John Berry is officially a member of the North America Country Music Hall of Fame. The 64-year-old was inducted along with Randy Travis, the late Mel Tillis and Barbara Fairchild, in a ceremony held on March 16 in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee

“It is just awesome,” Berry told Everything Nash ahead of the ceremony. “And obviously I’ve been doing this for a while, and it’s just nice to have the validation. It’s kind of like having a parking ticket validated. It’s just awesome. It’s that what I’ve been doing, people dig it, and I appreciate that.”

Berry has already had plenty of honors and accolades, including recently being inducted into the Carolina Country Music Association. But there is one thing that he still wants to accomplish, even after more than four decades in country music.

“I’d love to get a CMA Award,” Berry said. “That’d be nice. And I’ve been nominated a number of times, but I’ve never won anything. But it’d be nice to be involved in that. But being nominated is quite the honor. It really is, because there are a whole lot of people that are out there doing this that never get nominated for anything.”

Berry was diagnosed with throat cancer in early 2019. Although a terrifying diagnosis, especially for a singer, the South Carolina native is now ready to put the entire ordeal behind him, for good.

“This coming spring will be five years since my last treatment. I think it’s just one more and they’ll kick me out the door,” Berry said with a laugh. “I think that’s still the deal. I’m still touring and singing as great as ever.”

Berry has a busy touring schedule in 2024. He will kick off 2025 by performing on the Country Music Cruise n, joining an impressive list of talent that includes Neal McCoy, Home Free,  Moe Bandy, John Michael Montgomery, Deana Carter, The Bellamy Brothers, Diamond Rio, The Isaacs, Jamie O’Neal, T.G. Sheppard and more.

“It is so much fun,” Berry said of his return to the Country Music Cruise next year. “I’ve gone a couple of times over the years, and it’s just incredible. It’s just so much fun. I can’t imagine what it’s like for real country music fans who go, to be there with so many different artists. But it’s the same way for us, because a lot of these people we’ve looked up to, and we admire their music, but we don’t always get to see them.

“We just run into them,” he continued. “We play the Grand Ole Opry, or different things like that, but it’s not like we’re neighbors and we hang out. And so, we’re on the cruise ship for a week and we get to visit, and it’s a lot of fun.”

The 2025 Country Music Cruise is sold out. Join the wait list at CountryMusicCruise.com. Find all of Berry’s music and upcoming shows at JohnBerry.com.