Louisiana Music Hall of Fame

The Louisiana Music Hall of Fame (LMHOF) is an IRS certified 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization based in the state's capital of Baton Rouge, that seeks to honor and preserve Louisiana's rich music culture and heritage and to further educate its citizens and people worldwide about the state's unique role in contributing to American indigenous and popular music in the 20th century. The motto of the LMHOF is "honoring and preserving Louisiana's greatest renewable natural resource." Its primary outreach currently consists of a growing online "multimedia virtual museum." The organization is also actively developing partnerships and programs for collections, exhibitions, education aids and programs and performances. The LMHOF also seeks to stimulate economic growth by promoting the rejuvenation of the state's music industry. In one specific example, in 2009 LMHOF facilitated pro bono an advertising endorsement agreement between Al "Carnival Time" Johnson and the Louisiana Lottery Corp. which resulted in unprecedented media exposure and royalties to Johnson for use of his image,voice and signature song in a scratch ticket promotion during Mardi Gras season.

Among the over 200 artists who have been inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame to date are Fats Domino, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, Dave Bartholomew, Elvis Presley, Lloyd Price, Lead Belly, Cosimo Matassa, Louis Armstrong, Mahalia Jackson, Pete Fountain, Buddy Guy, Gov. Jimmie Davis, Ellis Marsalis, Webb Pierce, Dale Hawkins, Louis Prima, Percy Sledge, Irma Thomas, Roy Brown, "Dr. John" Mac Rebennack, Jelly Roll Morton, Allen Toussaint, Al "Carnival Time" Johnson, Bill Conti, Tim McGraw, Trace Adkins, Hunter Hayes, Hank Williams Sr. & Jr., and Clarence "Frogman" Henry. The list of inductees is expected to eventually top 1,000 international luminaries, and the program will expand to include recognition of significant songwriters, support musicians, business icons and regionally famous artists in niche recognition categories. The range of inductees reflects the true diversity of Louisiana's music and its impact on 20th-century music around the world. In the 1920s, Lead Belly and Jelly Roll Morton covered the spectrum arching over blues forms from Shreveport to New Orleans. As eras passed, Louis Armstrong and Louis Prima dominated, Webb Pierce and Gov. Jimmie Davis and country music rolled as Cosimo Matassa recorded "Good Rockin' Tonight" which spread immediately from New Orleans to Shreveport through The Louisiana Hayride, effectively merging the "Hayride" and New Orleans genres into a whole new genre. Mahalia Jackson became the dominant gospel artist and Pete Fountain and Al Hirt jazzed the world. In the 1950s and 1960s, the likes of Fats Domino, Jerry Lee Lewis, Dale Hawkins, Johnny Rivers, Frogman Henry, Robert Parker, Phil Phillips, John Fred & His Playboys, Jimmy Clanton, The Meters, The Dixie Cups, and Jean Knight dominated the charts and record sales. Even Louisiana's writers like Bobby Charles, Allen Toussaint, Dave Bartholomew and Dick Holler drove the industry with their songs. Throughout this global process, Louisiana continued to grow its own unique and original Cajun, Zydeco and "Swamp Pop" musical genres. Few people appreciate that in the early 19th century New Orleans was the site of the first opera house in America and produced one of the country's first major composers, Louis Moreau Gottschalk. From Classical to Rock & Roll, Jazz to Rhythm & Blues, Gospel to Country & Western, Louisiana has been integral to American music history and was at the forefront of the music revolutions of the 20th century.

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