Frank Hutchison (born March 20, 1897
West VirginiaWest Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, and Pennsylvania and Maryland to the northeast...
- died November 9, 1945
Dayton, OhioDayton is a city in and the county seat of Montgomery County, Ohio, United States, in the southwestern part of the state. The population was 166,179 at the 2000 census. The Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 848,153 in the 2000 census. Dayton is the fourth largest...
) was an early
country bluesCountry blues refers to all the acoustic, mainly guitar-driven forms of the blues. After blues' birth in the southern United States, it quickly spread throughout the country , giving birth to a host of regional styles...
and
piedmont bluesThe term Piedmont blues, also known as East Coast blues, refers primarily to a guitar style, the Piedmont fingerstyle, which is characterized by a fingerpicking approach in which a regular, alternating thumb bass string rhythmic pattern supports a syncopated melody using the treble strings...
musician.
Hutchison is considered to be the first white man to record the blues, as he did on several tracks for Okeh records. He worked as a coal miner at the Fort Branch Coal Mine in
Logan CountyLogan County is a county located in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of 2000, the population was 37,710. Its county seat is Logan.Logan County was formed in 1824 from parts of Giles, Tazewell, Cabell, and Kanawha counties. It is named for Chief Logan, famous Native American chief of the Mingo...
,
West VirginiaWest Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, and Pennsylvania and Maryland to the northeast...
,
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, both before and after his career as a recording artist. Hutchison participated in
medicine showMedicine shows were traveling horse and wagon teams which peddled miracle medications and other products between various entertainment acts. Their precise origins unknown, medicine shows were common in the 19th century United States...
s in the 1920's and recorded for a stretch of only 3 years starting in 1926.
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Frank Hutchison (born March 20, 1897
West VirginiaWest Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, and Pennsylvania and Maryland to the northeast...
- died November 9, 1945
Dayton, OhioDayton is a city in and the county seat of Montgomery County, Ohio, United States, in the southwestern part of the state. The population was 166,179 at the 2000 census. The Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 848,153 in the 2000 census. Dayton is the fourth largest...
) was an early
country bluesCountry blues refers to all the acoustic, mainly guitar-driven forms of the blues. After blues' birth in the southern United States, it quickly spread throughout the country , giving birth to a host of regional styles...
and
piedmont bluesThe term Piedmont blues, also known as East Coast blues, refers primarily to a guitar style, the Piedmont fingerstyle, which is characterized by a fingerpicking approach in which a regular, alternating thumb bass string rhythmic pattern supports a syncopated melody using the treble strings...
musician.
Hutchison is considered to be the first white man to record the blues, as he did on several tracks for Okeh records. He worked as a coal miner at the Fort Branch Coal Mine in
Logan CountyLogan County is a county located in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of 2000, the population was 37,710. Its county seat is Logan.Logan County was formed in 1824 from parts of Giles, Tazewell, Cabell, and Kanawha counties. It is named for Chief Logan, famous Native American chief of the Mingo...
,
West VirginiaWest Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, and Pennsylvania and Maryland to the northeast...
,
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, both before and after his career as a recording artist. Hutchison participated in
medicine showMedicine shows were traveling horse and wagon teams which peddled miracle medications and other products between various entertainment acts. Their precise origins unknown, medicine shows were common in the 19th century United States...
s in the 1920's and recorded for a stretch of only 3 years starting in 1926. These few years however were quite productive with Frank recording over 30 songs, many released on 78rpm by the Okeh record company.
Hutchison is considered one of the finest performers of the "white country blues" genre of early
folk musicThe term folk music originated in the 19th century as a term for musical folklore. It has been defined in several ways; as music transmitted by word of mouth, music of the lower classes, music with no known composer...
. One of his more famous recordings is "The Train That Carried My Girl From Town." He was one of many recording artists whose recording career was ended by the Great Depression.
Unlike many miners of the day who found themselves increasingly in debt to the companies, Hutchison was able to save money and later opened a store in Lake, West Virginia, where he also served as postmaster. The store burned down and Hutchison reportedly developed alcohol problems after that. He worked as a riverboat entertainer on the Ohio River and eventually moved to Columbus. He died in 1945 at a Dayton Hospital of liver disease.
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