Biography
Traveling by car through the landscapes of Georgia and Tennessee quickly reveals the abundance of gullies that scar the terrain. Formed by countless waterways across alternately arid and waterlogged ground, these channels twist and multiply like countless strands of spaghetti. In the 1920s, earning the label “gully jumper” carried real weight, since reaching Nashville by automobile remained a cumbersome journey. Auto mechanic Paul Warmack grasped this reality when he assembled Paul Warmack & His Gully Jumpers, one of the standout acts during Nashville’s opening decade of country & western radio. The ensemble earned lasting distinction by cutting the first record ever made in the city, thereby launching what grew into a major Southern recording hub. As country music evolved dramatically from that era to the age of “Achy Breaky Heart,” a later incarnation of the Gully Jumpers containing only a single founding member became one of the final casualties when the Grand Ole Opry began excising old-time acts from its roster in the early 1960s. Around 1927, however, old-time music—through the collective efforts of many hands on strings, bows, and frails—demonstrated that a nationwide listenership existed for country sounds, and at that time old-time music simply was country music. Warmack launched the Gully Jumpers in 1927 as an adjunct to his automotive repair shop, having previously treated pop songs of the period as a casual pastime on mandolin or guitar. The original lineup also featured guitarist Burt Hutcherson, banjoist Roy Hardison, and fiddler Charlie Arrington. Warmack and Hutcherson further performed as a duo whose suppertime broadcasts served as a warm-up for the evening program. Their pioneering Nashville release paired a version of “Tennessee Waltz” distinct from the later Pee Wee King hit with the B-side “Little Red Caboose Behind the Train.” The group subsequently recorded fiddler Oscar Stone’s “Stone Rag,” a piece associated with the rival ensemble Dr. Humphrey Bate and the Possum Hunters. Much like harmonica player DeFord Bailey, the act settled into a comfortable routine of brief Grand Ole Opry appearances. By the time the group disbanded in 1960, Hutcherson remained the sole original member, and no further recordings or stylistic changes occurred. Selections by the Gully Jumpers surface on both the LP and CD editions of Nashville: The Early String Bands issued by County, while the Document compact disc Nashville, 1928 aims to document the full history of gully jumping.