Al Hawkes

Hawkes died on December 28, 2018, at the age of 88.

In 2013 Todd Hutchisen of Acadia Recording Company (a small recording studio in Portland, Maine) purchased all of the original recording equipment from Event Records and relocated and repaired the 1/4” mono tape decks, Altec stereo mixing board, Ampex 350s, real tape delay, spring reverb, and original RCA, Shure and EV microphones for use at Acadia. That equipment has been used to record several split 45 vinyl records with groups looking to recreate the iconic rockabilly sound.

In 2010 Andrew Jawitz made a 47-minute documentary, The Eventful Life of Al Hawkes, which was broadcast on the Maine Public Broadcasting Network and shown locally.

After his 80th birthday, then-Senator Olympia Snowe delivered a tribute to him in the Congressional Record, calling Hawkes "a Maine and national treasure."

In 1956 Hawkes formed Event Records, an independent label out of Westbrook, Maine with Richard Greeley. Together they recorded many high-profile artists including Dick Curless, Hal Lone Pine, Charlie Bailey, Lenny Breau, and Curtis Johnson. Event Records operated until 1962 when the warehouse of its Boston distributor was destroyed by a fire and thousands of records were lost, putting the company out of business.

In 1951, during the Korean War, Hawkes entered the Maine National Guard and was stationed in North Africa, where he was a disc jockey for Armed Forces Radio and performed for the troops. Here he had the opportunity to learn how to use up-to-date recording equipment. When he returned from North Africa, he went to Boston to the Massachusetts Radio and Broadcast School for two years, obtained his First Class Broadcast License, and graduated as an honor student.

Hawkes was born in Providence, Rhode Island but moved back to his family's homestead in Westbrook, Maine when he was 10, in 1941.

In the late 1940s Hawkes built a pirate radio station broadcasting at 1210KC on the AM dial, which he shut down in 1949 after the FCC learned of his illegal operation. He was soon was broadcasting five days a week from WLAM radio in Lewiston, Maine.

In the 1940s Hawkes performed as one half of the duo Allerton & Alton, the first interracial duo to play bluegrass. They performed live and on radio shows until 1951, despite the heavily segregated climate of the time.

Al Hawkes (December 25, 1930 – December 28, 2018) was an American musician, founder of Event Records, and pioneer of the American bluegrass movement. He received state and national accolades, including being recognized as a member of the first generation of bluegrass musicians by the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Kentucky.