Exhibit photos: COURTESY OF FOLK AMERICANA ROOTS HALL OF FAME

IN mid-November the Folk Americana Roots Hall of Fame, located at the Boch Center here in Boston, announced its 2025 inductees, an impressive group of musical legends that has shaped both the folk genre and music history. The inductees have a combined 30 Grammy awards and countless other honors.

“These inductees represent the heart and soul of Folk, Americana and Roots music,” said J. Casey Soward, president and CEO of the Boch Center. “They gave voice to ordinary people and helped shape the soundtrack of this country — its struggles, its hopes and its beauty.”

Black artists are heavily represented among the legacy artists honorees. This category includes artists whose impact on the genre was at least 45 years prior to their induction to the Hall of Fame. In the 2025 group are blues singer Muddy Waters, gospel guitarist and songwriter Sister Rosetta Tharpe, country and blues singer and guitarist Mississippi John Hurt and gospel, soul and R&B powerhouse Aretha Franklin. Canadian singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen is also in this category.

In the living artists category, which requires that the musical impact occurred 25 years prior to their induction to the Hall of Fame, Jackson Browne, Judy Collins, Tom Paxton, Tom Rush and Neil Young will be honored. John Hammond and Alan Lomax will be inducted in the industry/non-performer category.

The inductees will be formally celebrated with a ceremony in March that will be open to the artists and their families. Until then, the public can learn more about their musical contributions in the exhibition “Legends of Folk, Americana Roots Music, 2025 Class,” now on view at the Boch Center Wang Theatre. The exhibition showcases original artifacts like the handwritten lyrics Tom Paxton drafted for Mississippi John Hurt and a Les Paul guitar identical to the one used by Sister Rosetta Tharpe.

The Folk Americana Roots Hall of Fame was established in 2019 as a living music museum to celebrate the genre through exhibitions, memorabilia, artifacts, events, concerts and, of course, the histories of the inductees.

Tickets to the Hall of Fame exhibitions are $17 per person and are available on select days; visit the website for more information. The Boch Center team hopes the ceremony and the exhibitions will encourage visitors to revisit this music and learn more about the arts behind it.

Soward said, “Through this induction and our Legends exhibit, we’re honoring the songs, stories and spirit that continue to move and unite us.”

On the web

Learn more about the exhibition and honorees at folkamericanarootshalloffame.org/events/detail/legends