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= Loney Hutchins =

Biography
A native of Appalachia, Hutchins grew up across the holler from Clinch Mountain with one foot in Virginia and the other in Tennessee. "Lonnie," spelled phonetically by his mother and her thick, south-Appalachian accent. Both of his parents could neither read or write. His songwriting and flatpicked guitar style are indicative of his upbringing, grounded by the hard life of poverty he was born into, while inspired by the region's natural beauty and the earliest sounds of Country Music. Hutchins left Tennessee for college through the GI Bill but returned for music in 1972 and soon finagled a job at the House of Cash after a short stint selling mobile homes in Madison, north Nashville. He inspired the character, "Loney," in Cash's '76 bicentennial rumination, "Sold Out of Flagpoles."

Hutchins set out on his own in the 80's, disillusioned by Nashville's increasing hesitance to support what he considered authentic country or "mountain" music. He started his own publishing label, Appalachia Recording Company, releasing a handful of 45's and one album, charting independently on Billboard and Cashbox, as well as appearing on the Opry from time to time through the 90's. He spent most of the following decades doing pioneering work in music therapy for traumatic brain injury survivors. Late in life he was forced to retire from a business he helped found in this field after ongoing legal battles, but took it as an opportunity to return to his music. Now in his 70's, Hutchins continues to write and perform when he's not spending time with his dogs, at the horse barn, or in the woods collecting stones and pictures to paint.