Briarhoppers bringing hillbilly music to Faith

“Do ya’ll know what hit is?”Ovran Hogan asks.

“Hit’s Briarhopper time,” comes the reply.

That’s their calling card and it’s stuck with them for more than 60 years of bluegrass and hillbilly music. The Briarhoppers started their career in 1935 on radio station WBT in Charlotte.

Sunday, the sounds of their banjos, fiddles and acoustic guitars will fill the Faith Fourth of July celebration.

The Briarhoppers will take the main stage Sunday afternoon in Faith at 4 p.m. and again at 7 p.m. Between their shows, two other groups will perform: 3 Fold and Son Light. The stage will be set up in the park, where most of the celebration will be held.

There are five members of today’s Briarhoppers and most, including fiddler Dwight Moody, are area natives with roots in local churches and social clubs.

It takes a special kind of music to last as long as the Briarhoppers, and it takes a special kind of person to be a Briarhopper, Moody said.

It’s the family songs the group has continued to perform, long after mainstream country music went to steel guitars and pop radio, that has helped the group maintain its popularity even today, he said.

The Briarhoppers perform at bluegrass festivals and at retirement and nursing homes. Members don’t care if the crowd is one person or 90,000, which is the largest group they’ve performed for. They just love to play.

“Every song we do, you can do in church,”Moody said. “It’s the love of the music and the fellowship of the musicians that work with the Briarhoppers.”

The group was disbanded from WBT radio in 1955, but members reunited years later to play the college circuit and old-time festivals, where they continued to make a name for themselves.

Don White is the only remaining member from the original band — and the oldest, at 91. He joined WBT radio after appearing on stations in Charleston, W.Va., and Greenville, S.C.

It wasn’t long before he struck a recording deal with RCA Records and moved on to other stations. But in 1942, White returned to Charlotte and the Briarhoppers, where he sings solos and plays bass. He was awarded the Ernest Tubb Pioneer Award given by The Western Film Fair in 1999.

Two of the well-known Briarhoppers started their career as a duet act. Roy “Whitey”Grant and Ovran Hogan, “Whitey and Hogan,” teamed up in 1935 while working at a textile mill in Gastonia and later went to New York to work for Decca Records.

They released more than 30 songs between the 1930s and 1940s. The pair is recognized as the oldest performing duet in country music by the Grand Ole Opry.

David Deese is a Salisbury native and the youngest member of the Briarhoppers; he will turn 60 in July. He has worked for a number of groups during his musical career. Deese credits his father — a banjo player— as his biggest influence and the person who allowed him to play with the likes of Bill Monroe, Red Smiley and the Log Cabin Boys.

Deese joined the Briarhoppers in 1991 when another member became ill and was not able to travel with the group. A Vietnam veteran, Deese is active in his church and other social organizations in Salisbury.

The fifth member, Moody, was born in Virginia, where he learned to play fiddle, guitar and mandolin from his aunt and uncle. During his brief stint with the Carolina Woodchoppers, Moody made several appearances on “The Grand Ole Opry” and has played with Roy Acuff, Red Foley and Bill Monroe, among others.

Moody and his wife, Cathy, have three sons — professionally known as the Moody Brothers — and Moody has played fiddle on several of their Grammy-nominated songs. He joined the Briarhoppers in 1993, when declining health forced “Fiddlin Hank” to cut back on his appearances. Dwight and Cathy Moody live in China Grove, and like the others, are active in their church and social groups.

All the band’s members have one thing in common, and it’s something they pride themselves on:They are all still married to their first wives. Moody said that they look for people who put their family and their church first when picking Briarhoppers.

“Once you’re selected to be a Briarhopper, you’re there until the end,”Moody said.

Don’t expect the Briarhoppers to fade out anytime soon, either. Moody said they intend to keep playing their version of country music, despite crossover acts like Faith Hill and Shania Twain. Keeping the name alive in this area is a top priority for the band —and Sunday’s show is their cup of tea.

“We’ll do songs we did on WBT radio that date back to World War II,”Moody said.

It’s worked so far. Why change a good thing?

Contact Michael Bostian at 704-797-4280 or mbostian@salisburypost.com .