Established in 1978,[1] Hot Rize has appeared on national radio and TV shows, and has toured most of the United States, as well as Japan, Europe and Australia.

[2] Hot Rize started performing January 18, 1978, with Tim O'Brien on mandolin and fiddle, Pete Wernick on banjo, Charles Sawtelle on bass and Mike Scap on guitar.

[3] Scap left the band with Nick Forster (electric bass) joining in April, thereby allowing Sawtelle to switch to acoustic guitar.

[7] When touring, Hot Rize often incorporates a performance as a Western swing band called Red Knuckles and the Trailblazers.

[8] Hot Rize often performs the theme song to the now defunct "Martha White Biscuit and Cornbread Time", a radio show in the late 1950s and early 1960s on Nashville station WSM featuring Flatt and Scruggs.