About Bubba Hopkins

The late Bob "Moss" and Donna Thompson, grandparents of Bubba Hopkins, are responsible for his interest in music. When he was 2, he began playing a plastic guitar with them at jam sessions. At 3, Bubba hit the stage with his guitar at the World Series of Fiddling held at Powderhorn Park in Langley, Oklahoma. There he met a retired fellow named Noel Peavler. Noel had just started playing the fiddle and would spend hours letting Bubba jam with him. At 6, Bubba decided he wanted to play the fiddle and began taking Suzuki violin lessons from Ruth Wilson then fiddle lessons from Dave and Monte Gaylord. He also started spending time in Missouri with Matt Wyatt, Junior Marriott, and Alita (Stoneking) Weisgerber who exposed him to Texas-style fiddling and recordings of fiddlers like Major Franklin, Benny Thomasson, Normon and Vernon Solomon, Louis Franklin, Terry Morris, Carl Hopkins, Wes Westmoreland, Ricky Turpin, Gordon Townsend, and Jason Crisp.

At 13, Bubba began his Texas mission meeting Bobby Christman for the first time in a Sonic parking lot and jamming in the back of a Yukon; Rex Gillentine at the Athens contest then spending a week with him learning guitar chords and listening to old recordings; Royce and Ray Franklin at Hallettsville and sitting behind them in a jam session with his tenor guitar; and Carl Hopkins, Wes Westmoreland, Steve Williams, and Anthony Mature sitting on the Fryers' porch at a jam. He learned that these musicians loved their music and loved sharing it. Not only have they made him the musician he is today, but they have also taught him lessons about life and respect.