Kathy Ford inducted into MI Country Music Hall of Fame

Kathy Ford has been singing for as long as she’s been talking.

“I don’t know when I haven’t been a singer, honestly. I’ve been singing since I was a little girl. It just kind of picks you,” she said. “I always played musical instruments. I started playing piano at 3 and guitar at 11. At Waverly High School, I was in the choir and musicals. I won the vocal music award in high school.”

During her undergrad years at the University of Olivet, formerly known as Olivet College, she began playing solo gigs.

“I never got money for it. Then they said they could get me a paid gig in Battle Creek. All my sorority sisters showed up. I had about 30 songs — not enough for an entire night, so I repeated some songs,” she recalled, laughing. “It paid $25, which I thought was incredible. That started it right there.”

That was nearly 50 years ago. In 1982, Ford released her self-titled debut album and has released almost a dozen more in various formats since, either solo or with the Kathy Ford Band. She’s sung for First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm and Texas Gov. Ann Richards, among other dignitaries. She’s opened for country music legends such as Randy Travis and Garth Brooks. She’s performed at festivals, casinos and country clubs throughout Michigan, Illinois and Indiana.

On Aug. 16, she was inducted into the Michigan Country Music Hall of Fame alongside Kid Rock, Karl and Deb Kretz, Marty Fine, Brad Kilchermann and the late Bobby Jenzen.

At the ceremony, Ford performed two songs with Bill Fuller, her guitarist of 40 years. The first was an original called “Red Hot Mama.” The second was a cover of John Prine’s “Angel from Montgomery.”

“I was shocked. I just thought it was the nicest thing,” she said of the recognition. “It makes you feel good, in whatever profession you’re in, if they want to put you in the hall of fame. It’s a wonderful thing to be recognized by your peers.

“It also makes you think, ‘Wow, I’ve been doing this that long?’ That makes you feel old!” she continued. “But I don’t feel old because I’m playing constantly. I’m busier now than I’ve been in a long time.”

Born in Muskegon, Ford’s parents were from Kentucky, and her father played music. She listed Bonnie Raitt, Linda Ronstadt and Fleetwood Mac among her influences.

“I was raised around that stuff. In the 1970s, there was an influx of bluegrass. It was just a mixture of stuff that was popular,” she said. “There were a lot of bars in Lansing that booked country music. Some of the songs I was writing and recording at the time were in the Americana and country music vein.”

After graduating from Waverly, she attended Olivet on a scholarship and earned her bachelor’s degree in music education. She later earned two master’s degrees from Michigan State University: the first in adult and continuing education, and the second in special education.

In the early 1980s, she sent her music out to various record labels in the hopes she’d get picked up. Mary Reeves, widow of “Gentleman” Jim Reeves — who was a country balladeer and a pioneer of the Nashville sound — invited Ford to record a few tracks at Studio by the Pond in Hendersonville, Tennessee, when Ford was 25.

“I did some recordings for her, so that’s how I got into country music. I had a manager after that and worked for independent labels. I had two or three records that charted nationally and internationally,” Ford explained. “At that point, it was country music. Country stuck. I was down there in Nashville and out and back and all over the world in 13 years, recording and playing.”

During her time in Nashville, she opened for the aforementioned Travis and Brooks, as well as Waylon Jennings, Tammy Wynette, Vince Gill, Mel Tillis, George Jones and other top country musicians.

“It was fantastic!” she said. “I’d do my own show or be a part of a show. That schooled me in the ways of country music. I got to meet a lot of people and learned from them.”

She returned to Lansing in the early 1990s.

“Here is where all the money was, because if you play in Nashville, you don’t make money,” she said. “There are so many people in Nashville who play for free. You can play, but you can’t make money doing it. They usually go outside of Nashville to make money.”

While playing throughout Michigan with her band, she also returned to education. For 27 years, she taught in the Ingham Intermediate School District in Mason.

After retiring in 2014, she’s devoted herself to music full time. She and her band — Fuller, drummer Chuck Grinnell and bassist Ruben Drake — can still be heard all over Lansing. She’s the music director at her church, teaches private music lessons, hosts an open mic night Mondays at One North Kitchen & Bar on the west side and has coordinated and hosted the “Lansing’s Got Talent” competition for the past 10 years.

“I’m so over-the-top grateful to the music community here in Lansing,” she said. “We have a huge music community here.”

Looking back on her career, Ford is proud that she’s been able to perform for this long and bring joy to people who come to see her.

“I can’t believe people are still coming to see me after 50 years. It’s wonderful,” she said. “This career has opened so many doors that would’ve never been opened otherwise. I’ve gotten to meet so many wonderful people, famous and not famous. I’m so appreciative of the support I’ve gotten from the Lansing area throughout all these years and grateful to God that I can still do this. It’s amazing.”