Champ Hood

Carroll DesChamps "Champ" Hood (August 16, 1952 – November 3, 2001) was an American singer and multi-instrumentalist.

After moving to Nashville, in 1972 they met Willis Alan Ramsey, who persuaded them to perform and record in Texas.

After that, they moved back to Spartanburg to record their eponymous debut record.

They disbanded in 1975 so they could form new bands.

Hood and Hyatt returned to Nashville and performed in a band called the Contenders.

In 1978, they reunited with Ball to re-form Uncle Walt's Band.

They appeared on Austin City Limits in 1980, then broke up again in 1983 to pursue solo careers.

In the late 70s and early 80s, Hood regularly performed at EmmaJoe's at the Alamo Hotel with Butch Hancock, David Rodriguez, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, and Ray Wylie Hubbard.

Hood performed with Lyle Lovett, Kelly Willis, and Guy Clark on guitar and fiddle.

He also performed with Blaze Foley, Mandy Mercier, Sarah Elizabeth Campbell, and with David Halley.

For eleven years, in the late 80s and for most of the 90s, Hood performed with Jimmie Dale Gilmore's band in a weekly Wednesday night gig at Threadgill's.

When Gilmore signed with a major label, Hood took over the Threadgill's Troubadours (Marvin Dykhuis, David Heath, and Ron Erwin) for a reincarnation of the Threadgill's Restaurant's Wednesday night Singin' and Supper Sessions.

Hood played in singer Toni Price's band for more than nine years.

Price's Tuesday night "Hippie Hour" early show at the Continental Club also featured guitarists "Scrappy" Jud Newcomb, Rich Brotherton, and Rick "Casper" Rawls.

In 1982, Hood married Elizabeth Haynes.

They had one son, Warren Hood.

They divorced in 1985.

This is a partial list of recordings which feature Champ Hood as performer and/or composer.

After Uncle Walt's Band broke up the second time, David Ball went on to record successful country albums (beginning with Thinkin' Problem in 1994).

Hood's son Warren Hood is a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and singer who toured as a member of The Waybacks.

He has also performed and/or recorded with Lyle Lovett, Joan Osborne, Emmylou Harris, Little Feat, Elvis Costello, the Bodeans, Susan Tedeschi, Gillian Welch, and Alejandro Escovedo.

His own band – Emily Gimble keyboards, vocals), guitarist Willie Pipkin (guitar), Nate Rowe (bass), and Corey Keller (drums) – have recorded and toured extensively.

Champ's nephew Marshall Hood plays lead guitar in the Americana band The Belleville Outfit, with Toni Price, and with his own band, the Bads.

Walter Hyatt died in 1996 in the ValuJet Flight 592 plane crash in the Everglades.

In spring of 2001, Hood was diagnosed with cancer.

He was working on his first and only solo album when he died.

Bon Haven was released posthumously on January 20, 2002.

Toni Price recorded her album Born to be Blue in 2003, with each song intended as a tribute to Champ Hood, with whom she had been so close.

He was inducted into the Austin Music Memorial in 2011, the Austin Chronicle’s Texas Music Hall of Fame in 2000, and was a five-time recipient of the Austin Best String Player Award.

Hood grew up in Spartanburg, South Carolina.

His mother was a housewife and his father owned a lumberyard.

Hood learned to play Dobro resonator guitar in his early teens, then he played electric guitar in local band Washington Subway.

In his senior year of high school, Hood met Walter Hyatt.

Their first collaboration was the Walter Hyatt Consort.

When David Ball joined them, they formed Uncle Walt's Band.

When they decided a fiddle player would be a good sound for their band, he learned to play the fiddle as an adult.

Champ also had a vocal range of almost three octaves.