Brenden Hendrickson becomes hall of famer

Brenden Hendrickson was recently inducted into the Legends of Dakota Country Music (LODCM) Hall of Fame in a ceremony held Sept. 4 at the Moose Lodge in Rapid City. The Hall of Fame stipulates that inductees have at least 25 years of expereince in performing country music.
Last November, Hendrickson recieved the call to be nominated by former inductee Donny Miller of the Full Gallop Band, a band he’s played with many times.
For Hendrickson, country music is a family tradition. His father Roy Hendrickson is also a member of the LODCM Hall of Fame, inducted in 2019. With Brenden’s induction, they are the first father and son to both be members of the Hall of Fame.
Brenden’s experience in performing country music began with his family in Custer. From a young age, he would play in the Mountain Music Show every summer, and often seven nights a week. They played that show for over 10 years. Now he plays the guitar and bass, and sometimes even the fiddle when he’s had some practice.
“When I was a kid it was an easy sell. Now that I’m an adult, I’m not as cute,” said Hendrickson, who also recalled how his parents would dress him up like a little cowboy when he went to play shows.
Growing up, Hendrickson’s parents were his biggest promoters, and playing for audiences in different shows around the Black Hills was just the Hendrickson way of life.
“It was just what we did. I didn’t know any different,” said Hendrickson.
From Custer, playing music has taken Hendrickson around the country and even around the world—from California to Mississippi and across the pond to Europe.
Currently, he plays with the band Midnight Sun, and they’ll be playing in Custer at the VFW for the wild game feed on Nov. 2. They play country, rock and everything in between. He also likes to play with other bands in the area, mostly around the Black Hills, but also makes it into some surrounding states. He plays at bluegrass festivals, hoedowns, square dances, weddings, funerals, parties and wherever else he can.
About 400 people attended the induction ceremony, with many people close to Hendrickson coming in support too.
“My friends and family really turned out to support me,” said Hendrickson. Some came all the way from Montana or even Arizona to attend the ceremony and show their support.
Hendrickson also put together the house band for the event. It was half made up of previous inductees—his father Roy Hendrickson, Bobby Humphry, and Donny J. William, as well as a few of this year’s inductees—Tom Sitzler, Katy Sprague and himself. By the end of the evening, it was a band full of Hall of Famers.
Although he said he wasn’t sure if he felt that he had quite earned a spot in the Hall of Fame yet, “there’s no way I was going to refuse it,” said Hendrickson. He gives a lot of the credit to his parents, who he said were his biggest supporters, and of course, gave him his start with music.
On recieving the honor, Hendrickson said, ‘it was just an honor. It’s pretty awesome.”