The Steel Guitar Forum

Have some friends here in NJ who make Western-style hats. Curious to know how many Forum members wear Western-style hats, and when?

I have several Stetson hats, that I bought at the factory outlet in St Joseph, Mo when I lived in Kansas City. Still wear them sometimes on jobs.

I usually wear nothing on my head, but when requested I'll wear a cowboy hat if part of a uniform look.

I got a call for a gig with a "Hot New Country" band a month ago, and showed up in my usual initial-sit-in uniform: Black western shirt, black jeans, straw (it's summer, mind you) cowboy hat.

Talk about feeling old! Everyone in the band wore un-tucked plaid shirts open so that their t-shirts were exposed, and baseball caps. I ditched the hat, pronto!!

FYI, a bit of Texas cowboy hat etiquette: Straw hats are only for summer wear, while felt hats are appropriate year round. If you're wearing a straw hat in January's 20 degree weather, it means all you have is a straw hat. It therefore behooves a Texas resident to have at least one of each to be fashionably correct, or own only a felt. Anything else = fashion risk.

I have a fabulous custom felt hat made for me by the Priest Hat Co. of Idaho and it is pretty much a high-fashion stage piece. I also have a couple of palm leaf hats (one of which appears in my avatar above) that I often wear when working in the hot sun, on stage or off....

Mine has seen quite a bit of use! But then,,,, so have my jeans. Always wear it with a nice Western sport coat though!

Australian Akubra's are my favorites. I have several.

Stetsons and Resistols...and a cheapie for when it rains

In my avatar pic I'm wearing an Australian oilskin cowboy hat that I bought at a store that sells western hats and clothing.

I wear a woven black hat that's been crushed and popped out several times ...and looks it....wear it while driving and playing..have others as well but this ones my favorite....was faded gray so I spray painted it....looks new sept for being crushed!

Thanks to everyone who viewed the poll, voted, and posted! Hope it will be interesting for everyone. Bump to the top for another round of voting.

Glenn

Usually I wear a ball cap of some sort, there are dozens around here. But I have always appreciated a good cowboy hat! My current faves are an Australian oiled waterproof leather hat, a crushable soft leather hat made by Minnetonka (both heavy), and a dark grey wool hat made by Pendleton (lighter, but still pretty warm). The only Stetson I currently have is a Panama-style straw number that I found for $5 in a Salvation Army store. I've had several good straw hats, but they always end up getting crushed in transit or just plum wore out.




Arlington, 2007 with Fred Daniel. Fred bought his left-handed Telecaster new in '52, mine is a '76, not as different as you might think! I don't have that guitar any more, and the hat was both wore out and crushed, so I haven't worn it in quite a while,:).

I don't need one. I still got my hair.
Peter

I always wear my hat's on the job.

love the boots, tony. nice!!

Peter Nylund wrote:I don't need one. I still got my hair.
Peter

God made only a few perfect heads. He put hair on the rest to cover up his mistakes.

I never wear a hat. After all, I'm one of the lucky ones. Why would I want to cover up such perfection?

Have never understood the "hat " thing, here in the UK we have clubs supposed to be for country music, but a lot of them are run by people dressed up as cowboys or Union and Confederate soldiers, with a lot of women dressed as bar girls, during the evening they have "shoot outs" competitions where they draw and fire replica guns either against the clock or against each other.To use a quaint old Scottish saying "it does my head in" between them and line dancers who want to dance to Madona or some such music, I quite often wonder what I am doing there, which brings me back to the original question NO I do not wear one, but have no objection to others who wear them daily in Texas or other places in the US where they can be and are worn as everyday dress, but in Glasgow on a wet winter evening --I don't think so.

Felt Dress hat


Summer Straw

Herb Steiner: the new Miss Manners of Cowboy Culture. Ok, Miss, here's one for ya: when is it de rigeur for a c'boy to remove his hat? Would it be:

a) in church,
b) when addressing a lady,
c) at the dinner table,
d) in synagogue,
e) when playing poker,
f) at the barber shop, or
g) none of the above?

No....dont suit me!

Base ball cap.....maybe

What Jaime said...

Cheaper than a hair Piece..

Joe, Have you priced a good felt hat lately? lol