Jerry Lee Lewis, Keith Whitley and Joe Galante Inducted into Country Music Hall of Fame

The latest Country Music Hall of Fame inductees are here!

Musicians Jerry Lee Lewis and Keith Whitley as well as Nashville record executive Joe Galante were welcomed into the famed institution during a ceremony held at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum's CMA Theater on Sunday.

"This is one of the greatest nights for me as a country music fan," said Hall of Fame member Garth Brooks during the event, which featured tributes and performances to each of the three notable music figures from high-profile artists including Miranda Lambert and Kenny Chesney.

Galante, a 72-year-old retired former executive at record labels including RCA Nashville, RLG Nashville and Sony Music Nashville, was the night's first inductee. Teddy Gentry and Randy Owen of Alabama kicked off his honors with a performance of 1980's "My Home's in Alabama," released on the band's first album under Galante's RCA tenure.

Lambert, 38, then performed her 2009 single "White Liar" — which dropped shortly after he took over Sony Music Nashville — before Chesney, 54, took over the mic to sing a rendition of 2002's chart-topper "The Good Stuff," released shortly after Galante signed him to Sony's BNA Records.

"I thought on my way here about the people that we meet when we first come to town, and [how] you can go down a lot of different roads," said Chesney onstage. "I was trying to think about what my life would be like had I not met you. And it ain't good."

Brooks & Dunn's Kix Brooks presented Galante with his medallion, exclaiming during his speech, "Sometimes it takes a guy like Joe Galante, whose life depends on us, to tell us that what we're doing is magic, who sometimes has more faith in us than we may have in ourselves that day."

The late Whitley, who died at 34 in 1989, was honored with performances from Mickey Guyton, Brooks and Ricky Skaggs with Justin Moses and Molly Tuttle as well as the presence of his widow, singer Lorrie Morgan, who accepted the honor on his behalf.

Guyton, 39, delivered a stripped-down performance of Whitley's 1988 chart-topping single "When You Say Nothing at All," which Brooks, 60, followed up with a speech and rendition of "Don't Close Your Eyes," another No. 1 single from the same year.

Leading up to Whitley's death due to acute alcohol poisoning — three weeks before his proposed entry into the Grand Ole Opry — the musician struggled with self-doubt and alcoholism, which Morgan seemed to reference while accepting the medallion from Brooks.

"He would feel so undeserving," she said from the stage. "He didn't know it, and he would have never suspected [that he'd be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame] in his life... This is the greatest honor."

Lewis — an 87-year-old pioneer of rock and roll and rockabilly music whose career took a dive following his 13-year marriage to Myra Gale Brown, his 13-year-old cousin, before he rebounded in the country genre — wasn't able to make it to the ceremony at the order of his doctor, who deemed the travel too risky. But his current wife, Judith, attended in his absence with a speech from Lewis, who received tribute performances of his songs from several country heavy-hitters.

Lee Ann Womack performed "Middle Age Crazy" with Charlie Worsham on guitar; Jen Gunderman of the Medallion All-Star Band backed Chris Isaak on "Great Balls of Fire;" and the McCrary Sisters sang "My God Is Real" alongside pianist Kevin McKendree.

Then, Hank Williams Jr. presented fellow Hall of Fame member Kris Kristofferson with Lewis' medallion and delivered a speech. "Rock & roll and country have always been closer in style than some people want to admit," he said. "To Jerry Lee, it didn't matter what you call it. He's a Louisiana man, and when he sings and plays, you hear the Mississippi Delta and the rice farms and the Cajun roadhouses and the New Orleans honking blues."

In a letter read aloud by Williams Jr., 73, at the ceremony, Lewis wrote, "For over 60 years singing music professionally, country has always been the genre where I felt the most at home. I'm honored to be going into that Hall of Fame rotunda with some of my heroes."

Other Hall of Fame members in attendance included Jerry Bradley, Vince Gill, Emmylou Harris, Wynonna Judd, Kristofferson, Brenda Lee, Charlie McCoy, Oak Ridge Boys members Duane Allen, Joe Bonsall, and William Lee Golden, Don Schlitz, Ricky Skaggs, Connie Smith, Ray Stevens, Marty Stuart, Randy Travis and E. W. "Bud" Wendell.

Galante, Lewis and Whitley marked the 147^th, 148^th and 149^th members of the Country Music Hall of Fame.