Musicians and hats

[DHopkins]

I'm about to do three shows at the end of June wearing a huge red txapeldun with feathers.

Txapeldun?? I checked. Walmart doesn't carry those.

Some of us are beginning to part our hair in a circle or comb it with a wash cloth so hats become more frequent. I only wear one because of stage lights or the sun. I've never really been a fan of hats.

[MikeEdgerton]

I have a large collection of what would be called cowboy hats. I've always had them. When ever I get a chance to buy one that I like I buy it. My wife assumes that if I'm in Texas for more than a day a box will arrive soon after with a hat (or boots) in it. I always wear them on stage just because I always wear them on stage. I have been known to remove them when it gets too hot. I wear my hair short so I don't have serious hat hair when I'm done. I wish there was a deep seated reason for wearing them. It may be because my dad had one and I wore his as a small child. Life in Sherman, TX as a child was wonderful.

[Charles E.]

One of my favorite wearing mandolinist, Eva Holbrook..........

[allenhopkins]

Want to see me hatted? If you must:



With my Eastman mandocello. The other mandolin in the pic is one that my bandmate Mark Deprez built for his own use.

There's also my avatar, of course.

[Bertram Henze]

Two of mine featuring here.

[Mike Snyder]

I have 4 hats. Two Jayhawks and two mandolincafes. I wear them while playing disc golf and whenever I'm out in the sun. Thinning on top a bit. Never in performance mode and seldom jamming.

[Ivan Kelsall]

I always got the impression that wearing a Stetson hat in a Bluegrass music context,came from the fact that Stetsons were a 'working man's' hat & simply part of normal attire. Bow / string ties & sequinned jackets weren't worn so much around the farm - unless maybe your name was Jimmy Martin !,
Ivan

[Dagger Gordon]

I usually think that some baldness is probably involved when I see a hat.
Some people (guitarist Richard Thompson, The Edge from U2) make their hat of choice a definite part of their look and are never seen without it. I don't know what The Edge looks like without a hat, but Richard is certainly as bald as a turnip.

When you see much younger people with hats, I just think it's fun or they're trying to look cool. Remember that on stage, a costume or outfit is often part of the show, and a hat can certainly be an aspect of that.

I have a friend who I gig with called Duncan MacGillivray. He is a multi-instrumentalist who plays bagpipes, guitar whistle etc. He specifically puts on a bonnet when he picks up the pipes, although he doesn't on his other instruments. I should add that he is usually wearing a kilt when he does that!

Then there's all these Rasta guys,for example. Always got their Rasta hats on.

[Jim]

Fedora or a ball cap most gigs though some jobs ,indoor, dnner music I don't feel a hat is appropriate.

[billkilpatrick]

When I put on a hat I always have to look in the mirror to see if I'm up to it - usually it will be a Cafe baseball cap. When I bought a beret, a catalan friend of mine intimated that I might be unworthy - she was the one who told me about the txapeldun. There's definitely a change of persona that goes with a hat. I have a battered Borsalino I used to wear but I don't feel cocky enough carry it off these days - too self-conscious.

Sun hats and hats to keep warm in cold weather is one thing - dressing up type hats are another. It's prejudice, I know, but I think wearing a hat indoors is a no-no. I was taught that it was good manners to remove my hat when entering a building and I still do, even in supermarkets. When I see a performer wearing a hat it suggests to me that the guy is unsure of himself and has put on what to all intent and purpose is a helmet. Either that or he's playing a part - "I see by your outfit … " etc., etc..

The best hats are the ones you don't notice.

[PH-Mando]

Reminds me of Tam worn by Professor as part of academic regalia.

[Tobin]

May we see you in your hat(s)?

Despite being a native Texan, I don't generally wear wide-brimmed cowboy hats unless I'm riding one of my horses (and even then, I usually just opt for a ballcap). For the most part, you'll find me in one of the hats below. Fairly uninteresting.

As I get older, though, I find myself wearing a brimmed hat more often. The reality of skin cancer has made me regret all the years I spent in the Texas sun with no protection on my neck.

[Bertram Henze]

There's definitely a change of persona that goes with a hat.

You don't say...

[Beanzy]

I like hats, though I'm not always out & about in one.
I'm a wearer of flat caps of different types, wool, linnen etc. but not baseball caps as they're the wrong look.
In wet weather I like the broad brimmed oiled hat. If I'm going camping or kayaking the Tilly is a god choice.
I reckon a hat makes a statement, even if it's only that you're confident enough to choose a style & wear one;
A kind of "bugger what the fashion world thinks, I'm rocking a hat" statement.

For performances I like to wear one if it fits the scenario.
But often it's worth doing just because no one else does, that's worth even more 'hat points'
In the last BMG festival the trio decided to pitch up in black with purple waistcoats wearing hats. It was a deliberate thing as we had never performed publically as a trio before.we knew we'd be nervous. You've got to be confident to wear the hat, so you pretend to be and in the end you are. That rubs off on the performance, after all if I'm confident enough to head out looking like this then I can face down the whole world.





Oh yea I even made matching sets of feathers & wore the black velvet suit I got married in too!


The txapeldun (possibly derived from the basque for 'big roof') was me opening my big mouth to the director of our Romeo & Juliet performance before thinking. "How about if I wore a fez? Or a huge basque beret with feathers?" Well the commedia character Pantalone normally wears a red hat so.....

[George R. Lane]

Being a farmer and an avid golfer, I always have a hat on. I have a wide brim one for working in the field, a straw hat (or one of the many USGA baseball hats) for golf or my Mandolin Café cap. A special one with a long cloth back for fly fishing and a helmet for motorcycling. The odd thing is I usually play my mandolin on my front porch and I don't where one out there.

[Willie Poole]

When my friends saw me without a hat on they didn`t know who I was, they asked if I slept with it on, I said sure when I nap in my reclining chair....All of my band members wear white cowboy hats when we do a show...

Willie

[Picking Dick]

I've been wearing hats and caps since I was a kid. And then I was in the Air Force for 21 years and had to wear one when outdoors. So I just feel the need of a hat. It's just part of my clothing. I mostly wear a Stetson "Open Road" in the summer and a H1H "Trilby" in the winter, but I have lots of others. I don't wear ball/golf caps though; my head's too big.

[Bill McCall]

Since my dad and his older brother always wore hats, I got started early in that love affair. Unfortunately there's now a zoning ordinance that caps the total number of hats for my address and the queen has been holding firm.

[Dagger Gordon]

The late John McCann had a good hat.

[Bob Clark]

Being an orchard farmer and bald, I always have a hat on when outside. Since I usually play inside, no hat then. The exception is that sometimes in my own very informal winery tasting room, when playing I wear a hat (I'm going inside and outside then).

Here are two pictures of me pouring wine (the main product of my farm) at a horse track event. I think you will recognize the hat. I wear these to every wine festival (lots of them) and have gotten into some great conversations because of my MC hats! And also one with me playing my OM in my tasting room.

[Russ Jordan]

Here are my favorites: Stetson Open Road, Sunbody Open Road, and Atwood Austin Low Crown. Looks like they are all made in Texas. I have 2 other Sunbody hats that I use for hiking and outside work.

[GeoMandoAlex]

I do field geophysics so I am outside from dawn til dusk. from late Autumn to late Spring (or when it gets too warm), I wear a wide brim Filson hat. In the Summer/warmer months, I wear a wide brim Summer hat. I do it mainly to keep the sun off my face. I had a cousin pass away from melanoma a few years back and I don't like wearing sunscreen (I have not found nay that is not affected by sweating and getting into eyes).

When not working, I usually wear a ball cap. Always have. Played baseball from when I was 6 until 18 (didn't make college team). It is just part of my clothing. Not bald at all. In fact, I cut about 10+ inches every 2 years and donate to charity. God/genentics gave me a gift of a full head of hair. I like to think I am passing along a gift.

[Cecily_Mandoliner]

The music is in the hat!
That's why I wear hats (I believe I'm quoting my teacher).

[Turlagh]

I bought a brown Bollman bowler a year or so ago, but I need to find an appropriate ensemblé to wear it in public. The purchase was inspired by my love of all things related to Brisco County Jr..... and John Hartford....that guy could rock a bowler!

[Dave Hanson]

John Hartford always looked good in his bowler.

Dave H