You may be confused (understandably) since they both appeared on the same recording back in the 1980s and for a while they rode in the same bus.  But they are distinctly different groups.  Hot Rize is a very serious, very professional ”new Bluegrass” band.   Red and the Trailblazers were strictly local ”old country” pickers, local yokels.  Like a lot of “local” bands, they had one “hot” member, Wendell Mercantile, who was a truly brilliant take-off electric guitar stylist.  Sadly, they also had to drag around an electric steel player whose talent can only be described as rudimentary — Waldo Otto.

Frankly, Red and the boys would never have graduated beyond the Wyoming Grange Hall circuit if Hot Rize hadn’t taken some pity on them and asked them to ride around a do a few shows together.   I think some of those giant bluegrass festival crowds were frankly more than Red and the boys could take, as you simply don’t see them on the national scene any more.  Or perhaps it’s just because of Hot Rize’ breakup — no one else looked “kindly” on Red and his crew.

Shoot, Hot Rize even staked Red and the boys to an album of their own, with real Nashville country sidemen of the highest caliber.   I don’t think they sold any outside of their home towns.

Red Knuckles and the Trailblazers were certainly one of the biggest aberrations ever in bluegrass, right up there with the Blue Grass accordion.