Charles Sawtelle (1946 to 1999) was the guitarist in Hot Rize, the Colorado band that won the first IBMA Entertainer of the Year award in 1990. He played guitar in the band from 1978 to 1990 and stood in as the silent bass player Slade in its alter ego, Red Knuckles and the Trailblazers. He died of leukemia at age 52. The IBMA put Hot Rize in its hall of fame in 2025.
Why Sawtelle matters
Sawtelle showed that a bluegrass guitarist can be strange and still serve the band. His solos wandered into places other flatpickers did not go, yet his rhythm playing held one of the tightest bands of the 1980s together. He also said the thing every jam guitarist needs to hear: you do not have to play all the time. When the guitar drops out, people can hear the singer.
Life and career
Sawtelle was born on September 20, 1946, in Austin, Texas. He lived in small towns across the western United States and Canada before he settled in Boulder, Colorado, in the late 1970s. He started on steel guitar, then moved to acoustic guitar and bluegrass. He held a degree in visual arts and worked as a potter. Before Hot Rize he played in the Colorado band Monroe Doctrine.
Hot Rize formed in Boulder in 1978 with Pete Wernick on banjo, Tim O’Brien on mandolin and fiddle, Mike Scap on guitar, and Sawtelle on bass. Scap left, Sawtelle moved to guitar, and Nick Forster joined on bass on May 1, 1978. That four-man lineup held for twelve years. The band recorded two albums for Flying Fish, then Traditional Ties in 1985, Untold Stories in 1987, and Take It Home in 1990 for Sugar Hill. Mid-show the band changed clothes and came back as Red Knuckles and the Trailblazers, a country comedy act in which Sawtelle played Slade, a bass player who never spoke.
Hot Rize won the first IBMA Entertainer of the Year award in 1990, and Take It Home earned a Grammy nomination. The band stopped full-time work that year. Sawtelle then played with Peter Rowan, formed his own band, the Whippets, produced records for other artists, and started writing songs. His first was The Butcher’s Dog. He built a studio called Rancho DeVille in a stone outbuilding near Boulder.
Doctors diagnosed Sawtelle with leukemia in 1993. He had a bone marrow transplant in 1997 and kept recording between treatments. He died on March 20, 1999. Laurie Lewis finished his last project, and Acoustic Disc released it as Music from Rancho DeVille in 2001. Proceeds went to the IBMA’s Bluegrass Trust Fund.
Playing style
Sawtelle played a herringbone Martin D-28 and collected vintage Martins. His breaks took odd turns. He would leave the expected melody for a phrase that came from blues, old-time, or Cajun music, then land back in the tune. Hot Rize’s hall of fame page calls it a guitar style shaped by an artistic temperament.
His other trademark was restraint. He believed a bluegrass guitarist did not need to play through every bar, and he dropped out to let the vocals breathe.
Influences and legacy
Sawtelle listened to Bill Monroe, Lead Belly, Blind Willie Johnson, the Stanley Brothers, the Carter Family, and Woody Guthrie. Among guitarists he admired Norman Blake and Clarence White. He played beside Tim O’Brien, Pete Wernick, and Nick Forster for twelve years, and after Hot Rize he worked with Peter Rowan. His last album drew in about 35 friends, including Norman Blake, Vassar Clements, Sam Bush, David Grisman, Jerry Douglas, Michael Doucet, and Flaco Jiménez. Bryan Sutton took the guitar chair when Hot Rize returned in 2002. In 2012 the band dedicated a bench to him at Chautauqua Park in Boulder.
Signature tunes and songs
The Butcher’s Dog Colleen Malone.
Essential recordings
Traditional Ties, Hot Rize (Sugar Hill, 1985) Untold Stories, Hot Rize (Sugar Hill, 1987) Take It Home, Hot Rize (Sugar Hill, 1990) Music from Rancho DeVille (Acoustic Disc, 2001)
Awards and honors
IBMA Entertainer of the Year, Hot Rize (1990) Grammy nomination, Take It Home, Hot Rize (1990) IBMA Song of the Year, Colleen Malone, Hot Rize (1991) Colorado Bluegrass Music Society Hall of Honor (2011) International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame, as a member of Hot Rize (2025)
Watch and listen
Sawtelle takes the guitar break on Sally Ann with Hot Rize. Watch how he steps away from the tune and comes back.
What to learn from Sawtelle
Learn Colleen Malone from Take It Home. It won IBMA Song of the Year in 1991, and the guitar’s job on it is to support the singer and fill the gaps. The technique to steal is his silence. In your next jam, stop playing during one verse and come back in for the chorus. Listen to how much the singer gains. Sawtelle built a career on knowing when the guitar should shut up.
Sources
Charles Sawtelle, Hot Rize Hot Rize History, 1978 to Present, Hot Rize Hot Rize, Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and Museum Hot Rize, IBMA award recipients Charles Sawtelle, Colorado Bluegrass Music Society Hall of Honor Charles Sawtelle, Music from Rancho DeVille, Laurie Lewis Charles Sawtelle, Music from Rancho DeVille, Vintage Guitar Charles Sawtelle, Music From Rancho DeVille, Discogs Charles Sawtelle, Wikipedia
Related players
See the guitar players hub and the guitar guide for more bluegrass guitarists. Sawtelle looked up to Norman Blake and Clarence White. He played with Peter Rowan after Hot Rize, and Bryan Sutton took his place when the band came back.