Hot Rize is a band that rose to stardom among bluegrass
circles in the 1980s. With a witty nod towards traditional bluegrass music and
some seminal artists, that band took their name from the ingredient in Martha
White Flour, a product of a Tennessee four firm (Martha White Mills). Cohen
Williams, head of that company, had brought guitarist Lester Flatt and banjo-player
Earl Scruggs and their band (The Foggy Mountain Boys) to Nashville to host
Martha White’s early morning radio spot on WSM in the mid-1950s. The spot was
called the "Martha White Biscuit and Cornbread Time."
Only fifteen minutes in length, that show was a great
example of how important radio was to the spread of country music in those days
before ipods and other high-tech devices. Much of the music broadcast over the
airwaves wasn’t recorded commercially. Listeners would grab a cup of coffee and
imagine performers right there in their kitchens or living rooms with them.
Those were the days that radio offered live music, singing commercials,
down-home humor, comedic antics, good-natured banter, sacred songs, fiddle
tunes, and announcements or upcoming performances. The radio show was such a
success that, by 1955, Flatt & Scruggs and their band were playing on the
half-hour Martha White segment of the Grand Ole Opry. Television shows followed
for Flatt & Scruggs, and a segment of one program is sampled above with a
Martha White self-rising flour commercial and the product’s jingle.
So it only made sense that one group of hot pickers in the
next generation of bluegrass artists decided to call their band “Hot Rize.” Their
sound solidified with members Tim O'Brien (mandolin, fiddle), Pete Wernick (banjo),
Charles Sawtelle (guitar) and Nick Forster (electric bass). During their first
decade, Hot Rize released six albums. Their second (in 1981) was called “Radio
Boogie” and opened with that title track. Although they disbanded in 1990, they
played several reunion dates each year from 1991-98. Guitarist Charles Sawtelle
passed away in 1999, and Hot Rize added guitarist Bryan Sutton in 2002.
Hot Rize is a very entertaining group, and they often
disappear backstage only to reappear as a Western Swing outfit made up of
characters who hang out in the back of their bus. When Red Knuckles and the
Trailblazers take the stage, we’re treated to Red Knuckles (guitar), Waldo Otto
(lap steel, pedal steel), Wendell Mercantile (archtop lead guitar), and Slade
(bass). These are alter-ego persona of O’Brien, Wernick, Forster and Sutton,
respectively.
