Contests

LISTEN LIVE

Creator Of Huck Hats Will Be At Plymouth’s Art In The Park Show This Weekend

This weekend is Plymouth’s Art in the Park event. There will be all sorts of art, vendors and much more. One of the vendors is native Detroiter, Huck Johns with…

Huck Johns

Huck with musician Rami Jaffee from the Foo Fighters

Huck Johns

This weekend is Plymouth's Art in the Park event. There will be all sorts of art, vendors and much more. One of the vendors is native Detroiter, Huck Johns with his Huck Hats display.

Some of you may recognize that name. Huck's band, Broken Toys was formed in the mid-90s, featured Johnny "Bee" Badanjek from Mitch Ryder and the Wheels on drums. He even went on to score a cowriting credit on Kid Rock's 2004 album. He's worked with some of rocks biggest names, including putting out his own music simply called HUCK in 2006. Check out his music here.

During covid, Huck made the decision to move his wife and son from Los Angeles, California to a Nashville, Tennessee suburb where he created art, including custom marionettes, which he hand made. He also started drawing, which you can see here.

Huck's life would change while walking into a local Franklin, Tennessee bar. "I walked in wearing a 100x beaver felted hat I had originally purchased from a retail shop, and rebuilt, reshaped it into an open road , distressed it pretty good added a few unique features and it became "my everyday Huck Hat"" He said he got a lot of compliments. Someone asked him right away where he'd gotten that hat. That's when the lightbulb went off. "We can make hats and sell them!!"

Since he's started making these hand crafted hats, people like Jake Kizska from Greta Van Fleet, Struggle Jennings, Waylon's grandson, Butch Walker, even the CEO of Barrett Firearms, Chris Barrett all have hats from Huck. He said he has orders from Yella Wolf, Peter Keys, Rickey Medlocke, Bryce Soderberg, Carlos Alomar, Mike Wolfe, Uncle Cracker, Jimmy Hall, Larry Fleet, Tim Montana, Alex Williams, C Thomas Howell among others.

That's the very shortened story of Huck and how Huck Hats were born. Take a look at his webpage and visit him this weekend in Plymouth.

Pictures of his marionettes and hats are below....

-Meltdown-

huck-2.jpgHuck Johns

A Custom Marionette Huck created.


huck-1.jpgHuck Johns

Another Custom Marionette


huck6.jpgHuck Johns

Struggle Jennings showing off his Huck Hat.


huck5.jpg

Huck with John Wayne's grandson, Brendon.


huck4.jpgHuck Johns

Huck with musician Rami Jaffee from the Foo Fighters


huck-7.jpgHuck Johns

Huck and Jake Kizska from Greta Van Fleet


huck-8.jpgCristine Setzer

The late Jeff Beck with his Huck Hat

MeltdownEditor
Meltdown started on the mighty WRIF on the evening of Halloween, 1995. Technically, his first on-air shift was the morning of November 1st. Moving to the Motor City from Buffalo, N.Y., he has built a career and family. Over his almost three-decade stint at RIFF, he's had the privilege to work with some of the biggest personalities in Detroit radio history. He boasts of being just the second-afternoon drive jock in the station's illustrious 53-year history. Along with his love for rock music and attending concerts, he's also an avid Harley-Davidson enthusiast and hockey player. He plays year-round and manages to squeeze in a few charity games throughout the year. Meltdown writes about the Detroit Red Wings, rock music, and Detroit concert venues.