NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The Country Music Hall of Fame recognized pioneers who are responsible for the genre's growing diversity by selecting its new class of Kenny Rogers, Bobby Bare and Jack Clement.

The trio of trailblazing inductees attended a news conference Wednesday at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum to announce the class of 2013.

Each has made a significant impact on country music, making bold decisions that helped spread the genre beyond its traditional borders.

With songs like "The Gambler," "Lucille" and the Lionel Richie-produced "Lady," Rogers was both a pop music crossover and a pop culture sensation in the 1970s and ‘80s. He starred in TV movies in the role of The Gambler, and with his trademark white hair and beard, remains one of music's most recognizable figures. He was inducted in the modern era category.

"Cowboy" Jack Clement began as an artist, but made his biggest contributions as a producer with historic instincts. He played a crucial role in the history of rock ‘n' roll, working as a producer and engineer at Sun Records during an era when acts like Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Elvis Presley changed the way we listen to music.

Bare, inducted in the veterans era category, charted his own path after being signed by Chet Atkins. Once a roommate of Willie Nelson, he emulated the freethinking outlaw movement, though never actually joined it, by inspiring his contemporaries to move freely from country to pop and rock, and back again.

And like his good friend Waylon Jennings, he dabbled in folk, bringing that sensibility to Nashville from California where he met and was signed by Chet Atkins, whose plaque also hangs at the hall of fame.

"Did I do that?" Bare, 78, joked after hearing his biography read.

Rogers, Bare and Clement will be formally inducted in a ceremony later this year.

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