On October 4, 1957, the day the Soviet Union launched the Sputnik 1 satellite, Hodges made a memorable appearance on the game show Name That Tune.

He partnered with Major John Glenn, the future astronaut and U.S. senator, in an event later dramatized in the 1983 motion picture The Right Stuff.

In 1963, Hodges played a supporting role as Billy Jones opposite fellow child actor Kevin Corcoran in Johnny Shiloh, which originally aired as two episodes of Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color.

In the early 1990s, the adult Hodges appeared live on a talk show on Swedish TV, where he played guitar and sang "I'm Gonna Knock on Your Door".

In 1959 at age 12, Hodges became Mississippi's first Grammy Award winner for his contribution to the original Broadway cast album of The Music Man, on which he sang a solo ("The Wells Fargo Wagon") and was credited as lead singer on the song "Gary, Indiana".

He occasionally gets in touch with his old show business friends and still writes songs, although he is no longer able to play guitar due to spinal nerve injuries.

Hodges survived the passage of Hurricane Katrina, which ravaged coastal areas of Mississippi and Louisiana in August 2005; he informed his fans that he was fine after being without water, electricity and telephone/internet contact for 19 days until local utilities were finally restored.