Personnel: Hawkshaw Hawkins (vocals, guitar); Rita Robbins (vocals); Grady Martin (guitar, electric guitar, fiddle); Chet Atkins (guitar, electric guitar); Eddie Hill, Bennett K. Schaeufele, Herb Johnson & The Impacts, Hank Garland, Carl Garvin, Ray Couture, Jim Hall, Al Chernet (guitar); Claude J. Phelps, Jethro Burns (electric guitar); Walter Haynes (steel guitar); Thomas Lee Jackson Jr., Bobby Atcheson (fiddle); "Papa" John Gordy, Floyd Cramer, Marty Gold, Owen Bradley, Anita Kerr (piano); Farris Coursey, Buddy Harman (drums).
Recording information: King Studio, Cincinnati, OH (09/??/1946-09/04/1958); RCA Victor Studio, New York, NY (09/??/1946-09/04/1958); Thomas Productions, Nashville, TN (09/??/1946-09/04/1958).
Illustrators: Les Leverett; R.A. Andreas.
Photographers: Les Leverett; R.A. Andreas.
Hawkshaw Hawkins was one the biggest country artists of the 1940s and '50s, with an amiable mix of honky-tonk and country boogie. CAR HOPPIN' MAMA, part of Bear Family's GONNA SHAKE THIS SHACK TONIGHT series, is a sharp 33-track compilation of his recordings for King and RCA, a companion piece to the label's three-disc Hawkins box, HAWK, which features his complete RCA and Columbia work.
