Born in
Logan County, West Virginia, Hutchison worked as a
coal miner at various mines in Logan County, both before and after his career as a recording artist. His exposure to
Appalachian music came at an early age because his grandfather played fiddle and banjo in Logan before he died in 1903 in a mining accident. In 1904, the railroad first came to Logan County and exposed Hutchison to African-American blues and pre-blues. Hutchison is said to have walked with a limp, possibly as a result of a mining accident. Between 1926 and 1929, Hutchison recorded 41 sides for Okeh, of which nine were unissued. Three of the issued sides and three of the unissued were recorded with Sherman Lawson, a Logan County fiddler; others featured Hutchison's guitar, harmonica and voice. Hutchison also performed in the "Okeh Medicine Show," released by Okeh in 1929. Some years after his recording career had ended and after he left the Logan County coal mines, Hutchison and his wife operated a store in
Lake, West Virginia, where he also served as postmaster. His family lived above the store. The store burned down, Hutchison lost everything and reportedly developed alcohol problems thereafter. He worked as a riverboat entertainer on the
Ohio River and eventually moved to
Columbus, Ohio. He died in 1945 at a
Dayton, Ohio hospital, of
liver disease, aged 48. He is buried in a hillside family cemetery in
Lake, West Virginia. Hutchison is considered to be one of the finest performers of the "white country blues" genre of early
folk music. One of his more famous recordings is "The Train That Carried My Girl From Town." His recording of "
Stackalee" was included in Harry Smith's 1952
Anthology of American Folk Music, and influenced a number of musicians during the 1950s and 1960s
folk revival. Hutchison's songs have been covered by or have influenced
Doc Watson,
John Fahey,
Bob Dylan,
Mike Seeger,
Roscoe Holcomb,
Cowboy Copas,
Frank Fairfield,
Chris Smither, and
Charlie Parr. He was inducted into the West Virginia Music Hall of fame in 2018. ==Original discography==