Steve Hall(1954-2018)
- Actor
- Producer
- Director
An aspiring country/rock musician from Brainerd, Minnesota, Steve Hall found his fame in the form of a hand-made cowboy puppet he purchased at a Minnesota pet and hobby store for $40. Hall and his puppet, now christened "Shotgun Red", crashed Ralph Emery's local Nashville morning television show with the intent of promoting the upcoming appearance of Hall's band (Southbound '76) in Seagrams 7 Battle of the Bands contest, and wound up with a job offer to become a recurring guest on Emery's upcoming "Nashville Now" talk show on The Nashville Network.
Viewers of "Nashville Now" grew fond of Shotgun Red, with the character receiving more fan mail than any other personality at The Nashville Network, despite the fact that Red only appeared on "Nashville Now" two times a week. Red's (and by extension Hall's) popularity continued to skyrocket with the creation of official Shotgun Red plush toys, recurring appearances in the final years of "Hee-Haw", a 1986 Christmas special, as well as becoming the host of his own weekly Country music video presentation series: "Country Clips".
Hall and Shotgun Red remained staples of The Nashville Network from it's launch in 1983 until the channel's rebrand to The National Network in 2000, and continued to maintain a devoted fanbase with countless live appearances all around the United States. In 2011, RFD-TV (a spiritual successor to The Nashville Network) recruited Hall and Red to host their own program entitled "The Shotgun Red Varity Show", which lasted for four seasons. Beginning in the mid-1990s, Hall and his band began performing "The Shotgun Red Show" live aboard the Nashville-based General Jackson showboat, which lasted for 15 years (the longest tenure of any act featured on the showboat).
In December of 2018, Steve Hall passed away of natural causes while visiting family in Brainerd, Minnesota.
Viewers of "Nashville Now" grew fond of Shotgun Red, with the character receiving more fan mail than any other personality at The Nashville Network, despite the fact that Red only appeared on "Nashville Now" two times a week. Red's (and by extension Hall's) popularity continued to skyrocket with the creation of official Shotgun Red plush toys, recurring appearances in the final years of "Hee-Haw", a 1986 Christmas special, as well as becoming the host of his own weekly Country music video presentation series: "Country Clips".
Hall and Shotgun Red remained staples of The Nashville Network from it's launch in 1983 until the channel's rebrand to The National Network in 2000, and continued to maintain a devoted fanbase with countless live appearances all around the United States. In 2011, RFD-TV (a spiritual successor to The Nashville Network) recruited Hall and Red to host their own program entitled "The Shotgun Red Varity Show", which lasted for four seasons. Beginning in the mid-1990s, Hall and his band began performing "The Shotgun Red Show" live aboard the Nashville-based General Jackson showboat, which lasted for 15 years (the longest tenure of any act featured on the showboat).
In December of 2018, Steve Hall passed away of natural causes while visiting family in Brainerd, Minnesota.