[1][5] He was raised on a farm in Magnolia, Arkansas, but by his early twenties was working in a box factory in Beaumont, Texas.
By 1957, he had relocated to El Paso, Texas, and found employment playing at the Lobby Club in Juárez, Mexico.
He remained there for over thirteen years, releasing several singles in the early 1960s on local record labels.
These were followed by two more albums for Alligator Records, Border Town Legend (1996) and Swinging from the Rafters (1997).
In 1999, Hunter teamed up with Lonnie Brooks and Phillip Walker to release Lone Star Shootout.