Who is Doug Hutchens?

Answer 1

In 1963 his first guitar came from money earned priming tobacco

for 75 cents an hour, his dad, Aubrey got him a banjo for Christmas. He

learned the chords from his mom, Lillian and uncles Bruce and John.

He along with Doug and Larry Cobbler learned to play music when

their parents got together for the weekly Rook Game. Soon the boys started

playing with Marshall and Arthur Hall and Gervace Pendleton for a dance at the

Virginia Carolina Ruritan Building and later with Marshall and Cecil Hall on the

Mayo River Boys weekly radio program on WHEO.

In 1970 Doug attended Berea College where he and Glenn Lawson

started a group; The Phuzz Street Knucklebusters and the next summer

(1971) he had the opportunity to travel and perform with Bill Monroe and his

Blue Grass Boys from The Grand Ole Opry in Nashville Tennessee. Doug remained closely associated with the Monroe for the next 25 years.

The next few years brought a flurry of activities: as an actor in

Wilderness Road Outdoor Drama, doing after dinner speaches, writing

articles for bluegrass music periodicals, becoming a published song writer,

building banjos, doing mother-of-pearl inlay and metal engraving, and working road shows and TV with performers like Don Reno and Bill Harrell, the Goins

Brothers and Larry Sparks.

In 1984 he again joined Cecil Hall and the Dominions featuring Josh

Graves and Kenny Baker for two season . In 1986, through the encouragement of

Jim Litten, he started Blue Grass Today, a syndicated Bluegrass Radio

Program. The show featured weekly interviews with entertainers like Earl Scruggs, Bill Monroe, and Ralph Stanley. At one time Blue Grass Today could be heard on 54 stations from Alaska to Vermont and Texas to Virginia.

An interview for Blue Grass Today with Henry Juskiewictz, the

owner of the Gibson Guitar Company subsequently led to a job with the company. Doug became Product Manager/Director of Artist Relations for the Bluegrass Division and leader of a team that redesigned Gibson banjos to prewar

specifications. From 1988 until 1993 he traveled to bluegrass festivals

across the country, from Canada to Mexico and from Virginia to California. For

5 years he was the only American presenter on the Central Canadian Bluegrass

Music Awards Show held in Haliburton Ontario.

In 1996 Doug lost his friend and mentor Bill Monroe and it was at

Monroe's funeral he experienced one his saddest moments yet highest

honors. He was asked to take part in the services; calling the roll of former

band members in attendance.

In 2000 James Monroe, Bill's son, ask Doug to organize an annual

Blue Grass Boy Reunion . He commissioned Willard Gayheart to create a

set of prints for this event with a new print to be unveiled each year until

Monroe's 100th birthday. In 2003 he published "Howdy Folks, Howdy", a book of stories of life on the road with Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys.

Doug has been a lot of places and done a lot of things but he

says that he has two priorities these days: "to sit on the porch and spend time

with the family and be able to see Bull Mountain every morning on my way to

work. I missed both of those a lot when I was out there running around the

country. Mom, Dad and my sisters, Kathy and Vicki always encouraged me to follow my dreams and now it is time to stay alittle closer to home and catch up

with some of the things I missed. And Bull Mountain? Man, this Nation is

beautiful, but you can't beat Bull Mountain on a clear day".

Written and Submitted by Bill Sykes.