Brainerd native Steve Hall, comedian and the voice of "Shotgun Red," died of natural causes at the age of 64, WSMV-News4 in Nashville, Tenn., confirmed with his son on Saturday, Dec. 29.
Hall, along with his puppet Shotgun Red, was a regular guest on The Ralph Emery Show and later on Emery's "Nashville Now." Hall and Red also made a number of appearances on "Hee Haw" and The Grand Ole Opry.
"He was one of the most talented individuals I have ever met," Emery told News4 after news of Hall's passing.
Hall died of natural causes on Friday, Dec. 28, in his hometown of Brainerd, where he was taking a trip to go ice fishing.
"My dad died doing what he loved-fishing and hanging out," Steve Hall Jr. told News4.
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Hall gave his last performance on Dec. 26, just two days before his death.
According to a 2011 interview with the Grand Rapids Herald Review, Steve Hall began incorporating the puppet into his act in 1980.
"I bought Shotgun Red for $40 in a pet and hobby in Brainerd, Minn.," Hall told the Herald Review in the 2011 interview. "And I started using him in my band up around the Minnesota area as the emcee; put a little cowboy hat on him and used him to introduce the guys in the band."
That same year Hall and his band competed in The Battle of the Bands, winning the Minnesota title, sending them to nationals in Nashville, Tenn.
While in Nashville, and with the assistance of a local music promoter, Shotgun Red crashed "Ralph Emery's Morning Show." Emery later invited Hall to join him on "Nashville Now," a partnership that lasted 10 years, the Herald Review reported.
Hall also made regular appearances on "Hee Haw" for close to 10 years, and hosted The Nashville Network's first music video show, "Country Clips," for six years. He also hosted "The Shotgun Red Variety Show" on RFDTV, a channel featuring country music and appeared on "Buckmasters" on The Outdoor Channel.
Hall and Shotgun Red were also a regular feature on the General Jackson showboat, The Tennessean newspaper in Nashville reported, and once boasted the nation's second-largest country music fan club with 100,000 members, according to The Tennessean archives.
Along with Emery, Shotgun Red put out a children's album on RCA, according to the newspaper.
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Hall was inducted into the Minnesota Rock & Country Hall of Fame in Medina in 2006.
