About

Hot Pickin 57s is a 4-piece acoustic band out of Austin, playing Bluegrass, Classic Country, Rockabilly, Western Swing and Texas country, including Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings, Roy Orbison, Bob Wills, Kris Kristofferson, George Jones, and Townes Van Zandt among others.

You can see us play a few songs on a compilation video at https://youtu.be/n_gf1EdSQNY

We can provide a full PA and dedicated sound tech.

Reviews (see all our reviews at https://hotpickin.com/reviews):
"Wonderful. The guys were great! They were focused on all the right things during pre- planning, on time and then gave a great performance. They were a pleasure to work with!
    - Paul Chung (for corporate event at the Tobin Center for Performing Arts, San Antonio, April 2018)”

"Hot Pickin 57s did a fantastic job entertaining our event attendees, everyone had a fabulous time! They were extremely professional to work with - arriving early to set up, clearly communicated their set up needs and were amazingly accommodating to our event needs. I highly recommend them!
  - Amy S. (Sourcecon)

More Info:
       Web: http://hotpickin.com
       EPK: https://hotpickin.com/epk
       FB: https://www.facebook.com/HotPickin57s/
       Twitter: https://twitter.com/hotpickin
       Debut CD: see https://hotpickin57s.hearnow.com

Recent Highlight Shows:
    • Stubbs Red River (SXSW 2018 Corporate Event)
    • Conspirare Benefit (Grammy-award winning choral music ensemble, Brazos Hall)
    • Tobin Center for the Performing Arts (Corporate Event)
    • Ennis Bluebonnet Trails Festival
    • Camp Street Cafe
    • Coushatte RV Ranch Pickin’ & Grinnin’ Festival
    • Grapevine Sunset Concert Series
    • 31st Annual Grapefest Wine Tasting Festival
    • Lückenbach Texas
    • Rodeo Austin
    • Texas Heritage Foundation House Concert

Corporate clients include Sedgwick, Lightspeed, Clubs at Houston Oaks, Sourcecon, Momentum, University of Texas, Uber, La Cantera Resort and Spa, a Wall Street firm we can't name, American College of Phlebology Foundation, Radiance Foundation, Strategic Management Society, Cree Inc and others.

The band got together in January 2016, and had a terrific year with shows at Luckenbach, 30th Annual Grapefest,  a 290 Texas House Concert sponsored by the Texas Heritage Music Foundation, and Oskar Blues among many others.

The seeds for the band were planted in 1997. Max was 10 years old. He heard Bill Monroe on Austin City Limits, loved it, and his family started going to hear bluegrass at Artz Rib house in Austin, Texas. Max would tape Eddie Collins’s band, and listen to it for hours, and soon was taking lessons from Eddie. He started playing out a bit and got to do some shows with Eddie and other area pickers. Max returned to Austin after earning a degree at the Berklee College of Music in Boston (with majors in guitar and mandolin performance) and began several projects, including Hot Pickin 57s, One Eye Open, and a duo with Eddie.

Eddie Collins is a long-time Austin musician, having performed with many of the area’s top acoustic groups. He has nine solo CDs, which include many original tunes that can be heard on over twenty-five commercially released recordings. Eddie plays banjo, guitar, mandolin, and sings lead & harmony.

Mike Montgomery started classical violin training at age 10. He grew up also immersed in Old Timey and Bluegrass music. While he continued to study violin at college, his love of science led him to a PhD in Astronomy from the University of Texas at Austin. Since graduating, Mike has been working as a professional astronomer, and his research has taken him to Vienna, Cambridge in the UK, and finally back to Austin. Since his return, he has played with Whit Smith's Hot Jazz Caravan, and artists such as Alan Munde, Billy Bright, and Eddie Collins, and now Hot Pickin 57s. Mike also sings harmony vocals.

Vance Hazen rounds out the band on upright bass and lead & harmony vocals. Born in Montana and raised in Ohio, he has branched out, touring across the US, Europe and Japan, playing electric and upright bass with a wide assortment of bands.

Hot Pickin released their self-titled debut CD in October 2017.