Hot Pickin 57s

Hot Pickin 57s is a professional 4-piece band playing standards & originals in bluegrass, classic country,
Texas Roots, and Americana. Website- https://hotpickin.com

The band started in 2016, & had a terrific year with shows at Luckenbach, Grapefest, TX Heritage MF House Concert, & played over 100 shows in 2017.

The seeds for the band were planted in 1997. Max was 10, heard Bill Monroe on Austin City Limits and loved it. He would tape Eddie Collins’s band, & soon was taking lessons from him. Max graduated from Berklee College of Music (guitar & mandolin performance). Max has played on stage with Chris Thile, Shawn Watkins, Darrell Scott, Sierra Hull, Josh Williams, Beppe Gambetta.

Eddie Collins (banjo/guitar/mandolin/vocals) is a long-time Austin musician, having performed with many of the area’s top acoustic groups. He has 9 solo CDs & 25 commercially released records, which include many original tunes.

Mike Montgomery (fiddle/vocals) started classical violin training at age 10, but also immersed in Old Timey & Bluegrass music. While he continued to study violin, his love of science led him to a PhD in Astronomy (UT Austin). Since graduating, Mike works as a professional astronomer by day. He has played with Whit Smith's Hot Jazz Caravan, Alan Munde, Billy Bright, & now Hot Pickin 57s.

Vance Hazen (upright bass/vocals) was born in Montana & raised in Ohio, and has toured the US, Europe & Japan, playing electric & upright bass with a wide assortment of bands.