The ultimate career goal for many of music’s star performers is making it into the Hall of Fame. And this year, the induction ceremonies for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and the Country Music Hall of Fame are both being held this weekend.

On Saturday in Cleveland, A Tribe Called Quest, Kool & the Gang, Mary J. Blige, Dionne Warwick and Big Mama Thornton get their Rock Hall due.

And so does Peter Frampton. The British rock shredder has called Nashville home, off and on, since the mid-‘90s. He found his signature sound, using a talk box to make his guitar sound like a human voice, partly through previous Country Hall inductee, steel guitarist Pete Drake.  

One group going into the Rock Hall is Dave Matthews Band, whose saxophonist Jeff Coffin lives here and teaches at Vanderbilt’s Blair School of Music. Another honoree with Nashville roots is the late Jimmy Buffett, who initially pursued a country career, before going on to influence 21st century country hitmakers with his breezy, beach-getaway style.  

Then, on Sunday evening in Nashville, the Country Music Hall of Fame’s medallion ceremony will be a more intimate affair in every way, a celebration specifically of contributions to the genre and industry community of country music. Guitarist James Burton, who played with Rock Hall inductees like Ricky Nelson, Elvis Presley and Roy Orbison, will be honored for developing the percussive, chicken pickin’ Telecaster guitar style that’s been a building block of modern country music.

Tribute will be paid to John Anderson for the bluesy singing and wry, rollicking, blue-collar songs that brought him hits in the ‘80s and early ‘90s. With kindred sensibilities, amplified by red-blooded bravado, his fellow inductee, the late Toby Keith, found even greater commercial success beginning in that era and stretching into the 2010s. And the fierce determination with which he navigated the country music business is sure to receive a mention too. While a posthumous induction isn’t all that uncommon, it’s rare that the one who’s passed is the youngest in the class.