We found a link on Pete Wernick’s web site that points to the audio from a recent edition of Etown, the weekly radio show hosted by former Hot Rize bass man Nick Forster. The show included one of the occasional reunion performances by Hot Rize, plus an appearance by Earl Scruggs.

Scruggs’ segment starts off with Rob Ickes leading the band through Foggy Mountain Rock, followed by a version of John Hardy. Nick Forster then interviews Earl about how he came to develop his groundbreaking banjo style, which Earl describes in his typically understated and unassuming manner. He also speaks about the early days performing on the road and on TV with Flatt & Scruggs, and how he came to be associated with The Beverly Hillbillies.

After the discussion, the band returns to play The Ballad Of Jed Clampett and Foggy Mountain Breakdown. The music is fine, of course, but for many Scruggs-o-philes, the interview may be the more enjoyable part of the show.

There is a direct link to the audio on Wernick’s site, or it can accessed directly via the Etown archives. Access to the archives is restricted to registered users on the Etown site, so if you feel that you are “getting over” by using Pete’s direct link, you can register and get the audio from this and other Etown programs.

Speaking of Wernick’s web site and Hot Rize…

Pete now has two bits of sample video up at Dr.Banjo.com taken from the recently released Hot Rize concert DVD, shot in 1987. One is the band performing Keep Your Lamp Trimmed And Burning, and a song from their bus mates, Red Knuckles & The Trailblazers doing One Woman Man.

These are Quicktime files of one entire song each, and may take a few minutes to download or open in your browser.

The Hot Rize concert DVD we mentioned a few weeks ago has been released, and can be ordered now from the Hot Rize web site.

It features a concert performance at the Kentucky Center for the Arts in Lousiville, KY from July of 1987, with the original members of the band – Tim O’Brien, Pete Wernick, Charles Sawtelle and Nick Forster. Interviews with the band are included, and Red Knuckles & The Trailblazers also make an appearance.

The DVD runs just under an hour, and is offered for $20 plus $5 shipping.

Great news for Hot Rize fans. Pete Wernick has announced that a DVD will soon be available featuring a concert originally filmed in 1987. Both the original Hot Rize band (Pete on banjo, Tim O’Brien on mandolin, Charles Sawtelle on guitar, and Nick Forster on bass) perform on the DVD, as do their erstwhile traveling companions, Red Knuckles & The Trailblazers.

Pete says that the DVD will include 19 songs, plus interviews, but no solid release date can be given at this time. It will be sold for $20, and it will surely show up on the Dr. Banjo online store as soon as it is released, which is expected to be soon.

Hot Rize was a very popular act on the bluegrass circuit during the 1980s, playing a hyrbid sort of music that was right at home on older Flatt & Scruggs or Bill Monroe material, and on their own more contemporary music as well. The additional of The Trailblazers to the show, which involved the Hot Rize boys quickly changing clothes mid-set and adopting new characters as a slightly dim, but surely serious honky tonk hillbilly band, was a huge hit as well.

They disbanded in 1990 at the height of their success, having recently been named as IBMA’s first Entertainer Of The Year, when Tim O’Brien left to pursue opportunities outside of Hot Rize. Tim has, of course, remained a fixture in our music, while Pete Wernick continued on teaching and performing, and Nick Forster found a home with etown on on National Public Radio. Sadly, Charles Sawtelle passed away in 1999 after battling leukemia for a number of years.

In addition to four Hot Rize CDs that are still available on Sugar Hill, there is also one from Red Knuckles & The Trailblazers, Shades Of The Past.