NASHVILLE, Tenn. (October 22, 2012)--Garth Brooks, 50, joined Connie Smith and keyboard player Hargus "Pig" Robbins as the newest members of the Country Music Hall of Fame.

They were inducted in a star-studded ceremony in Nashville Sunday night.

George Strait, Bob Seger and James Taylor performed in tribute to Brooks while Lee Ann Womack and Merle Haggard saluted Smith and Ronnie Dunn along with Ronnie Milsap played for Robbins.

The tears started flowing for Brooks as he talked to reporters on the red carpet with wife Trisha Yearwood.

He got more emotional as the night went on, thanking friends, family and industry professionals who helped him along the way.

Brooks is kicking around ideas for a comeback.

“We're just going to start. It's going to be fun," he said.

Brooks retired to rear his children, and now his youngest daughter, Allie, is a junior in high school.

Yearwood, says Allie is ready for the couple to go on the road again because she is doing every after-school activity possible.

Brooks said great songwriters "can birth a career, but the greatest ones can bring life back into one."

He said they will be "looking hard for songs just to see what the future might hold."