Hubert Dwane "Hoot" Hester (August 13, 1951 – August 30, 2016) was an American

fiddle A fiddle is a Bow (music), bowed String instrument, string musical instrument, most often a violin or a bass. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including European classical music, classical music. Althou ...

player, multi-instrumentalist, and

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

and bluegrass artist. He was born on a small farm near

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville is the List of cities in Kentucky, most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, and the list of United States cities by population, 27th-most-populous city ...

, on August 13, 1951. Hester played with a number of well-known bands, and later became a session musician and a longtime member of the

Grand Ole Opry The ''Grand Ole Opry'' is a regular live country music, country-music Radio broadcasting, radio broadcast originating from Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville, Tennessee, on WSM (AM), WSM, held between two and five nights per week, depending on the ...

's staff band. Hester was also a featured performer at the

NAMM Show The NAMM Show is an annual trade show in the United States organized by the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM), which describes it as "the industry’s largest stage, uniting the global music, sound and entertainment technology commun ...

during the time it was held in Nashville and 2004.

Career

Hester had played backup for a number of country music recording artists, among them

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

, Hank Williams Jr., Mel Tillis, Conway Twitty, Randy Travis, Bill Monroe, Vern Gosdin, and Ricky Van Shelton. He had also recorded with Manhattan Transfer and Ray Charles. Hester was the former fiddler and founder of a Nashville-based Western swing band, named the Time Jumpers. He appears on the band's debut album, On the Air. For many years Hester was a fiddle player for the

's staff band.

Beginnings

Hester attended Louisville's Southern High School. He began his fiddling career with the Bluegrass Alliance in Louisville. In 1973 he moved to Nashville, having received several job offers after winning fifth place in a fiddle contest at which

Chet Atkins Chester Burton Atkins (June 20, 1924 – June 30, 2001), also known as "Mister Guitar" and "the Country Gentleman", was an American musician who, along with Owen Bradley and Bob Ferguson (musician), Bob Ferguson, helped create the Nash ...

and other prominent people in the music industry were judges. For the next year he played with The Whites.

From the 1980s onward

During the 1980s Hester began doing session recording for various artists and producers, and has continued this work until his death. He also began appearing on television shows, one of which played for eleven years. In 1997 Dennis Crouch and Hester put together a western swing band called The Time Jumpers. Hoot eventually left The Time Jumpers to produce and write with Rachael Hester, his youngest daughter, who leads a band named "Rachael Hester and The Tennessee Walkers". Hoot played with the Grand Ole Opry staff band from 2000 until his death. He has also worked with Earl Scruggs until Scruggs' death in March 2012.

Death

Hester died on August 30, 2016, after battling cancer. He was 65.

References

External links