Al (Allerton) Hawkes and the Cumberland Ridge Runners Born:  December 25, 1930 Died:  December 28, 2018 Maine CMA Hall of Fame (1980)

About The Artist Al Hawkes was born on Christmas Day in Providence, Rhode Island of Maine parents who moved back to the old farm homestead in Westbrook, Maine when Al was ten years old. While living in Pawtucket, Rhode Island his mother influenced him with her self-taught piano playing and his father furthered Al's interest in music buy putting a radio in his bedroom. Al was fascinated with the local country and western music entertainers he heard on Saturday mornings. After moving back to Maine in 1941, his father hooked up Al's radio with a long, tall outside antenna where Al could pickup and listen to southern hillbilly and mountain music from stations like WWVA, WCKY, WJJD, and, WBT. After hours of listening to the radio on long cold winter nights, Al developed a great love for that style of southern country music which leads him to become a country and bluegrass music entertainer that he is still to this day. When he was just thirteen, his mother bought him a guitar and chord book which Al soon mastered. Soon after, his father gave him his Gibson A4 mandolin that he had used in a string band, in his college days. After conquering the mandolin, Al went on to play the tenor and plectrum banjos, 12 string guitar and the upright "Dog House" bass. While a high school sophomore in 1947, Al formed his first band called "Al Hawkes Hillbillies". They played in the usual local school functions and grange halls. At this time, a neighbor radio hobbyist helped Al build an AM radio transmitter which Al called WW2A. He played country 78 RPM records and broadcasted live radio shows to an area that covered four towns, one being Portland. One of the live acts featured on that station was Al's Cumberland Ridge Runners Trio, which included Don Williams and Alton Myers. Yes, it was an illegal radio station and he did receive a warning that the FCC was after them; so, the station was closed down a year and a half later in 1949. With Al's interest in music and radio broadcasting still going strong, he went to Boston to the Massachusetts Radio and Broadcast School for two years and he obtained his First Class Broadcast License and graduated as an honor student. During the Korean War, Al was an activated Maine Air National Guard and stationed on an air force base in Tripoli, Libya - North Africa. He worked as a disc jockey and engineer on the AFRS radio station that was located there. He appeared live on the AFRS radio station with Don Fields' western band and then formed his own hillbilly group called Al Hawkes and the Cumberland Mountain Folks, doing five live radio shows a week. After returning to civilian life, Al started a retail Television and Stereo business that he ran for 35 years with his wife Barbara. In 1956, along with Barbara and Richard Greeley, he formed Event Records and built a recording studio with offices in an abandoned blacksmith shop building in Westbrook, Maine. Many country and bluegrass artists were recorded there - some going on to national fame, such as the Lilley Brothers, Don Stover, Dick Curless, and, Lenny Breau, to name just a few. To see the early recordings of that label, go to: www.alhawkes.com/eventcatalog.html Thru the years Al has had a number of performing and recording groups. One was a unique act called Allerton & Alton, The Cumberland Ridge Runners. They performed as a brother act. Al (Allerton) was white and Alton Myers was black. They were on local radio stations - one station was five mornings a week and two evening shows. Over the years Al formed or was part of various other groups/acts such as: Al Hawkes and his Nitehawks, Al Hawkes and String Fusion, Al Hawkes - The Songman (a solo act with 6st. & 12st. guitars) The Al Hawkes Show Al Hawkes and his Bluegrass Nitehawks Al Hawkes has received over 30 local, regional and National awards - among them: Inducted into the Maine Country Music Hall of Fame 1980 Pioneer Award 2001 by The Maine Bluegrass Music Association National Instrumentalist of the Year 1990 - Country Music Associations of America 16th Annual Pioneer Award 1996 - Down East Country Music Association Recording of the Year 2005 "Keep On Smiling" - Maine Country Music Association Lenny Breau Memorial Award 1991 Dick Curless Memorial Award 1995 First Generation Bluegrass Pioneer by the International Bluegrass Music Museum Music Industry Heritage Award - Boston Bluegrass Union 2009 Credits & Sources Hillbilly-Music.com wishes to thank Al Hawkes for contacting us and providing information and photos related to his career. Related Web Links • Al Hawkes, Bluegrass Musician

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Recordings (78rpm/45rpm)   Event Records Rec. No. Side Song Title   E175 A Snowmobile Sal   E175 A Snowmobile Sal   E175 B Everybody's Waitin'   E175 B Everybody's Waitin'   E176 A Down East Guitar Pickin' Man (w/Fred Pike)   E176 A Down East Guitar Pickin' Man (w/Fred Pike)   E176 B Daddy's Old Time Guitar (w/Fred Pike)   E176 B Daddy's Old Time Guitar (w/Fred Pike)