Back to Regular Business

The post below is a definite side-trip from the usual business of the blog. But I was asked to find any old photos I had of Uncle Walt's Band, a Spartanburg, SC, musical combo, and post them. Hence the 1971 archive. We will now return to our regularly scheduled program.

Uncle Walt's Band Archive

I came home from college in the fall of 1970 to find my best friend, Jimmy Hilton, hanging around with some musicians and playing in a band with them. (This was before the band was Uncle Walt's Band. As a commenter reminded me, they were the Walter Hyatt Consort at this time.) So I did a bit of hanging around with them too, and took these pictures.

Please enjoy them, but don't make copies for your own use without asking me. Thanks.

---

The following pictures were taken sometime in 1971, I believe. The setting is a rehearsal in the basement room of Walter's mom's house.

From left to right, the players are:

• Jimmy Hilton, who played piano and violin. (He was classically trained and never really graduated to "fiddle.") Jimmy died in a car wreck in 1973, at the age of 24.
• Champ Hood
• Walter Hyatt
• Kathy Hyatt, Walter's sister, on the drums
• David Ball

---

Walter Hyatt, playing and singing.

---

Kathy Hyatt on the drums.

---

Jimmy Hilton on piano.

---

David Ball on stand-up and electric bass.

---

A few more pictures from the rehearsal.

---

I took the following two pictures for a poster announcing an Uncle Walt's Band show at the Wofford Coffee House. They were both taken on the grass in front of the Coffee House.

---

This picture was taken at Myrtle Beach, where Uncle Walt's Band played a folk festival. It's the only picture I know of that shows Jimmy playing with the band. The high point of this festival, for me, was sitting in the dressing room with the band and listening to Doc and Merle Watson warm up.

---

Downtown Greenville, SC