J D Barham

Chet Hasting was born August 10, 1937, in Jesse, OK. His father worked building roads with horses in the oil fields, but machinery came along and the expense convinced them to move California, Oregon and, in 1942, to Tacoma, WA.
Although music was part of his heritage, a knock on the door from a instrument salesman and music teacher got him playing the guitar. And his first guitar was a $10.00 Stella which he later, of course, up-graded. While in high school, Chet played in several school bands, but he became influenced by the late Merle Haggard, the late Chet Atkins, the late Roy Acuff, the late Hank Thompson, and, of course, the late Bob Wills, as well as others.
Chet entered our Military and was stationed in Hawaii where he began to play music in the military clubs. In 1959, being released from the Military, Chet returned to Washington, but hooked up with a band playing in and around Miles City, MT. But he returned to Tacoma and began playing in clubs in the western area of the state. He met up with artists such as Buck Owens, Ira Allan, Chubby Howard, Bill Garner, Loretta Lynn, and others. But he also worked for Boeing.
He also met his lovely wife, Betty, in 1964. They had one son – Larry – who became a music manager. Chet also met and helped Harvey Thomas of Thomas Guitars. And Chet played with a lot of locals such as the Jim Miller Band, Valley Drifters, Fun Country, but mostly with the Cherokee Band.
Having a stroke in 1998, he thought his playing days were over, but with the encouragement of his family and musician friends he got back to playing. Cole Shelton got Chet involved in the “Country/Western Music Assn.” Chet got back into many music varieties, but got quite involved with the Northwest Western Swing Music Society.
Chet is not only a great musician, he’s a great guy, and a come-back artist.