Official Bio...Who We Are!

In 1934, a potential advertiser called WBT's Charles Crutchfield to ask if the station had a hillbilly band to help advertise its products. Telling a fib, Crutch said "Yes," which led to the birth of the WBT Briarhoppers. The name comes from WBT announcer Bill Bivens who, during a hunting trip with Crutch, was startled by a rabbit jumping out of a thicket, and Bill yelled, "Look at that briarhopper!" At that moment, Crutch found the name for his hillbilly band.

The original band members were Johnny McAllister, Big Bill Davis, Don White, Thorpe Westerfield, Clarence Etters, and Jane Bartlett. The last original 1934 Briarhopper, Don White, died in 2003. Billie Burton Daniel, who joined the group in 1936, is happy and well in Wilmington, NC. Since that time, The WBT Briarhoppers' fans are/were Bill Monroe, Doc Watson, Earl Scruggs (who filled in on banjo a few times), Curly Seckler, Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, and many other entertainment stars.

In keeping with the tradition, the band kept going through the years by adding new musicians to those who left the station or who died. Today, Tom Warlick leads the band with their stage show including the old Briarhopper songs, new songs, and the original scripted commercials of Peruna, Kolor-Bak, Zymole Trokeys, and Radio Girl Perfume!  The band is proud to be the longest-continuing bluegrass band in the world.


The band has won the NC Folk Award, The Brown-Hudson Award, The NC Historians Award, The Artist Music Guild Lifetime Achievement Award, and have been honored with a NC Assembly declaration of their work in NC and the region, a Mecklenburg County Declaration of "Briarhopper Day," and are members of the WBT Radio Hall of Fame.



Enjoy this site and learn about the WBT Briarhoppers' storied past and the bright future that is ahead. Don't turn that dial...Hit's Briarhopper Time!