Meet Master Hatter Harry Brock
The Only Master Hatter East Of The Mississippi Who Gifts Clients With Timeless, Camera-Ready Headwear
Story by Candace Dantes | Photos by Jill Burnsed
Photo by Jill Burnsed
The autumn day’s hat-shaping request: the modified brick on a Milano Hat Co. original. A sought-after style often worn by country music singer-songwriter Cody Johnson. Master hatter Harry Brock gets his hat steamer goin’. While that precipitates a mist, Brock ensures a snug fit on his client.
At least one finger above the eyebrow, one finger above the ear. Then, his custom work commences. Give or take 30 minutes. The delicate process is a continual rotation of molding, folding, rolling, creasing, bending, pressing, and kneading.
Photo by Jill Burnsed
“The hat is just a blank canvas when it comes out of the box,” said the 67-year-old awarded English and Western rider. He’s the only master hatter east of the Mississippi who cleans, shapes, and repairs Western headwear with his level of professional finesse.
His fascination with cowboy hats matured around age 13. Brock spent much of his youth with my grandparents in Toccoa, Georgia, the northeast foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
“Every spring my grandfather, Jeff Yearwood, ordered a John B. Stetson open road hat,” said Brock, who is also third cousin of country singer Trisha Yearwood. “At the end of the summer, we would go downtown to The Men’s Store to pick it up.”
Photo by Jill Burnsed
Grandpa Yearwood taught Brock how to dress. Become a gentleman. As Brock got older, he drew closer to country Western fashion culture. Fixated on the art of fitting, shaping, and properly brushing hats.
Between the 1970s until 1989, the North Georgia cowboy worked Western stores throughout the Peach State. His standard customer pickup line: “Pick out something you don’t like, and let me talk you into buying it because I need the money,” he said, chuckling to storefront memories.
Brock actually met and grew to know John Milano, then-president of the largest manufacturer of men’s headwear in the country, Milano Hat Co., headquartered in Dallas, Texas.
The hatter and Milano crossed paths in Doraville, Georgia, when Brock worked at C&M Western Wear. Milano paid a personal visit to the store. “He was an extremely nice and friendly gentleman,” Brock said. “He wore a crisp hat. A cattleman crease with a 3-inch brim.” Recalling that Milano’s hats were handwoven in Italy at the time, Brock added assuredly: “Mr. Milano knew quality and prided himself in the quality of his hats.”
Photo by Jill Burnsed
The master hatter has restyled tractor-trailer loads of Western headwear in his lifetime. Once, shaping a $2,000 beaver hat for a client. Now settled in Forsyth, Georgia, Brock is known as “The Hat Man” of Branded Starr Western Store in the downtown district.
In between part-time store orders, Brock keeps his skills sharp. He regularly fashions hats inside his 35-year-old former delivery barn of rough-cut lumber at Quail Hollow Farm. The 25-acre property is home to 23 horses, 16 laying hens, two goats, and a clowder of snow-white felines scurrying about.
Photo by Jill Burnsed
It’s where Brock serves as the full-time barn manager, teaching local youth and parents the art of both English and Western riding. He’s got the winning ribbon wall art to prove it. Oodles plastered across his barn-housed hat bar.
As the decades come and go, Brock has continued to keep a pulse on cowhand and agriculture fashion trends in between riding lessons. “I like that Lainey Wilson doesn’t wear the same style hat all the time,” he said. “I appreciate versatility, not cookie cutter.”
Photo by Jill Burnsed
After all, he lived a traveling lifestyle of shaping hats on TV sets for the 1979 action show “The Dukes of Hazzard” and 1988 drama “The Heat of the Night.” “Bo Duke” actor John Schneider was a personal friend of C&M’s owner. “He would come to the store, hang out, and sign autographs during Christmas,” Brock said.
Brock’s past portfolio of entertainment clientele included lead singer Donnie Van Zant of Southern rock band 38 Special; country singers and songwriters Travis Tritt, Danny Shirley, and David Allan Coe; film producer John Anderson; and former NFL coach Jerry Glanville.
Photo by Jill Burnsed
“All of my work comes from industry referrals,” he said. In the equestrian world, he’s shaped hats and showed horses (world champions and reserve world champions) at the All-American Quarter Horse Congress – titled the largest single-breed horse show in the world held in Columbus, Ohio; American Paint Horse Association World Championship Show in Fort Worth, Texas; and World Appaloosa Show in Fort Worth.
He’s skilled in showing both Western and English, including carriage driving shows with gaited American Saddlebred and quarter horses.
Valuable wisdom Brock gained from retail, on the road, and in horse arenas: The customer is always right. Take the money. Suck it up buttercup so you can get it done.
Brock’s personal hat collection stocks 15- to 20-year-old mainstays. His hue preference: all black. Cattleman or brick crease. Hats that are practically bulletproof in their durability. Classically crafted in Hollywood-worthy vigor. Each hat he’s shaped for cattlemen, farmers, rodeo contestants, riding students, Nashville singers, and cinema stars are distinctive snippets of his personality. Manifestations of his sheer respect for country Western lifestyles.
“My grandfather passed away before he got the chance to see me as a hatter,” Brock said with a demure smirk. “I would have loved to shape a hat for him.”
Photo by Jill Burnsed
Hints From A Master Hatter
Meticulous about how to select and care for a cowboy hat, Brock offered these habits to guarantee your headwear experiences lasts for family generations to appreciate and customize easily:
- Avoid off-the-wall colors when investing in your first-ever hat. “Black is always a good color to start with because it goes with anything,” he said.
- Avoid tossing your cowboy hat into a closet haphazardly. “When you’re not wearing it, place it back inside the original box if you kept it,” he said, “or turn it upside down instead.”
- Keep your hat stored in a cool, dry place. “Whatever you do,” Brock said lowering his eyebrows, “don’t put it on the bed. It’s bad luck.”
Photo by Jill Burnsed
About Justin’s contributing writer:
Candace Dantes is a fourth-generation cowgirl and award-winning communicator based in the Georgia Black Belt Region. The print-to-digital journalist has contributed to and collaborated with brands like the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Wrangler, Cowboys & Indians Magazine, USA Today: 10 Best, National 4-H Council, REI Co-op, and Visit Fort Worth. Photo by Jill Burnsed (@jillburnsedphotography).