe, Australia, the Far East, the Americas and the Caribbean. His film credits include Woody Allen’s Crimes and Misdemeanors. Butch played on more than 100 albums – three of which earned Grammys – with artists including Gerry Mulligan, Wild Bill Davis, and Ella Fitzgerald.

For his many accomplishments in music, Butch was honored by the Texas Senate in 2005 and, in 2013, the West Virginia Senate. He was inducted into the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame in 2011.

The West Virginia Music Hall of Fame family extends thoughts and prayers to Butch’s family. He will be missed.

Butch Miles(photo by Berit Bolt)

Makrokosmos II by George Crumb, 1973Longtime Good Morning America host David Hartman and Butch Miles (photo by Mike Keller)

Butch Miles(photo by Mike Keller)

Butch MilesCount Basie and Butch Miles

Hall of Fame is Proud to Announce The Class of 2023

“The West Virginia Music Hall of Fame’s class of 2023 continues our mission to recognize outstanding artists who were born or raised in the Mountain State,” said Michael Lipton, Director of the WV Music Hall of Fame. “Our ninth class honors five unique and diverse West Virginia artists who have made lasting contributions to the music of their home state and American music.”

“Like most West Virginians, these inductees come from humble beginnings and succeeded on their own terms thanks to their passion and determination,” he added. “We want to send a message to all young West Virginians that no matter where you live and no matter what your circumstances are, if you have passion and determination you can succeed!”

  • WVMHoF induction ceremony: June 3, 2023
  • Culture Center Theater
  • Broadcast live throughout West Virginia on WV Public Broadcasting
  • Tickets available now

For information about the 2023 induction ceremony or if you are interested in being involved as a sponsor or volunteer, please call 304-342-4412; or email us at .

LIVING INDUCTEES

BUDDY GRIFFIN

Revered bluegrass, traditional and country music artist

BARBARA NISSMAN

World renowned classical pianist


DECEASED INDUCTEES

FUZZY HASKINS & CALVIN SIMON

Founding members of the legendary funk band Parliament-Funkadelic

LONESOME PINE FIDDLERS

Seminal bluegrass pioneers

WINSTON WALLS

One of the country’s greatest Hammond B-3 players

LIVING INDUCTEES

Buddy Griffin (b. 1948) Richwood (Nicholas County)

One of WV’s best-known and most widely respected bluegrass and traditional country musicians, Buddy Griffin is a multi-instrumentalist who has toured and recorded with legendary acts including Jim & Jesse and the Virginia Boys, the Osborne Brothers, Mother Maybelle Carter, Johnny Russell, the Goins Brothers, and Mack Samples and the Samples Brothers. Growing up in a musical family, his parents taught him all the instruments as well as the importance of using humor to entertain an audience. Griffin graduated in 1971 from Glenville State College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in education, and became the staff banjo and fiddle player for WWVA’s Jamboree USA in Wheeling. Over the years, he has played at the Grand Ole Opry more than 200 times and has appeared on more than 150 recordings. In 2002, working with the Fine Arts Department at Glenville State College, Griffin introduced the first-ever four-year college degree program in bluegrass music and ran the program for several years. In 2011, he received the Vandalia Award from the West Virginia Division of Culture and History, and in 2019, he was honored with an honorary doctorate from Glenville State College.

Buddy Griffin


Barbara Nissman (b. 1944) Philadelphia, PA

Born in Philadelphia, Barbara Nissman is a “West Virginian By Choice” who has lived in Lewisburg for more than three decades. Hailed as “one of the last pianists in the grand Romantic tradition of Liszt, Rachmaninoff, and Rubinstein,” her recordings include a number of “definitive” works as well as releases on her own Three Oranges Recordings label. Nissman has performed with some of the world’s leading orchestras including the London, Royal, Rotterdam, Munich, and New York Philharmonics, as well as the Chicago, Pittsburgh, and St. Louis Symphonies. In addition to performing and recording, contributing to books and music publications, presenting master classes at universities in the U.S. and Europe, her music lecture series, “Barbara & Friends,” appeared on the BBC network and has been adapted for children in collaboration with the Greenbrier Valley Theatre. She performed with Don Henley and Billy Joel at a fundraiser at Lincoln Center as well as performing at the Kennedy Center’s 25th Anniversary Gala Concert. Since 2002, she has been involved with the Robert James Frascino AIDS Foundation, raising more than $2 million for AIDS service organizations worldwide. She holds the Governor’s Distinguished Service to the Arts Award from the State of West Virginia along with the Lifetime Achievement in the Arts Award.

Barbara Nissman


DECEASED INDUCTEES

Clarence “Fuzzy” Haskins (1941-2023) Elkhorn (McDowell County)
Calvin Simon (1942-2022) Beckley (Raleigh County)

The careers of these two West Virginians, Fuzzy Haskins and Calvin Simon – WV’s Funk Brothers – took them to the helm of what is perhaps this country’s most groundbreaking and influential funk band, Parliament-Funkadelic. After their families moved to New Jersey in the mid-’50s, they joined The Parliaments, a doo wop barbershop quintet led by George Clinton. Clinton, Simon and Grady Thomas were barbers; Haskins and Ray Davis were patrons. The group relocated to Detroit in the mid-’60s where it charted its first hit, “(I Wanna) Testify” in 1967. Haskins, Simon and Thomas stayed with “the Mothership” for two decades as it morphed into the deep soul, outrageous funk and acid-rock of Parliament-Funkadelic, and appeared on seminal LPs like Chocolate City and Mothership Connection. Haskins, Simon and Thomas left the band in 1978 and, in 1981, released Connections & Disconnections under the name Funkadelic. They rejoined “the Mothership” a little more than a decade later as part of the P-Funk Allstars. In 1998, Haskins, Simon and Thomas, along with Davis, founded Original P. Haskins went on to release solo projects while Simon, after battling cancer, turned his focus to gospel music. The two were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997 along with the other 15 members of Parliament-Funkadelic. In 2019, they were given Grammy Lifetime Achievement Awards.

Calvin Simon and Clarence Fuzzy Haskins

Lonesome Pine Fiddlers (formed 1938)

With members hailing from Mingo and Mercer counties, the Lonesome Pine Fiddlers represent a significant chapter in WV’s musical history. Founding members Ezra, Ray and Charlie Cline, and later members Melvin and Ray Goins formed a group that was one of the first to play what is now called “Bluegrass Music” and, as such, were a very influential first-generation bluegrass band. The group formed in 1938 and continued in various forms until 1966. Former members Melvin Goins, Bobby Osborne, and Paul Williams are regarded as true masters of the genre. Later, various members of the group made their own marks in Bluegrass, playing with artists including The Osborne Brothers, the Stanley Brothers, and Bill Monroe. The Lonesome Pine Fiddlers performed on radio in Bluefield and Huntington as well as in Pikeville, KY, and Detroit, MI. Recording for the Cozy, RCA and Starday labels, its songs “Windy Mountain” and “Brown Eyed Darling” are considered Bluegrass classics. A few years ago, the German label Bear Family Records compiled and released Windy Mountain, a definitive reissue of the Lonesome Pine Fiddlers’ music.

Lonesome Pine Fiddlers


Winston Walls (1942-2008) Ironton, OH

As the story goes – and there are many when it comes to Hammond B-3 great Winston Walls – he was born in a car near Ironton, OH, as his family was returning home to Charleston. And, depending on who was telling the tale, Winston became an instant piano prodigy when, as a child, he was hit on the head with a brick or a rock. We do know that Winston started studying drums with the great Charleston musician Frank Thompson – who would later play with Winston for many years. Winston got his first break when the drummer for famed Hammond organist Bill Doggett was a no-show for a performance in the late 1950s at Charleston’s Municipal Auditorium. Later, learning from Doggett, he eventually made the switch to organ. Charleston’s own “Boss of The B-3” was a member of an elite group of players who turned the Hammond B-3 into an instrument all its own. For four decades, Winston played regionally and was revered by musicians and fans alike. Traveling the country, he was part of “Battle of the Organ” shows that also featured B-3 greats Jimmy Smith, Groove Holmes, and his longtime friend Brother Jack McDuff. Winston also backed artists including The Pointer Sisters, Dionne Warwick, Al Green, Charlie Pride, and Ike and Tina Turner. He also had a brief career as a motorcycle trick rider, a roller derby player, and a professional wrestler who fought under the name “The Claw.” Winston’s father, Harry Van Walls, a legendary house pianist for Atlantic Records, was inducted into the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame in 2015.

Winston Walls

Inaugural Inductee George Crumb Passes at 92

George Crumb, widely heralded as one of the 20th Century’s most unique voices in classical music has passed away at the age of 92.

Crumb was born and raised in Charleston – on the site of the Culture Center Theater – and earned a Bachelor’s degree at The Mason College of Music (now the University of Charleston.)

Among his many honors and awards was a 1968 Pulitzer Prize for Music for his orchestral work “Echoes of Time and the River” and a Grammy Award for “Best Contemporary Composition” in 2001 for “Star-Child.”

While his music was sometimes jarring and almost always challenging, Crumb – who drew inspiration from the sounds he heard growing up in West Virginia – was charming with a sly and impish sense of humor.

Crumb’s father, George, was a clarinetist who played with the precursor of the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra. His mother, Vivian, was an accomplished cellist who played with various local ensembles.

As a child, Crumb transcribed music for his father and became a skilled calligrapher. Many of his scores are works of art in themselves, particularly 1973’s “Makrokosmos II” which is noted in the shape of a peace sign.

His son, David Crumb, is a successful composer and his daughter, Ann Crumb, who passed away in 2018, was a Broadway actress and opera singer who performed some of her father’s works.

One of Crumb’s signature pieces, “Black Angels,” was a favorite of David Bowie who stated that the original recording was one of his favorite albums of all time.

George Crumb, 1929-2022

Makrokosmos II by George Crumb, 1973

WV Museum of Music Opens

The West Virginia Music Hall of Fame’s newest project, The West Virginia Museum of Music, opened in early June in the former Books-A-Million store on the second floor of the Charleston Town Center. The project, funded by the West Virginia Humanities Council, takes a broad look at music from West Virginia and the tools used to create it.

The Museum kicked off with a gala Open House on June 12 that featured performances by 2015 WVMHoF inductee John “Some Kind of Wonderful” Ellison; a trio featuring 2015 WVMHoF inductee Bob Thompson, future inductee Vince Lewis, and longtime Charleston bassist Jim Martin; 2020 WVMHoF inductee Larry Groce; organist Randy Gilkey; and singer/songwriter Mike Pushkin.

With Phase 1 of the project nearly complete, visitors will have the opportunity to see an exhibit featuring the stunning, turn-of-the-century lithographs of music publisher and composer E.T. Paull; large format framed posters representing notable WV music events; vintage amplifiers and recording equipment; and six “In the Spotlight” sections featuring the instruments of West Virginia musicians.

The Museum will be open during mall hours on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Visitors are asked to wear a mask if you have not been vaccinated.

West Virginia Museum of Music

West Virginia Museum of Music
West Virginia Museum of Music


Hazel Dickens (right) performs at the 1978 Smithsonian Folklife Festival's Coal Miners & Oil Workers program. Photo by Eric Herter, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives

Folklife magazine, a publication of the Smithsonian Institution, recently featured a story about Inaugural Inductee Hazel Dickens and her tireless work ethic. The article was written by West Virginia state folklorist Emily Hilliard and was informed by archival interviews, writings, correspondence and performances by Dickens. Click here to read the article.