The Freight Hoppers are a four-piece string band presenting hard-driving Old Time music with an emotional, raw excitement that keeps one foot planted in the past and the other in the present. Of course that's only when they keep their feet still!
The band started presenting their energetic take on fiddle band music four times a day, seven days a week at the Great Smoky Mountains Railway shortly after forming in 1992. Their repertoire includes music that was first recorded in the late 1920's and early 1930's and spans geographically from Mississippi to West Virginia.
The heart of the band is the fiddle and clawhammer banjo combo of Merritt Smith and Frank Lee, while the rhythm section of Allie Burbrink on guitar and Andy Smith on string bass hold down the ensemble. Based out of the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina, The Freight Hoppers draw from a deep source of rural southern music for their inspiration, and they are proud to present this music that is still meaningful today.