Hot Rize

Meet the band | Band History | Hot Rize schedule | Booking/contact


From 1978 to 1998, Hot Rize was Tim O'Brien, Pete Wernick, Charles Sawtelle, and Nick Forster. Starting in 2002, three years after Charles' death in 1999, Tim, Pete and Nick re-formed the band, adding Bryan Sutton on guitar.

..	.	Pete Wernick, "Dr. Banjo", is renowned worldwide for his accomplishments and contributions to bluegrass music: the hot-picking force in several trend-setting bands including Hot Rize , respected author and teacher, songwriter, and long-term President of the International Bluegrass Music Association <<< MORE >>>	..
	.	Nick Forster was born in Beirut in 1955 (his father worked for the State Department), Nick was raised in upstate New York. He started playing drums at age ten, but abandoned them in favor of his first guitar a year later. As a teen, he played in folk and folk-rock bands. His desire to pursue music as a career in the mid-seventies led him to Colorado, where he met up with the three young men who would join him in forming the contemporary bluegrass band Hot Rize in 1978. For the band, Nick supplied bass, vocals and guitar and was also well known for his exceptional ease and grace as the M.C. and host. He won recognition as a writer as well, earning praise from Rolling Stone Magazine as "an exceptional songwriter." <<< MORE >>>
	.	Tim O'Brien is a singer of unusual clarity and originality, a self-taught multi-instrumentalist of rare ability, and an incisive songwriter, Tim O'Brien has, over the last 20 years, made a lasting mark on what some are calling "Americana" music through his innate musicianship and his wide-ranging tastes. Whether it's the reinterpretation of an old fiddle tune, a revitalized honky-tonk shuffle from the 1950s, or an original, bluegrass-inflected folk song, O'Brien's music feels familiar and comfortable while never lapsing into the predictable. The Wall Street Journal called him "a player who updates and clarifies classic repertoire without stripping it of its earthy essence, and who writes classic-sounding material stamped with his own perceptive personality." He describes what he's been doing all these years more concisely: "making something new out of something old." <<< MORE >>>
	.	Bryan Sutton seemed to come out of nowhere as part of Ricky Skaggs' return to bluegrass in 1997. Bluegrass Unlimited's review of Bluegrass Rules! took special note of his "spellbinding solos...[which] establish him as a musician who bears close scrutiny," while an appearance on Tina Adair's Just You Wait And See (Sugar Hill) led another reviewer to call him "a guitarist to be reckoned with." All in all, it was a remarkable welcome for a young musician. <<< MORE >>>
	Charles Sawtelle's business card had only one word on it (besides his name). It had no address or telephone number... just one word... "Expert." That says a lot about Charles, something about his "less is more" approach to things. About his sense of humor (shades of Slade), and besides. it was true. He was an "Expert." Charles hailed from Austin, Texas, but lived in a variety of small towns around the western U.S. and Canada, before settling in Boulder, Colorado in the late '70s. He found his passion for music playing steel guitar and eventually found his way to the acoustic guitar and bluegrass music. His musical heroes ranged from Bill Monroe to Leadbelly, from Blind Willie Johnson to the Stanley Brothers. He loved The Carter Family, Woody Guthrie, Norman Blake and Clarence White. Though there were some styles he didn't care for, (referring to them with names such as "blow dry" or "doodley doo") he was sincerely respectful and helpful to all musicians. Charles was best known as a member of "Hot Rize", performing internationally with the band, with concerts at the Grand Ole Opry, in Europe and Japan until they semi-retired in 1990. He also played the part of the silent bassist "Slade" in the band's alter-ego comedy country-western group, "Red Knuckles and the Trailblazers." The band performed halfway through every Hot Rize show. When Hot Rize disbanded in 1990, Charles joined forces with Peter Rowan, and also formed his own band, "The Whippets." He recorded and toured with various groups in the U.S. and overseas, and also produced some excellent records by a variety of different bluegrass and folk artists, including Mollie O'Brien and Beausoleil. In addition to a few Hot Rize "reunion" gigs, Charles started writing music, his first tune being "The Butcher's Dog." Charles stayed amazingly active despite beginning his bout with leukemia in 1993. He had a bone marrow transplant in 1997, and suffered the many ups and downs related to his various treatments. Somehow through that suffering he seemed to grow an extra dimension as a person. The worse he physically looked, the more you could see the beauty of his soul. He treasured his life and his friends, and his studio, "Rancho DeVille," his pride and joy in his later years. Devotion to his friends... devotion to quality. A passionate but gentle nature... his soft voice and the way he could make a guitar talk and sing... that's our Charles. "The Bluegrass Mystery," the "Expert." He is sorely missed. If you find yourself as much a fan of Charles' music as we are, you may want to check out Dan Miller's publication, "The Bluegrass Guitar Style of Charles Sawtelle." It is complete with guitar transcriptions, a biography, photos, an interview, plus accolades from many of today's top guitarists.
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