Pappy Briarhopper

Johnny Macalester might have called himself Pappy Briarhopper to be able to establish that he was among the 1st, if not the 1st, members from the Charlotte-based Appalachian music institution referred to as the Briarhoppers. Whether that is accurate or not is usually a difficult truth to determine, but at the very least the stage name do very little to greatly help this designer in either his profession or his put in place Briarhopper history. Of all early members of the group, he continues to be among the least well-known. Of both early users who nicked the group’s name like a stage name for themselves, he previously the least achievement; Homer Briarhopper, alternatively, made single recordings for Bluebird and Decca and later on hosted a long-running morning hours Raleigh tv program that featured a whole lot of live music. Macalester, whose name can be documented as John McAllister in a few Briarhopper studies, was certainly area of the early batch of string music group performers employed by radio maker Charles H. Crutchfield to create the Briarhoppers group in the first ’30s. Others included these Homer Briarhopper (actual name Homer Drye), aswell as players such as for example Clarence Etters, Jane Bartlett, Homer Westerfield, and Billie Burton. The group isn’t said to possess really strike its stride before entrance of Whitey & Hogan, a duo who acquired met within a stock in close by Gastonia. Both of these players, Arval Hogan and Roy “Whitey” Offer, became closely from the Briarhoppers both in the first times and in a afterwards reincarnation and in addition had their very own following being a duo. They brought the wonderful banjoist Shannon Grayson, himself a head from the Golden Valley Guys, and presided over an influx of brand-new players that included cowboy vocalist and guitarist Fred Kirby and bassist and vocalist Don Light. The latter participant was still dealing with the group in 2001 at age 92. Pappy Briarhopper was over by this time around as well as the anti-Pappy faction in the Briarhoppers cult appear to feel it had been the up grade in musical capability symbolized by Whitey & Hogan that prompted his departure and nothing at all made in his virtually nonexistent solo profession proves usually. Unlike Homer Briarhopper, he didn’t enjoy a afterwards career being a captivating older tv cowboy, but stocks the previous artist’s misfortune of experiencing his stage name rendered as Brierhopper frequently.