Unknown Hinson

Artist Information

Biography

Looking somewhat like Dracula's nasty little brother who spent some hard years drinking and working as a carnival barker for a second-rate freak show, Unknown Hinson translates that vibe to his style of country and western-tinged psychobilly. The band is now touring nationwide, wowing audiences with outrageous and campy, white-trash persona and freewheeling, sleazy tone.

Hinson’s most recent CD release, "Live and Undead", melds weepy twang, searing guitar riffs and lyrics that speak of love-gone-bad. Recorded at a sold-out show, an enthusiastic honky tonk crowd sings along with the King on every song.

Raucous, theatrical and over-the-top, Unknown Hinson isn’t just for the trailer park set anymore!

Unknown is gaining notoriety in the 18-34 demographic as the voice of lead character "Early Cuyler" in the popular show from Cartoon Network - "The Squidbillies". The first four seasons were so well-received that an immediate green light was given to future seasons. Check website for dates and time slots.
http://www.adultswim.com/shows/squidbillies/

Unknown Hinson is a winner in Independent Music Awards for his entry alternative Country track "Torture Town" from the album "Target Practice".
http://www.musiciansatlas.com

Unknown Hinson is a featured artist for Reverend Guitars, representing them in many Guitar Player Magazine features. A signature Unknown Hinson guitar is currently part of Reverend's celebrity instrument lineup. www.reverendguitars.com

Rockabilly Magazine named Unknown Hinson as their "Find of the Year" www.rockabillymagazine.com

Check out YouTube for thousands of videos from various sources featuring the King of Country Western Troubadours. www.youtube.com/unknownhinson

Live interviews with Unknown Hinson along with his music are broadcast nationally on XM Radio's National Lampoon channel. (XM 154 along with FM radio partners). http://www.nationallampoonradio.com/

Sirius XM - Outlaw Radio has Hinson's tunes in regular rotation.

He's toured with Hank3, Rev. Horton Heat, the Boxmasters and Willie Nelson. Appearances on Jimmy Kimmel Live and other syndicated programming round out the list.

Hinson seems to collect quite a few celebrity fans. Billy Bob Thornton names Unknown as "one of my favorite songwriters and a genius picker". Matt Groening (creator of The Simpsons) labels Unknown as a "guitar maniac (and funny as hell to boot!)" Hank3 has Unknown's face tattooed on his bicep! Unknown was asked to join The Rolling Stones for sound check at their last show in Charlotte, NC. You must witness the encounter with Ed King (Lynyrd Skynyrd) in Nashville (www.youtube.com/Unknown Hinson, Ed King). You'll find Unknown Hinson's music everywhere from Snoop Dogg's movie "LA Spectacular" to the newest version of the action-adventure open world video game "Saints Row 3".

Be somebody! Book Unknown Hinson!

Manager/Booking Agent: Margo Baker
Margo@unknownhinson.com
Baker Arts
Office: 704 545 0380
Mobile: 704 804 0271
Skype: margo.baker

Hi-Rez studio photos at:
www.edrode.net/gallery
User:Unknown Password: Hinson
click on Unknown or Unknown studio galleries

Instrumentation

Unknown Hinson - Lead Guitar & Lead Vocals
Jimmy Church - Pedal Steel and Guitar
Rick Cutshaw - Vocals, Drums; Percussion
Hugh (Tuff) Blanton - Bass Guitar and Backup Vocals

Discography

21 Charttoppers (Uniphone Records)
The Future Is Unknown (Uniphone Records)
The Future Is Unknown (Capitol Records)
RocknRoll is Straight from Hell (Capitol Records)
Target Practice (Uniphone Records) May 2006
Live and Undead (Uniphone Records) October 2008
Untitled (Hinsong Records) Summer 2012

Official Website

http://www.unknownhinson.com

Links

• Facebook
• MySpace
• Show Photos - Oz Geier
• Flicker Photos
• Unknown meets Ed King on stage

Audio

• King of Troubadours
  Listen  
• Undead Blues
  Listen  
• Torture Town
  Listen  
• Barbie-Q
  Listen  
• Ugly Things
  Listen  
• Don't Bite the Lips
  Listen  
• Alkyholl Withdrawl
  Listen  

Video

Live Fan Reviews - Unknown Hinson Nashville

Unknown Hinson Alkyhol Withdrawl 03210 The Visulite Charlotte.mpg

Photo Gallery

Press

• Witnessing the Phenomenon [+ Show ]
  

  by Anthony Davis This is a tribute to one of the most obscure all-star guitarists, a chart-toppin...by Anthony Davis
  
  This is a tribute to one of the most obscure all-star guitarists, a chart-topping country western music troubadour and humorous, poison-pen lyricist- Unknown Hinson.
  Unknown Hinson carries quite a legacy in his website biography. Believe me, he's all that and more.
  His appearance at Sticky Fingerz in Little Rock was proof of a legend in the making.
  When Unknown Hinson entered stage-left, fans left their seats and crowded the venue's stage before he could manage an introductory chord - and most stayed there standing, alternately mesmerized and shouting. Unknown had 'em where he wanted 'em - where he could see their hands.
  Hinson prowled his corner of the universe like a black panther peering at his prey. When performing a stinging lead break, his face contorts into a mask of gritted teeth and lustful energy.
  Hinson's dark eyes look through you and past you as if one is but a briefly appearing ghost in his realm.
  Meanwhile the bent, greasy notes keep whailing, the ear-piercing solos keep on comin as he unwraps tunes like "Rock and Roll is Straight from Hell". Combining surfer speed licks frim Dick Dale to charming riffs from Chet Atkins or ripping, shredding take-off's in psychedelic rock a la Jimi Hendrix, Hinson has the bases covered.
  The sweat poured off his less-than-noble brow and glistened like diamonds on his eyelashes. At some point the amazement fades in to a level of musicianship as a standard unto itself, an expectation too easily taken for granted.
  That's when the faux side-burns, pancake makeup, midnight black pompadour, Hinson's whole persona dissolves into the musician known as the Unknown. I don't believe it is meant for us to know the real identity behind the persona.
  Unknown Hinson's music and guitar playing is larger than any pretense - mythic in proportion and Paul bunyan-like in its impact.
  It was better than I could have imagined.
  
  
  
  
  
  

• Viva el Unknown [+ Show ]
  

  May 02, 2006 I don't know that I've ever seen an undead rockabilly act, but Unknown Hinson defini...May 02, 2006
  
  I don't know that I've ever seen an undead rockabilly act, but Unknown Hinson definitely tops my list. He is like the reanimated spirit of Johnny Cash (in the bad old days) fused with a little bit of Hank Sr., George Jones and Elvis.Musically, Unknown is kind of like Southern Culture on the Skids with the camp factor turned up to 11.
  
  And really, what's not to love about a guy who has some kind of otherworldly footman onstage with him? Those of you who've perused my photos or been to a show know what I'm talking about. When you go to an Unknown show, you are getting an S-H-O-W and that's refreshing.
  
  His first tune, "Silver Platter," had a snake charmer rhythm and it generally made me want to pump my fist, drink moonshine and yell, "woo hoo!" That feeling never left me throughout the evening.
  
  I really did like everything about the show, from the songs ("I Ain't Afraid of Your Husband," "Party Liquor" and "I Make Faces (When I Make Love)" to name a few) to the stage banter, poses and props. Some of the tunes had a bluesy swagger while others were more in a C&W vein. Pretty much all of them had hilarious titles and lyrics, with catchy music to back it up.
  
  During "Pregnant Again," which is even better than it sounds, he pulled out a cap gun and started shooting. At another point his footman brought him a bottle of somethin' somethin' to swig onstage. He also did a version of "I Fought the Law" in which Unknown is the victor. That may be rewriting history but I feel he's laid a good claim.
  
  Some of the songs were downright lascivious in that dirty blues way, only with a disturbing twist. "Fish Camp Woman," anyone? With lyrics like "Baby, I like the way you smell" you cannot go wrong.
  
  

• Unknown Hinson Simple but Stinging [+ Show ]
  

  By MATT WEITZ / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News It was a tour through the quirk...
  By MATT WEITZ / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News
  
  It was a tour through the quirky side of country music Friday night at the comfortably full Granada Theater.
  
  The big draw was North Carolina's Unknown Hinson. If not exactly catapulted to fame by his role as the voice of Early Cuyler on the Cartoon Network's "Adult Swim" animated show Squidbillies, he's at the least been gently lobbed into notice.
  
  Early is an unregenerate backwoods maniac with a voice as hillbilly as a Mason jar full of moonshine. Mr. Hinson is a rockabilly madman in the mold of, say, Hasil Adkins with the selfsame voice.
  
  With his wicked widow's peak and mighty sideburns, both of which are a black so deep as to suggest the application of shoe polish, Mr. Hinson looks like the lovechild of Lux Interior and Eddie Munster.
  
  But he's no media concoction. Leading a minimalist trio (him on guitar plus a bassist and a drummer pounding a very basic trap set, he unspoiled a stinging series of Hendrix-like lines that could only come from an able musician.
  
  And there seems to be a lot of Early in Unknown – or is it the other way around? Songs like "I Ain't Afraid of Your Husband," "Peace, Love and Hard Liquor," and "I Make Faces (When I Make Love)" were all bracing antidotes not only for the impending cold but also the generally spiritless music foisted upon citizens by the mainstream music industry.
  

• The King is Undead [+ Show ]
  

  By Eric Waggoner THE MAN BILLY BOB Thornton called a "hillbilly vampire" is holed up in a Holiday...By Eric Waggoner
  
  THE MAN BILLY BOB Thornton called a "hillbilly vampire" is holed up in a Holiday Inn in Colorado, doing God knows what. It sounds quiet where Unknown Hinson is, but things have been known to jump off quickly where the "King" (as Hinson casually refers to himself) is concerned.
  
  One look at North Carolina's Unknown Hinson, and you know he's not the man with whom to mess. Merely the sight of Hinson's getup, Bela Lugosi by way of West Memphis, is enough to slap the smirk off of the toughest ersatz punk. The very occasional concert heckler is quickly treated to Hinson's flash-point temper, as documented on his ferocious Capitol EP, Rock and Roll Is Straight From Hell ("Hey, kiss my ass, hoss! I play what the hell I wanna play, when the hell I wanna play it, you got that? I'm talking to you, big'un!").
  
  To rip off Roger Ebert, Rock and Roll Is Straight From Hell, like all great records, isn't for everyone; only bad records are for everyone. A blend of Dadaist but note-perfect country-western tunes and the occasional "rawk" workout, its only drawback is its maddeningly short running time. But, as they used to crow, every song's a hit: "Love on Command" picks apart honky-tonk's jingo masculinity ("It's un-American for you to act this way"); "I Don't Mind" takes the lovelorn lament of a Faron Young (the King's only admitted idol) to its absurdist, horrifying extreme.
  
  As funny as the Dead Kennedys, as straight-faced as Merle Haggard, Unknown Hinson might have to change his moniker if his record hits like it deserves to. If you're starved for gooder-'n'-hell music, give the King a spin.

• Interview with Billy Bob Thornton [+ Show ]
  

  Could you make something that would eclipse Sling Blade? You never know, but that's sort of an ic...Could you make something that would eclipse Sling Blade?
  
  You never know, but that's sort of an iconic movie. I'd be lucky to have another one come out of me that I'm that proud of because it's something really close to my heart. And it's affected a lot of people.
  
  Is there anything you want to add?
  
  Yeah. I'd like to make The Unknown Hinson into The Known Hinson. He's a guy from North Carolina who's one of my favorite songwriters. He's a rockabilly vampire.
  
  A what?
  
  A rockabilly vampire, and he's hilarious. Go to unknownhinson.com and order his records and his videos. You'll be amazed.
  
  
  

• Rock n Roll is Straight from Hell [+ Show ]
  

  Written by Bryan A. Hollerbach If Country Weekly merged with Famous Monsters of Filmland, t...Written by Bryan A. Hollerbach
  
  If Country Weekly merged with Famous Monsters of Filmland, the magazine so formed might well focus its first cover feature on Unknown Hinson.
  
  Hinson recently released Rock ’n’ Roll Is Straight From Hell, his major-label debut, and the guitar-driven six-song EP, sincerely or otherwise, embraces the pop lunatic fringe enough to serve as a tonic to the sonic pabulum of most contemporary commercial country. Roughly a year ago, a local magazine named Hinson one of the ten scariest people in his hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina, and he certainly looks the part on the covers of the new disc: a creature of mutant sideburns, a gimlet eye, and a grin so ghastly that perhaps only professional Irishman Shane MacGowan may more need an orthodontist.
  
  Musically, Hinson plays to the hilt the role of the roadhouse rowdy, the trailer-trash troubadour. But don't let his appearance fool you - his red-hot guitar solos will convince any listener that there is a genius involved in this madness.

• Kitschy Hickabilly [+ Show ]
  

  Bill Picture, Staff Writer The dentally-challenged Southern crooner with the Roy Orbison-like je...Bill Picture, Staff Writer
  
  The dentally-challenged Southern crooner with the Roy Orbison-like
  jet-black pompadour and mutton chops sings kitschy hickabilly that's as much fun as a shotgun wedding or a monster truck rally -- and refreshingly politically incorrect. Gay rights activists and feminists will surely get a kick out of off-color ditties like "I Cleaned Out A Room In My Trailer For You," "Your Man Is Gay" and "Put Out Or Get Out."
  
  "Oh, get a sense of humor!"
  
  

• King of Sundance [+ Show ]
  

  Fathers, lock up your indie films: Unknown Hinson has been set loose on Sundance! Charlotte's own re...Fathers, lock up your indie films: Unknown Hinson has been set loose on Sundance! Charlotte's own redneck vampire singer will perform at this year's Sundance Film Festival, sharing the stage with none other than Tim Robbins. Robbins, billing himself as Gob Roberts, will perform songs from his film Bob Roberts. The show gets underway the night of Sunday, January 18; the festival itself will run from January 15-25.First, Billy Bob Thornton (whose rave about Unknown's musical prowess was widely quoted this past year); now, Tim Robbins. Given these Tinseltown connections, will Hinson soon be stalking starlets on Hollywood Boulevard?

• Unknown Hinson - UNbelievable
  

  http://www.steelbender.com/unknownhinson.html Online audio interview and tunes.

• UNKNOWN HINSON [+ Show ]
  

  In a famous 1974 concert review, Jon Landau wrote "I have seen rock and roll's future and its name i...In a famous 1974 concert review, Jon Landau wrote "I have seen rock and roll's future and its name is Bruce Springsteen." It was one of the last reviews he would ever write because shortly thereafter he became Springsteen's manager. Well, I have just had my Jon Landau moment. I have seen country music's future, and the future is Unknown. Unknown Hinson, that is.
  Unknown is the funniest artist to come along since the Austin Lounge Lizards or the Five Chinese Brothers, but where those guys were politically and socially aware, Unknown has only one thing on his mind - the art of love.
  Unknown is not a handsome man (he has only two teeth and his face is a composite of all the worst features of Elvis Presley, Richard Nixon and Vlad Dracula), but he is a born romantic. "Polly Urethane" is a touching love song to a blow-up doll ("I'm glad I chose to date you / it didn't take long to inflate you.") He's also brave ("I Ain't Afraid of Your Husband") and gallant ("I Cleaned Out a Room in My Trailer For You") and honest ("I Make Faces When I Make Love".)
  If you want a glimpse of music's future, grab up this CD today. And, Unknown, if you need a manager, call me.
  - Robert Loy
  

Setlist

UNKNOWN HINSON SHOW

AN EVENING WITH UNKNOWN HINSON

NO MORE THAN ONE SMALL OPENING BAND. WE PROVIDE ONE HOUR CD OF UNKNOWN'S FAVORITE ARTISTS AND OPTION OF PLAYING SQUIDBILLIES EPISODES - 15 MINUTES PER EPISODE.

ONE HOUR LIVE NON-STOP PERFORMANCE

THIRTY MINUTE BREAK

ADDITIONAL ONE HOUR PERFORMANCE PLUS ENCORE

Unknown stays at merchandise table at the end of each show until everyone in line has an opportunity to buy merchandise and have it autographed, or take pictures with Unknown Hinson.Bring your cameras - photos are welcomed.

SET LIST:

SILVER PLATTER
PEACE, LOVE & HARD LIQUOR
YOU AIN’T CALLIN THE LAW ON ME
UGLY THINGS
I MAKE FACES WHEN I MAKE LOVE
I AIN’T AFRAID OF YOUR HUSBAND
PREGNANT AGAIN
R&R IS STRAIGHT FROM HELL
POLLY URETHANE
TORTURE TOWN
YOUR MAN IS
I FOUGHT THE LAW, AND I WON
STALKING THE WILD SHE-BEAST
CLEANED OUT A ROOM IN THE TRAILER FOR YOU
LINGERIE
SATAN IN A THONG
LOVE ON COMMAND
I’M THE KING
BARBIE-Q
DON’T LOOK AT ME
TRUNK OF MY CADILLAC
FISH CAMP WOMAN
ALKYHOLL WITHDRAWL

Basic Requirements

PDF Rider

Unknown Hinson Contract and Riders 2012

Calendar