2024 Inductee

Charlie Sizemore – Puncheon Creek, KY Bluegrass singer, songwriter, and guitarist Charlie Sizemore was raised in the Magoffin County in the Appalachian region of eastern Kentucky, on Puncheon Creek. His father and grandfather were banjo players, and he understandably grew up fascinated by mountain music and bluegrass. Sizemore’s first instrument was the fiddle, which he began playing at the age of six, and by his teens he was good enough on guitar to play with local favorite Lum Patton and to tour with the Goins Brothers Band.

Charlie Sizemore joined Ralph Stanley’s Clinch Mountain Boys at age sixteen, replacing the late Keith Whitley, a testament to his considerable ability as a vocalist. Sizemore sang with Stanley for nearly a decade and appeared on sixteen of Stanley’s albums in the 1970s, 1980s, and the 2009 album Can’t You Hear The Mountain Calling by Ralph Stanley and The Clinch Mountain Boys Featuring Charlie Sizemore. Within a month of leaving the Clinch Mountain Boys, Sizemore formed his own band and enrolled in college. He graduated from the University of Kentucky with a degree in political science.

In 1985, Acoustic Revival Records released Congratulations by Charlie Sizemore, followed by four on Rutabaga Records, Gravel Road (1988), Singing With the Angels (1989), Of The Honky Tonk (1989, a re-issue of Congratulations) and I’ve Got A Good Memory (1991). Sizemore continued recording, including a series of highly acclaimed bluegrass albums on Rebel Records, including Back Home (1994), In My View (1996), and The Story Is…The Songs of Tom T. Hall (2002), all on the Rebel Records label. Sizemore had many impressive guests on his albums throughout the years including Alison Krauss, The Oak Ridge Boys, Kathy Mattea, Tom T. Hall, and Ralph Stanley.

He attended graduate school in history at Middle Tennessee State University for a while before switching paths and moving to Nashville. Sizemore worked as a songwriter for Paul Craft Music. Ralph Stanley, Jimmy Martin, Doyle Lawson, Dry Branch Fire Squad, and Del Reeves are among the artists who have recorded Sizemore’s original songs over the years.

Before graduating from law school while working for a Nashville law firm, he took a sabbatical from the road in late 1998. After graduating he went into private practice as an attorney in Nashville.

As the years passed, however, he grew restless and began to tour and record again. Sizemore signed with Rounder Records in 2007 and his debut album for the imprint, Good News, was released later that same year. In February 2011, Rounder Records released Charlie Sizemore’s Heartache Looking for A Home album.

Charlie Sizemore, a distinctive and expressive vocal stylist in the realm of bluegrass music, is equally renowned for his literary prowess. His songwriting skills, coupled with his discerning taste in selecting lesser-known, well-crafted tunes by other writers, set him apart in the industry.