On this day (August 30) in 2016, former Grand Ole Opry fiddler Hoot Hester died of cancer at age 65. A four-decade veteran of the Nashville music scene, Hester backed everyone from Earl Scruggs to Ray Charles. He also co-founded Western swing supergroup the Time Jumpers in the 1990s and spent 14 years as a member of the Opry’s staff band.
Who Was Hoot Hester?
Born August 13, 1951, on a tiny farm near Louisville, Kentucky, Hubert Duane “Hoot” Hester’s nickname came from the popular cowboy actor Hoot Gibson.
Hester’s father played the fiddle — as did his four uncles — and his mother played the piano.
He had mastered both instruments by age nine, later adding the guitar and mandolin to his repertoire and forming a bluegrass band with a couple of cousins…