Biography
Among the earliest string bands featured on the Grand Ole Opry, Paul Warmack and the Gully Jumpers consisted of Paul Warmack on mandolin, guitar, and vocals, fiddler Charlie Arrington, banjoist Roy Hardison, and guitarist Burt Hutcherson. Warmack was born 16 August 1889 in Whites Creek, Tennessee, and died 2 July 1954; Arrington was born in 1893 with his death date unknown; Hardison, born William Roy Hardison on 19 July 1896 in Maury County, Tennessee, died 11 February 1966; and Hutcherson was born in 1894 and died 10 July 1980. In their working lives Warmack operated an automobile repair shop, Hardison served as a garage foreman, Arrington worked as a farmer, and Hutcherson practiced woodworking. Hardison sat in from time to time with other ensembles and had already performed with Dr. Humphrey Bate’s Possum Hunters before linking up with Warmack and Hutcherson. Beyond their regular Saturday Opry appearances, Warmack and Hutcherson also hosted an early-morning WSM program billed as the Early Birds. When the Victor Company arrived in October 1928 to capture performances by several Opry acts, the Gully Jumpers ranked among the first Nashville groups to enter a recording studio; Victor cut 69 sides in total but ultimately released only 36. The label’s first issued release—marking the initial commercially available Nashville recording from a major company—was the Gully Jumpers’ coupling of “Tennessee Waltz,” distinct from the later Pee Wee King–Redd Stewart hit, with “The Little Red Caboose Behind The Train” on Victor V-40067. Four additional instrumentals were recorded, yet only “Robertson County” and “Stone Rag” saw release, after which the band never returned to the studio. They continued on the Opry roster for two decades until deaths among various Opry musicians prompted management to consolidate surviving players into merged groups. Hutcherson later gave guitar lessons in Nashville for many years.