Ernie Ashworth
December 15, 1928 -  March 2, 2009
2008 Inductee

Huntsville, Alabama native Ernie Ashworth through determination, ambition and hard work was able to realize his dream of one day playing on the Grand Ole Opry.

In the early fifties he began singing with a band in Nashville. Ernie had been writing songs for a good while and was soon pitching them to the music publishing companies. He had his songs recorded by some of the top country artists including Carl Smith, Little Jimmy Dickens, Johnny Horton, Wilma Lee Cooper and others. During this time he met Wesley Rose who took Ernie under his wing and signed him as an exclusive writer for Acuff-Rose Publishing Company and recorded him on MGM. But recording success was to evade him at this time.

In 1957 Ernie returned to Alabama for several years and started work at the Redstone Arsenal. In 1960 he was contacted again by Wesley Rose to do another record, this time with Decca Records.

His first Decca record, "Each Moment", went into the top 10 national charts. His next record, "You Can't Pick A Rose In December", was another top 10. He had two other top 20 records for Decca before changing to Hickory records, a label owned by Acuff-Rose. His string of top 10 records continued including "Everybody But Me" and "I Take The Chance". In 1963 came the smash hit he had been waiting for, "Talk Back Trembling Lips". This one went to #1 and stayed on the national charts for 42 weeks. It did quite well in the pop charts also. It was one of the nations first crossover records.

In March of 1964 Ernie saw his lifelong dream come true when he was invited to join the Grand Ole Opry. After this came more top 10 records, "A Week In The Country", "I Love To Dance With Annie", "The D.J. Cried", "At Ease Heart" and more. From 1960 to 1970 every record recorded by Ernie hit the national charts. Twelve of these were top 10.

He was Inducted into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame in 2008.