Frank Hutchison

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"Frank Hutchison"

Frank Hutchison (born March 20, 1897 West Virginia - died November 9, 1945 Dayton, Ohio) was an early country blues 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 County, West Virginia, United States, both before and after his career as a recording artist. Hutchison participated in medicine shows 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 music. 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.