Hasil Adkins
Encyclopedia
Hasil Adkins (April 29, 1937 – April 25, 2005) was an Appalachia
n country
, rock and roll
, and blues
musician
, though he was frequently considered rockabilly
and sometimes primitive jazz
. He generally performed as a one-man band
, playing guitar and drums at the same time.
Adkins is considered one of the pioneers of the psychobilly
genre.
, where he lived his entire life. Although many sources list 1937 as his year of birth, his official website states that the year of his birth is actually unknown, citing "a missing family Bible
" that lists his birth as "April 29, 193?." He was the youngest of 10 children, raised in a tarpaper shack on property rented from a local coal company. Adkins was both severely depressed
and hyperactive as a child. Adkins reportedly attended four days of school in total and devoted the vast majority of his energy to becoming a musician. For supplemental income, he occasionally repaired and sold items like cars or washing machines.
s, and is responsible for the birth of Norton Records
, Psychobilly
, and a dance called "The Hunch".
He was well known for shrieking certain catchphrases, such as "hot dogs," "I want your head," "Gimme that commodity meat", and "AaaaaaaaaaaaaHeeeeeeeeeeee-Wooo!!!!"
Recurring themes in Adkins' work include love, heartbreak, police, death, decapitation, hot dogs, aliens
, and chicken. Adkins often noted in interviews that his primary heroes and influences were Hank Williams Sr., Jimmie Rodgers
, Little Richard
, and Col. Harlan Sanders
, the inventor of Kentucky Fried Chicken.
Some of his best-known songs are "She Said," "No More Hot Dogs," "My Blue Star," "The Hunch," "Beautiful Hills," "We Got A Date," "Chicken Walk", and "Sally Weedy Waddy Woody Wally."
Adkins recorded an entire album devoted to chicken entitled Poultry in Motion that included such songs as "Chicken Run," "Chicken Hop," "Chicken Flop," "Chicken Wobble," and "Chicken On The Bone."
In addition to making many albums and CDs, Adkins also appeared in several movies and television shows.
Adkins was also the subject of the Julien Nitzberg
documentary The Wild World Of Hasil Adkins, distributed by Appalshop
.
, such as Joe Coleman
and John Zorn
. Hasil Adkins had a strong influence on the band The Cramps
, as well as the Flat Duo Jets
, who have recorded him. All three bands have played various shows together in different combinations. Adkins' cult status
is kept alive to the present day by the growing appreciation of, and demand for, outsider music and primitive rock and roll
.
Hasil Adkins made an appearance in the cult film Die You Zombie Bastards!
as himself.
On April 15, 2005, Adkins was deliberately run over in his front yard by a teenager on an ATV
. The perpetrator was apprehended by police (after running over another person a short distance down the road from Adkins' house), and Adkins identified him in a picture the police showed him. Ten days later, on April 25, Adkins was found dead in his home.
LP releases
Appalachia
Appalachia is a term used to describe a cultural region in the eastern United States that stretches from the Southern Tier of New York state to northern Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia. While the Appalachian Mountains stretch from Belle Isle in Canada to Cheaha Mountain in the U.S...
n country
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
, rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
, and blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
, though he was frequently considered rockabilly
Rockabilly
Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music, dating to the early 1950s.The term rockabilly is a portmanteau of rock and hillbilly, the latter a reference to the country music that contributed strongly to the style's development...
and sometimes primitive jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
. He generally performed as a one-man band
One-man band
A one-man band is a musician who plays a number of musical instruments simultaneously using their hands, feet, limbs, and various mechanical contraptions. The simplest type of "one-man band" — a singer accompanying themselves on acoustic guitar and harmonica mounted in a metal "harp rack" below the...
, playing guitar and drums at the same time.
Adkins is considered one of the pioneers of the psychobilly
Psychobilly
Psychobilly is a fusion genre of rock music that mixes elements of punk rock, rockabilly, and other genres. It is one of several subgenres of rockabilly which also include thrashabilly, trashabilly, punkabilly, surfabilly and gothabilly...
genre.
Early life
Adkins was born in Boone County, West VirginiaBoone County, West Virginia
As of the census of 2000, there were 25,535 people, 10,291 households, and 7,460 families residing in the county. The population density was 51 people per square mile . There were 11,575 housing units at an average density of 23 per square mile...
, where he lived his entire life. Although many sources list 1937 as his year of birth, his official website states that the year of his birth is actually unknown, citing "a missing family Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
" that lists his birth as "April 29, 193?." He was the youngest of 10 children, raised in a tarpaper shack on property rented from a local coal company. Adkins was both severely depressed
Clinical depression
Major depressive disorder is a mental disorder characterized by an all-encompassing low mood accompanied by low self-esteem, and by loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities...
and hyperactive as a child. Adkins reportedly attended four days of school in total and devoted the vast majority of his energy to becoming a musician. For supplemental income, he occasionally repaired and sold items like cars or washing machines.
Musical career
Nicknamed "The Haze," Adkins claimed a repertoire of over 9,000 songs, including over 7,000 original compositions (though it has been said he has been known to have grossly exaggerated these figures), recorded scores of small, micro-label 45Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
s, and is responsible for the birth of Norton Records
Norton Records
For the Canadian independent record label of the same name, see Matt Minglewood.Norton Records, a New York City based independent record label founded by musicians Miriam Linna and Billy Miller, maintains a focus on primitive, retro rock'n'roll, rockabilly, garage punk, garage rock, lounge music...
, Psychobilly
Psychobilly
Psychobilly is a fusion genre of rock music that mixes elements of punk rock, rockabilly, and other genres. It is one of several subgenres of rockabilly which also include thrashabilly, trashabilly, punkabilly, surfabilly and gothabilly...
, and a dance called "The Hunch".
He was well known for shrieking certain catchphrases, such as "hot dogs," "I want your head," "Gimme that commodity meat", and "AaaaaaaaaaaaaHeeeeeeeeeeee-Wooo!!!!"
Recurring themes in Adkins' work include love, heartbreak, police, death, decapitation, hot dogs, aliens
Extraterrestrial life
Extraterrestrial life is defined as life that does not originate from Earth...
, and chicken. Adkins often noted in interviews that his primary heroes and influences were Hank Williams Sr., Jimmie Rodgers
Jimmie Rodgers (country singer)
James Charles Rodgers , known as Jimmie Rodgers, was an American country singer in the early 20th century known most widely for his rhythmic yodeling...
, Little Richard
Little Richard
Richard Wayne Penniman , known by the stage name Little Richard, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, recording artist, and actor, considered key in the transition from rhythm and blues to rock and roll in the 1950s. He was also the first artist to put the funk in the rock and roll beat and...
, and Col. Harlan Sanders
Colonel Sanders
Harland David "Colonel" Sanders was an American fast food businessman who founded the Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant chain, now re-branded as KFC...
, the inventor of Kentucky Fried Chicken.
Some of his best-known songs are "She Said," "No More Hot Dogs," "My Blue Star," "The Hunch," "Beautiful Hills," "We Got A Date," "Chicken Walk", and "Sally Weedy Waddy Woody Wally."
Adkins recorded an entire album devoted to chicken entitled Poultry in Motion that included such songs as "Chicken Run," "Chicken Hop," "Chicken Flop," "Chicken Wobble," and "Chicken On The Bone."
In addition to making many albums and CDs, Adkins also appeared in several movies and television shows.
Adkins was also the subject of the Julien Nitzberg
Julien Nitzberg
Julien Nitzberg is an American film director, script writer, and theatre director.Nitzberg directed the musical The Beastly Bombing in Los Angeles and the documentary film The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia, a portrayal of The White Family, who have been called "the most extreme...
documentary The Wild World Of Hasil Adkins, distributed by Appalshop
Appalshop
Appalshop is a media, arts, and education center located in Whitesburg, Kentucky, in the heart of the southern Appalachian region of the United States....
.
Later years and death
After the mid-1990s, Adkins began performing less often, though he retained his popularity with music critics and other celebrants of outsider musicOutsider music
Outsider music, a term coined by Irwin Chusid in the mid-1990s, are songs and compositions by musicians who are not part of the commercial music industry who write songs that ignore standard musical or lyrical conventions, either because they have no formal training or because they disagree with...
, such as Joe Coleman
Joe Coleman
Joe Coleman may refer to:*Joe Coleman , American Major League Baseball pitcher*Joe Coleman , American Major League Baseball pitcher...
and John Zorn
John Zorn
John Zorn is an American avant-garde composer, arranger, record producer, saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist. Zorn is a prolific artist: he has hundreds of album credits as performer, composer, or producer...
. Hasil Adkins had a strong influence on the band The Cramps
The Cramps
The Cramps were an American rock band, formed in 1976 and active until 2009. The band split after the death of lead singer Lux Interior. Their line-up rotated much over their existence, with the husband and wife duo of Interior and lead guitarist Poison Ivy the only permanent members...
, as well as the Flat Duo Jets
Flat Duo Jets
Flat Duo Jets was a rockabilly band from Chapel Hill, North Carolina and Athens, Georgia. They were a major influence on several bands of the 1990s and 2000s, including The White Stripes. In interviews, Jack White has often acknowledged Dexter Romweber's influence...
, who have recorded him. All three bands have played various shows together in different combinations. Adkins' cult status
Cult following
A cult following is a group of fans who are highly dedicated to a specific area of pop culture. A film, book, band, or video game, among other things, will be said to have a cult following when it has a small but very passionate fan base...
is kept alive to the present day by the growing appreciation of, and demand for, outsider music and primitive rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
.
Hasil Adkins made an appearance in the cult film Die You Zombie Bastards!
Die You Zombie Bastards!
Die You Zombie Bastards! is a feature length film from Zombastic Productions . Shot in 16mm film between 2001 and 2003, the film premiered theatrically in 2005 and was released on DVD in North America and The United Kingdom in 2007...
as himself.
On April 15, 2005, Adkins was deliberately run over in his front yard by a teenager on an ATV
All-terrain vehicle
An all-terrain vehicle , also known as a quad, quad bike, three wheeler, or four wheeler, is defined by the American National Standards Institute as a vehicle that travels on low pressure tires, with a seat that is straddled by the operator, along with handlebars for steering control...
. The perpetrator was apprehended by police (after running over another person a short distance down the road from Adkins' house), and Adkins identified him in a picture the police showed him. Ten days later, on April 25, Adkins was found dead in his home.
Partial discography
CD releases- Out to Hunch, Norton Records.
- The Wild Man, Norton Records.
- Peanut Butter Rock and Roll, Norton Records.
- Moon Over Madison, Norton Records.
- Chicken Walk, Dee Jay Records (Germany).
- Look at that Caveman Go!, Norton Records.
- Live in Chicago, Pravda Records.
- Achy Breaky Ha Ha Ha, Norton Records.
- Drinkin My Life Away, Shake It Records
- What the Hell was I thinking, Fat Possum Records.
- Poultry in Motion, Norton Records.
- Night Life, Creeps Records.
LP releases
- White Light/White Meat, Norton Records.
- Night Life, Hog Maw Records
External links
- Hasil Adkins Official Site
- http://www.hasiladkins.com/biography.php Official biography
- http://www.cmt.com/artists/az/adkins_hasil/bio.jhtml CMT biography
- In Memory Of Hasil Adkins
- Hasil Adkins Discography
- Hasil Adkins at FindAGrave.com
- http://www.ionet.net/~tslade/adkins.htm
- http://www.rockabilly.nl/artists/hadkins.htm
- http://www.grandrapidsrocks.com/haze/
- http://www.grandrapidsrocks.com/haze/haze2.htm