Country music honors set for Ray Charles

The Country Music Hall of Fame is adding Ray Charles.

The prolific singer-songwriter-pianist will be part of the organization’s 2021 class of inductees, unveiled Monday.

Also set to be inducted are the Judds — the popular duo comprising mother Naomi and daughter Wynonna — as well as drummer Eddie Bayers and guitarist Pete Drake.

Charles (photo bottom), a 17time Grammy winner and already a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, famously blended various music styles — including country, folk and R&B — with his groundbreaking 1962 album, “Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music.”

“Needless to say, Ray Charles loved country music,” Valerie Ervin, president of the Ray Charles Foundation, said Monday.

“As a matter of fact, he risked a lot in 1962 when he decided to record ‘Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music.’ I cannot express enough how happy and honored Ray Charles would be at this moment in time, as I am for him,” Ervin said.

The Georgia-born Charles performed duets with country stars such as Hank Williams Jr., Willie Nelson, Chet Atkins and Johnny Cash on his 1985 album “Friendship.”

In a description of Charles on its website, the Country Music Hall of Fame credited the artist for “broadening the music’s appeal and audience.” Charles died in 2004 at age 73. The Judds won five Grammys between 1985 and 1992, with each honor coming in the best country performance by a duo or group vocal category.

“We had a such a stamp of originality on what we were trying to do,” Naomi, 75, told The Associated Press on Monday.

The Judds are known for songs such as “Mama He’s Crazy,” “Give a Little Bit” and “Love Can Build a Bridge.”

Drake performed songs with Bob Dylan, Lynn Anderson and more big names during his decadeslong career. He died in 1988.

Bayers, 72, is a prominent studio drummer who worked with George Strait, Dolly Parton, and the Judds, among others.