Garth Brooks is no stranger to praise, success and the reception of awards, but entering the Country Music Hall of Fame, still managed to reduce the man to tears of joy. Connie Smith and Hargus "Pig" Robbins also received awards at the event last night (21st Oct 2012) in Nashville.

Tears began to roll before Brook was even inside the building, the Huffington Post reports that he began tearing up while speaking to the press on the red carpet. In his speech Brooks remained humble. "I look at it as a continuation of trying to make country music as proud of you as you always have. You represent it the best that you can. And the only difference in our life now is that [my wife] has to say 'Hall of Famer' before she calls my name any time." Which she says she wont do. He said, "I don't feel any different, but we should talk tomorrow."

Country legend George Straight told Brooks; "You've brought so many fans to our music; it helped all of us." And Bob Seger said "What I love about Garth is his passion -- he's never afraid to be passionate, [and throughout his success] he's still a really good guy, he wears it well," USA Today reports.

High praise was heard for Connie Smith and Hargus "Pig" Robbins. The latter is a piano and keyboard player, and Charlie McCoy also paid tribute to the impact "Pig" has had on the industry: "There are many songwriters who made a whole lot more royalties because Pig played on their song. There are many artists who had much better careers because Pig played on their records."

Garth closed his speech saying "In music, this is the greatest day in my music career," and then, pointing to his daughters in the audience, "The greatest days of my life are sitting in the front row."