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Captain T (Tom Hunnicutt) : Arkansas Years - Part One
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A blending of old country/mountain music with a folksy bluegrass flavor of story telling.
Genre: Country: Country Folk
Release Date: 2005
Arkansas Years - Part One
Captain T (Tom Hunnicutt)
Record Label: White Swan Records
  • Buy CD - $13.95
  • Download Album (MP3) - $9.99

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Preview Song Name Time Buy
1. Spring River Eulogy 4:19 + MP3 $0.99
2. Arkansas 2:49 + MP3 $0.99
3. Joanie 3:01 + MP3 $0.99
4. The Cotton Fields in the Bottoms 3:21 + MP3 $0.99
5. A Better Side of Me 5:07 + MP3 $0.99
6. The Compass & The Square 3:17 + MP3 $0.99
7. Mountain View 5:20 + MP3 $0.99
8. Little Pony 3:45 + MP3 $0.99
9. Wild Mountain Honey 3:02 + MP3 $0.99
10. Chasing the Fiddle 3:10 + MP3 $0.99
11. The Natural State Song 3:21 + MP3 $0.99
12. Marine Hymn (Instrumental) 2:08 + MP3 $0.99
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Album Notes

CAPTAIN “T”

(Arkansas’ Folk Music Ambassador)

Captain “T” is the alterego of one “Tom Hunnicutt”, who currently resides in Williford, Arkansas. Tom was born in Chicago, Illinois and moved to Arkansas with his mother, brothers and sister at age 11. Fro that point on Tom was raised in the Opposition Community, a few miles south of Ravenden and his current home and just off Spring River, where he played, fished and enjoyed life as a teenager. He attended school in one of the old “One Room School Houses” where the teacher taught all the grades up through the eight grade. His mother, Odell Linda Perry Hunnicutt raised nine of her eleven children right there in Opposition.

Tom learned to play the guitar as a young boy and started singing early in his life and he tells us he’ll be singing when he dies most likely. He first started singing all the old Gene Autry tunes, but as time passed he found himself copy cating all the country and folk singers of his day. In 1956 he joined the United States Marine Corps and served twice in South Vietnam. Even during his combat days all the country boys took their music boxes with them and jammed in places most of us would never consider. Just imagine sitting on a bunker playing away with someone yelling, “Hey, you nuts, that is INCOMING!!!” Well, they just moved inside, but kept playing, as if it was more important than heading for cover.

The term Captain “T” goes a bit further than his Marine Corps days as he was also commissioned into the California National Guard Reserves, as a Captain during the mid-late 1980s. He soon found himself becoming the Commanding Officer of the 502nd Infantry Battalion, 5th Infantry Brigade, which was commanded by Colonel David Patton (the nephew of the late General Patton). However, during that period his health became an issue and in the late 1980s he had to resign his commission. After a period of recovery the doctors recommended he return home to Arkansas and truly retire. Returning home to Arkansas the state he loved and missed helped him recover, but not fully and he became disabled do to a number of war-related problems and injuries. Therefore, you’ll notice he now sits in a chair while playing his guitar, as he could loose his balance without notice, and he has had one too many bad falls…which adds to his list of injuries.

Captain “T”s music is unpretentious and home grown with a few laughs and tears, but it will take you back in time to the good old days. Yet, even the young can relate to his songs, as they reflect a bit of today…for Arkansas is the Natural State, and no body can take that away from you and no body can change it either. A proud heritage is worthy of having songs wrote about it! That’s also why they call him Arkansas’ Folk Music Ambassador.

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REVIEWS

Escaping From Today
author: Faye Tyler
                            
Hi Tom, just found your album in the attic and played it after many years. It still sounds good.We are from Laurel, Md and yougave us your album,good to see you are still playing. After many years andyou are from arkansas. My father was born in arkansas..Love to hear from you ...Faye and Johnny Tyler
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This CD is a great blend of roots and fresh green leaves
author: Red Truck Radio
                            
Tom Hunnicutt's music reflects roots deep in Arkansas, as in "Arkansas" and "Spring River Eulogy", but also his life experience as a marine in Viet Nam in "A Better Side of Me". These songs ring true. They are brought to life by the skill and enthusiasm of the players: Tim Crouch on fiddle and Doug Driesel on Bass Guitar, and also by Tom's jaw harp. The Bluegrass version of The Marines Hymn is an example of how Tom Hunnicutt thinks outside the box and creates something unique. Definitely worth the money!
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Songs of Arkansas radiating with a nostalgic glow
author: Joe Ross, Bluegrass Now
                            
Playing Time – 42:39 -- Tom Hunnicutt (Captain “T”) hails from a small town in northern Arkansas that is only 67 miles from the home of Jimmy Driftwood. It’s no wonder that this current “Arkansas Folk Music Ambassador” wrote one of his songs, “Mountain View,” to honor the memory of Jimmy and his hometown. In fact, all of Hunnicutt’s songs are about Arkansas and his life experiences including service in Vietnam as a Marine. Besides playing guitar and singing, Captain “T” also plays the jaw harp like Driftwood used to do on occasion. For instrumental support, Tom enlisted the inimitable Tim Crouch on guitar, mandolin, banjo, fiddle, and rhythm drum. The Arkansas state champion fiddler fills the country, folk and bluegrass soundscapes with highly accomplished musicality that complements Tom’s downhome vocals. The twin fiddles on “Joanie” are perfectly alluring for this slower country number. Doug Driesel also showcases his solid abilities on bass guitar and as the harmony vocalist. A bluegrass arrangement of “The Marines’ Hymn” features Ernie Lewis and Kenny Walters. Captain “T” is interested in getting his music more widely heard, and a couple of his songs (“Spring River Eulogy” and “Chasing The Fiddle”) have been featured on Volumes 80 and 81 of the Prime Cuts of Bluegrass samplers. I enjoyed hearing his stories and visualizing this Arkansawyan’s images of home. Folks from that region should especially enjoy this minstrel’s uplifting statements about the “land of plenty, land of awe” called Arkansas. Hunnicutt is trying to get the State of Arkansas to make “The Natural State Song” the first state song with that image. Jimmy Driftwood’s music eventually became marred by over production that included continual snare drumming and slick Nashville harmonies. Hunnicutt wisely keeps his music more minimalist, and it radiates with a nostalgic glow that emphasizes his love of homestead, hearth, family and God. (Joe Ross)
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