Noted Missouri banjo player, and former Blue Grass Boy, Lonnie Hoppers, died on November 17 at home in his sleep. He was 89 years of age.
Lonnie was a member of Bill Monroe’s band from September 1962 until January of the following year, after having done some fill in work over the previous few years while he was in the Army. As it happened, he was to also record with the Blue Grass Boys during these few months in two different sessions for Decca Records, cementing his place in bluegrass history.
A session on November 23, 1962 included Monroe’s cuts of Big Sandy River and Baker’s Breakdown with Kenny Baker on fiddle, Joe Stuart on guitar, and Bessie Lee Mauldin on bass. Another studio day on December 10 yielded a number of gospel numbers included on I’ll Meet You In Church Sunday Morning, released in 1964.
Born Lonnie George Hoppers on July 25, 1935 in Goodson, MO, he took up the banjo while still in school, finding his first gig at 17, playing at the Lake of the Ozarks resort on the Osage River with The Lee Mace Ozark Opry. After leaving Monroe, he moved to Kansas City where he started playing with a young guitarist, Dan Crary. The two performed together for about a decade, promoting themselves as a new kind of bluegrass.
Hoppers and his wife Charlene returned to the Ozark region in 1978 and he began playing at Silver Dollar City in Branson with Horse Creek, and in other theaters with The Plummer Family Show, as the region was fast developing into a tourist draw for music lovers. The attention Branson was receiving in the early 1980s brought a number of film and television production companies to town, and Lonnie was chosen to appear in a number of their projects.
Lonnie released a solo banjo record in 1982, Pickin’ For Fun, on the Dungeon label. Playing with him were Dale Sledd on guitar, Larry Sledge on mandolin, Mark Pearman on fiddle, and Brenda Chambers on bass.
In 1984 he launched his own group, Lonnie Hoppers & New Union, with who he continued to perform for many years. He reunited with Crary in 2000 for a one-off album, Lonnie Hoppers, Dan Crary and their All-American Band, for Pinecastle Records, which is still available online. With Crary on guitar and Lonnie on banjo, Dale Hopkins and Jamie Haege played fiddle, John Moore was on mandolin, and Marlon Collins on bass.
Lonnie and Charlene also hosted a bluegrass radio program in Bolivar, MO for a time, and he served as an endorsing artist for Grundy Banjos, made in Australia by Laurie Grundy. A Lonnie Hoppers signature edition was also created and is still marketed by Hawthorn Banjos as the Hoppers Tradition.
He leaves behind many family members, including Charlene, and a great many friends both from the music world and from his activity with his church.
Visitation is scheduled for Friday, 12:00-2:00 p.m. at the Cantlon-Otterness & Viets Funeral Home in Urbana, MO. Graveside services will follow at 2:00 at the Pleasant Ridge Cemetery, with Pastor Ryan Pendergraft officiating.
R.I.P., Lonnie Hoppers.
