The public is invited to attend the upcoming inductions into the West Texas Walk of Fame for 2026. The honorees are: Dr. Susan Brumfield, Jim Eppler, Andy Hedges, Steve Moss and The String-a-Longs. The induction ceremony will take place on Thursday, October 8, 2026 at 7:00pm in the Lubbock Memorial Civic Center Theatre located at 1501 Mac Davis Lane. Doors will open to the public at 6:30pm.
To say that Educator, Author and Composer, Dr. Susan Brumfield’s influence is far reaching would be an understatement of the highest order. For three decades, Dr. Brumfield has been serving as Professor of Music education at Texas Tech University. But it’s not just the thousands of students that she has instructed over the years that make her one of the most notable figures in her field, but also the millions of students across the nation that are taught to her Kodály-inspired teaching series “First, We Sing!”. This teaching resource is acknowledged as the gold standard of music education and can be found in just about every K-5 music class in the United States. Many would consider this achievement enough to define a career, but Susan Brumfield is more than just an educator and author. She has written and published more than 40 choral works for treble and mixed choirs, most notably her choral setting of a traditional camp meeting song “No Time” that has been performed and recorded by hundreds of choirs worldwide. The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers describe this work as one of the most widely and frequently performed pieces in contemporary choral literature. If this wasn’t enough, in 2004 Susan found the time to start The West Texas Children’s Chorus, a non-profit foundation focused on bringing quality musicianship to our community’s youth while also acting as a teaching lab for undergraduates and graduate music education majors. And as is the standard of anything Susan focuses on, the WTCC performed at Carnegie Hall, was featured at various national choral conferences, and performed on the nationally televised Cherry Blossom Parade in Washington, DC in 2022. It is safe to say that with Dr. Susan Brumfield, the future of music education and choral composition flows from West Texas to the rest of the world.
Visual Artist Jim Eppler was born in El Paso. As a young child he spent countless hours outside observing and sketching animals. Little did Jim know, but this childhood pastime was the beginning of a path that would shape the rest of his life. After moving to Lubbock, Jim took his first official art class at high school and continued his formal art education at Texas Tech University earning a BFA in Studio Art. While his formal training took place in the classroom, Jim has never lost his childhood love of observing the natural world firsthand, spending hours capturing on film every aspect of nature – its movement, landscape and light. This attention to detail is mirrored in his work, bringing life to his creations in his own unique way. His lifelike sculptures have been praised nationwide and featured in galleries and collections across the United States, including the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California, the Virginia Museum of Animal Art, and the Benson Sculpture Garden in Colorado. In September 2025, the National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson, Wyoming, unveiled a specially commissioned monumental size bronze sculpture of a pair of mule deer, titled “Attraction”. In terms of acknowledgment for an artist, this puts Jim Eppler at the forefront of his field. Jim does not limit himself to sculpting and wildlife art, he is an accomplished portrait artist and musician who was able to meld his gift for song and portraiture by creating commissioned portraits for the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, as well as pieces for MCA Records, Mercury Records, Chappell Music and numerous private collectors. Jim has spent his life using his masterful talents to showcase the beauty of our animals, our landscapes and our region to the rest of the world.
(Photo by Scott Slusher)
Cowboy songster and performer, Andy Hedges, is as West Texas as it gets. Born in Lubbock in 1980, Andy spent his early years growing up in an old farmhouse in Tokio, Texas, a tiny, unincorporated community in Terry County. As his family made the rent by looking after cattle, Andy fell in love with music listening to his father’s cassette tapes of cowboy and western songs. Since those early days Andy’s own repertoire has become the very definition of the cowboy genre. In a time where traditions are fading, Andy somehow manages to keep the past, present and future of the American West alive, and as strong as ever. Andy’s influence hasn’t just stayed in West Texas; it has traveled the globe. Among the many awards and credits Andy has received, he was recognized as the Academy of Western Artists Male Cowboy Poet of the Year in 2004, won the Western Heritage Wrangler Award for Outstanding Traditional Western Album in 2019, and the International Western Music Association Album of the Year in 2022. While honors are nice, the near endless testimonials to Andy’s influence from the greats of the genre cement him as the premier storyteller of his generation. Before his passing, Western Music Association Hall of Fame Inductee, Don Edwards put it best when he said “Andy could very well carry on the traditions when all of us old guys are gone. I feel assured in knowing the music of our great American West is in good hands”. When Andy isn’t recording, you can find him on the road, travelling coast to coast telling his stories to enthralled audiences he pulls into his West Texas world. It’s a long way from Tokio, TX to anywhere, let alone the Grand Ole Opry and Carnegie Hall, yet despite making the journey, Andy’s authentic West Texas roots keep him forever true to the landscape that shaped him.
Producer & Director Steve Moss was raised in Lubbock, taking his first steps into the music scene in 1964 as the founding member of the Lubbock band, The Chaparels. For several years the band traveled West Texas playing parties and opening for acts such as The Velveteens, Traveling Salesman and the Sparkles. While being on stage defined his early years, his major contributions to the industry have come from what he has done from off the stage. In 1980, Steve, Joe Ely and the City of Lubbock’s Parks & Rec Department produced the first Tornado Jam held at Buddy Holly Park. The event was a huge success with over 10,000 people attending the free festival. In 1981 more than 20,000 people came, then in 1982, with the event featuring the likes of Joan Jett, The Crickets, Bobby Keys and the Maines Brothers, over 35,000 music fans descended on Lubbock for an event that is still talked about to this day. With a talent for festival production firmly established, Steve traveled to Dallas and opened his own production company, Los Colinas Studios, with the aim of pursuing a career in the film and music industry. Once there, and with just 12 days’ notice, Steve was asked to produce ABC’s annual “Stars for Children” concert. The event sold out and was a huge hit for ABC, featuring performances from The Commodores and The Oak Ridge Boys. From here there was no going back. Steve then produced The Texas Music Awards for three successive years in a Who’s Who of Texas music legends such as Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and Kris Kristofferson. Steve’s extensive career and contributions are almost impossible to summarize. His work began in the 1960s and is still going today. He has produced acts at Coachella, SXSW, TomorrowWorld and Austin City Limits, directed the likes of Post Malone, Alicia Keys, Justin Bieber, and The Cure, and produced content for ESPN, NBC, CBS, and Fox Sports. Most recently Steve has been busy producing “Katy Perry – The Lifetimes Tour Live from Paris” for IMAX, the Peter Frampton documentary “FRAMPTON,” the Alicia Keys documentary “Keys to the City,” and the Hilary Duff “Lucky Me Tour” documentary. If you can think of a music festival, TV network, or musician you like, the chances are Steve Moss has worked with them. You might not know his name, but you absolutely know his work.
Instrumental music group, The String-A-Longs, hailing from Plainview, Texas, were formed in 1956 as a three-piece group known as the Patio Kids by Plainview High School friends Aubrey DeCordova (bass), Richard Stephens (lead guitar), and Keith McCormack (rhythm guitar). Over the next few years, the band went through several name changes, including the Rock ‘n’ Rollers, and The Leen Teens, and were later joined by Jimmy Torres (guitar), and Don Allen (drums). During the early years the group started recording in Amarillo, but by the late 1950s were working at the legendary Norman Petty Recording Studios in Clovis, New Mexico. It was then, in 1960, that Norman Petty became their manager, suggesting the name ‘The String-A-Longs’, as they signed a deal with Warwick Records. In December of that year, The Strong-A-Longs released the global hit “Wheels”. The instrumental foot tapper reached No. 3 in the Billboard Hot 100 and became the No. 8 selling single of 1961. It reached No. 8 in the UK singles chart, and No. 1 in Belgium, The Netherlands, and West Germany. Over the course of the following years, “Wheels” sold over 7 million copies worldwide and went on to be covered over 100 times as the band toured with the likes of The Everly Brothers, Marty Robbins, and Roy Orbison. The String-A-Longs undoubtedly created one of the most recognizable and iconic tunes in music history. It is one so well known that you could start humming it anywhere, and everyone around you would instantly join in.
