A friend recently asked why I don't wear a blues hat on stage. He said all bluesmen wear hats. His question got me thinking. Is the blues hat a carryover from the 1920s? Is there such a thing as a blues look?
It does seem like many blues players wear hats. Not too sure why?!? I would love to break the mold one day and arrive at the local blues jam wearing a medieval knight helmet. Now that would be badass and definitely cooler than the average joe wearing his fedora-lol
I do usually wear a hat on stage -- it's to keep the lights out of my eyes. I don't think it's a blues hat though -- more like a baseball hat -- lately it's the one that says "HRG Ranch" -- well, maybe it's a Wyoming blues hat.
Maybe the same reason I wear a cowboy hat on stage, a country music tradition. You can trace that back to the fact Jimmie Rodgers (the singing brakeman/yodeler Jimmie, not the other ones) had TB. He moved to Texas, started wearing cowboy hats, started incorporating western into his songs. You had all these people inspired by Jimmie - Gene Autry was a Jimmy impersonator at the start of his career as was Ernest Tubb - and countless others were influenced by him. You can also trace singers playing guitars primarily back to him... and thus cowboy hats became a tradition in white southern music. I would bet that blues fedoras have similar roots and it has something to do with guys moving up to Chicago. ---------- David
____________________ At the time of his birth, it was widely accepted that no one man could play that much music so well or raise that much hell. He proved them all wrong. R.I.P. H. Cecil Payne
It's the same reason I like flannel (long live grunge!) There do seem to be a lot of blues hats. Fedoras seem to be the mainstay, although if it's got any jazz mixed in you might see a flat cap. Also acceptable, bowlers and straw hats (especially if they have as much character as Adam's straw hat!)
Chullos seem to be popular with the kids these days, for a folk/acoustic feel. I have a terrible time with hats. This Christmas, I was lucky enough to get a couple hats from a specialty hat shop for those of us who are nogginly challenged. My neck barely supports this melon and all the regular hat shops stop carrying them about an inch smaller than I can fit my noodles in. That inch means the difference between a $30 hat and a $300 custom hat, so my head often gets sunburnt. I did find some really cheap hats in large sizes with elastic head bands, so I had a straw hat that fit for the first time this summer. My straw hat doesn't have as much character as Adam's, but I'm going to run over it a few times and see if that helps. (Adam's hat is insanely awesome.)
Someone on forum, I don't remember who, had made a really awesome blues hat band with some legendary blues players on it.
Check out these awesome options:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hat
---------- Nate Facebook Thread Organizer (A list of all sorts of useful threads)
Last Edited by on Jan 08, 2013 7:17 PM
Informal survey (not at all representative) based on my friend's photo website -- most photos are from Newport Festivals in early 60's (pre-Blues Bros.).
Cooke Photo (Fun site, especially if you are into the old folk scene.)
No hat(s): Willie Dixon, Memphis Slim, Gary Davis, Sonny and Brownie, Koerner/Ray/Glover, Butterfield Band.
Hat: John Hurt, Skip James, Lightnin' Hopkins, Mance Lipscomb, Taj Mahal.
Last Edited by on Jan 08, 2013 7:25 PM
i always believed it was because the older blues gents tried to dress upscale. back then- men wore hats and suits. even dressed well mowing the lawns. and the main hat was sinatra-ish. i aint sure that fedora was the main or came along after. but it was still the style. now the bowling shirts is another story!
and it should be noted- back then, hats were not just for fashion. their function was to keep the weather off of you, rain or rays. and if the blues player was going from town to town, or even working the fields during the day, they needed them.
Eddie Clearwater's full length Native American headdress J B Hutto and Lil Ed's fez Son Seals and Otis Rush's Stetson cowboy hats Kim Wilson's gold lame turban
Don't feel the same without a hat on! I also took to the dark shades with bi focal lens so that I can see the key of the harp. (Don't mock comes to all of us at some time) because I close my eyes when feeling it and that don't look so cool on video.
On cracked.com they say this (young) generation is known for not looking good in hats. The problem is they wear their "funky hat" with shorts and sandals. Those hats look good with suits and I get the impression that dressing up well in a good suit is part of the stage persona. I'm guessing cause of the tradition of Sunday Best clothing.
I have some nice hats. Why not look my best, to me playing out is a festive occasion! When I started playing out the usual look was tshirts, gimme caps, raggedy jeans, and flipflops. Kind of a blues grunge thing. But the pros always dressed decent and I took their cue. ---------- http://www.reverbnation.com/jawboneandjolene
Guess it's time for me to find my blues hat. My friend Billy Branch wears nice hats. Perhaps I'll ask him for a recommendation. Fedoras look nice. I might also consider a western style hat, something like the one Lonnie Brooks wears.
Most blues jams and gigs resemble a Cialis commercial: Lots of salt and pepper goatees, and lots of receding hairlines. The blues hats are an attempt to recover some of the cool, I guess.
My head is shaved and I almost always wear a baseball cap. I also have a fedora and a cowboy hat I wear sometimes. I rarely play without some kind of hat.
Hmm, maybe someone needs to monetize this. Hat's for musicians. Look down the Wikipedia hat list and there are a some that scream music, and some that don't. Maybe Adam needs to recommend a good hatter on the site. :)
i still dress the same way i did when i was 13 years old. button down shirt tucked in etc. they made us wear shoes to school (in Hawaii) by 1968. ----- MP affordable reed replacement and repairs.
"making the world a better place, one harmonica at a time"
click user name [MP] for info- repair videos on YouTube. you can reach me via Facebook. Mark Prados
Last Edited by on Jan 09, 2013 12:04 PM
Yeah straw is good for summer, strictly a 1 hat per year thing though I find. They get to looking pretty good by the end of the season but don't really cut it for a second year I have a couple of fedora hats, they go well but they don't go with everything. Currently I have a olive green trilby style hat made of a flat woven strip material stitched into a circle and then shaped. I presume thats how they make em. I love these things for casual wear. I don't like to wear a good fur felt hat in any situation I expect to be perspiring a lot. I'm a bald cat, I can't get by without a hat, but I always liked them even when I had hair ----------
MP, if that's you singing and playing in the "Help Me" video, I like both. Bluesy. I love your harp tone. I hear Butterfield in your playing and tone, am I right?
What was the mic and amp in the video? You can send me an email (click my user name while signed in) if you don't want this hat thread to drift into gear talk.
Back to hats-- I agree with one of the previous posters. At least half of us white, middle to old aged harp players wear hats because we're bald.
I've got amazing hair. I don't need a hat. Another reason why I don't wear a hat, sunglasses or brightly colored suit is because I don't want to look like the stereotypic Causcasian, West Coast harp player.
Rick Estrin and Rod Piazza can pull that stuff off because that is their style. It's part of their being. They've got the history. Brightly colored suits make me look washed out and it just isn't me. Neither are hats or sunglasses.
totally guitly of Butterfield influence. Can't shake it. back to clothing.
i always wore sport coats because Butterfield did. i had a spell w/ fedoras and Homburgs ala JW. now i just like to be comfortable. hats are too hot. i sweat like madness. ---------- MP affordable reed replacement and repairs.
"making the world a better place, one harmonica at a time"
click user name [MP] for info- repair videos on YouTube. you can reach me via Facebook. Mark Prados
This is the first hat-positive thread I've sren here. I love hats. I'd much rather see a mediocre player in a nice hat than in sandles (boat, beach, or tropical gigs excepted). ----------
I always wear a beat-up Chicago Bears cap. I haven't been able to stand the Blues Brothers look ever since the Hipsters started calling trillbys fedoras. It angers me so.
I have a couple of Akubra's,(the hat of choice for all Australians) Best for me is a black "cowboy" style. I think the thing is for all musos, not neccessarily harp players alone, is to find the image that you are comfortable with and stick with it, after all we are performers and should have a recognizable identity. I've seen too many young guys pitch up looking like they've just thrown together their less dirty outfit. (hey maybe that is their look!) Harp players more than most get the invite to jam a couple of songs so looking the part when you get up to play is the all important thing with me.
I was playing in Balboa park the other day wearing a cowboy hat to keep the sun off. A kid asked if I knew any cowboy songs so I played Home on the Range for him.
I have a Kakadu leather hat,the basic Australian type,that was a gift from my dad years ago,That I feel more bluesy when wearing it,Unless its the summer time then I have a old worn out floppy straw cowboy hat with holes,I wear.looks like hell but i like it;-)I have a cheap fedora a friend gave me,And it looks like a blues hat but i dont get the same feel wearing it,as I do the other 2 ---------- Hobostubs
Last Edited by on Jan 10, 2013 1:01 AM
Last Edited by on Jan 08, 2013 6:19 PM
