George Strait photo by Danny Clinch, courtesy of UMG Nashville.

Some of the biggest stars in country music history — George Strait, Hank Williams, Willie Nelson and Tammy Wynette — are among a slew of Country Music Hall of Fame members who’ve made their way into the headlines of late.

George set an unprecedented mark on the country charts, Hank earned a prestigious honor and Willie went to a Texas courtroom, where he could have been called on to testify in a trial involving a shooting outside a bar.

Here’s a roundup of Hall of Famers who continue to make an impact in a variety of ways:

• George slipped into the Top 10 on the Billboard Country Songs chart this week with his latest single, “I Gotta Get To You.” In the process, he becomes the first artist in any genre to notch at least one Top 10 hit in each year for 30 years in a row. George now has a total of 82 Top 10s in Billboard. The only artist with more is also a Hall of Fame member: the late Eddy Arnold, who reached the Top 10 a whopping 92 times.

• Three members of the Country Music Hall of Fame — Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley and Sun Records founder Sam Phillips — are all represented by characters in a new Broadway production, Million Dollar Quartet, that opened Sunday at the Nederlander Theatre in New York. It takes its name from a legendary moment in 1956 when the Man in Black and the King participated in a recording session with two fellow Sun artists also represented in Quartet: Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis. The musical director for the production is Chuck Mead, formerly with the acclaimed band BR549.

• Hank is widely regarded as the most influential songwriter in country music history, and now the Hall of Famer has been recognized with a Pulitzer Prize. He received a citation Monday, according to the Associated Press, for his “craftsmanship as a songwriter” and for his “pivotal role in transforming country music into a major musical and cultural force in American life.” Among his songs: “Your Cheatin’ Heart,” “Jambalaya (On The Bayou)” and “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry.”

• Roy Clark, who joined the Hall of Fame just last year, will be honored during the 31st annual Sunday Mornin’ Country Celebration at TPAC in Nashville on Sunday, June 13, the final day of this year’s CMA Music Festival. Fellow Hall of Famer Charlie McCoy will also appear alongside Buddy Jewell, Gary Morris, Lynn Anderson, George Hamilton IV and others.

• Willie was in a Waco, Texas, courtroom Thursday and Friday when singer-songwriter Billy Joe Shaver was acquitted of aggravated assault for shooting another patron in the face at a bar in 2007. According to KBTX-TV of Bryan/College Station, the shooting victim, Billy Bryant Coker, was stirring his drink with a pocketknife, intimidating others at the bar. After they took an argument outside, Billy Joe shot the other man, he said, because he believed Billy Coker was likely to stab or slash him. Willie, who Billy Joe called the night of the incident, was told to be in the courtroom to testify, though he was never put on the witness stand. Billy Joe is still charged with a felony for carrying a firearm illegally.

• The Hall of Fame and Museum will open a new exhibit, Tammy Wynette: First Lady Of Country Music, on Aug. 20. Sponsored by GAC, the display’s artifacts have not yet been revealed, though the Hall recently announced her widower, George Richey, had delivered a large body of material from her career to the museum. That memorabilia includes notes from at least three presidents, 14 stage costumes and the Grammy Awards she won for “I Don’t Wanna Play House” and “Stand By Your Man.”

• Guitarist Jeff Cook, who came to prominence as a member of the Hall of Fame band Alabama, is selling his 35-acre estate on Lookout Mountain, The Huntsville Times reported. He’s lived on the property since March 1984 in a home with four towers that claims 15,000 square feet of space. Officially named Excalibur, it’s more commonly known in the area as “The Castle.” Asking price for the property: $3.9 million.

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