Hal Cannon's Music
A visit to his cousin David Pollei's home when he was about 12 years old changed Hal Cannon's life. When Pollei set an LP of old-time bluegrass music on the turntable, Cannon was transported. It might have been some primal echo. It could have been the drone of banjo. Or it was the foot tapping to a beat on the cabin floor that conjured an exotic scene. Who knows? It just made Cannon want to learn and play folk music.
As a teen, he took lessons from Salt Lake folk luminaries Rosalee and Jim Sorrels and Bruce (Utah) Phillips. He used to watch TV after school with the sound turned low, playing the guitar along to the action in front of him. Later he scored about a dozen films and attributed his love of matching music to the moment to that boyhood TV exercise. In junior high school he formed a band that lasted through high school called the Stormy Mountain Boys. When a sophomore at East High School in Salt Lake City, he organized the Folk Music Club which became the largest club in the school. Later, it was his friendship with Tom Carter and Chris Montague that took him on a musical journey that explored jug band music, old-time country music, rock 'n' roll and other roots sounds.
It was 1972 when Hal, Rich McClure and two of Hal's second cousins, Mark and Steve Jardine, got together to form the Deseret String Band. He performed and recorded with the band performs and records also known as The Bunkhouse Orchestra as for almost 30 years. These days Cannon's primary interest is writing songs and playing in a new group, the Second Hand Band, with friends Tom Carter and Jim Agutter. They are currently at work on their first album.
Hal Cannon The Deseret String Band DSB History Discography
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