Biography
Fiddler Sherman Lawson from West Virginia stands out as the sole accompanist who ever cut sides with country blues guitarist Frank Hutchison. Growing up in the state, he learned from one uncle’s chopping thumb-and-finger banjo technique and received a gourd fiddle from another relative, taking up the instrument around age eleven. During a 1964 conversation with Mike Seeger, Lawson noted that “What Will We Do With the Baby-O?” was the first piece he mastered. Later he trained as a carpenter, married, and kept performing at square dances despite his wife’s disapproval.
Lawson encountered Hutchison shortly before the pair traveled to New York to record for Okeh in 1928. By then Hutchison had absorbed influences for years from Black guitarist Bill Hunt, who had performed in the coal camps since roughly 1910. Hutchison derived both his slide-guitar approach and much of his repertoire from Hunt, and those were the numbers the duo captured. Lacking formal training, Hutchison’s singular style forced any accompanist to adjust completely; Lawson proved one of the rare musicians granted that opportunity. The sessions proved productive, though the pair reportedly earned more by entertaining a large group of Marines on the return train. Once Okeh issued several tracks, local gigs followed throughout their home county.
Lawson maintained steady daytime employment, and his inability to arrange time off ended further work with Hutchison. He also withdrew from fiddle contests after judging shifted from panels of professionals to audience votes, believing the change rewarded showmanship and antics over substantive playing. Lawson retained his technical command and impressed Seeger during a performance at age seventy-one, yet he never resumed public appearances and passed away several years afterward.
Lawson encountered Hutchison shortly before the pair traveled to New York to record for Okeh in 1928. By then Hutchison had absorbed influences for years from Black guitarist Bill Hunt, who had performed in the coal camps since roughly 1910. Hutchison derived both his slide-guitar approach and much of his repertoire from Hunt, and those were the numbers the duo captured. Lacking formal training, Hutchison’s singular style forced any accompanist to adjust completely; Lawson proved one of the rare musicians granted that opportunity. The sessions proved productive, though the pair reportedly earned more by entertaining a large group of Marines on the return train. Once Okeh issued several tracks, local gigs followed throughout their home county.
Lawson maintained steady daytime employment, and his inability to arrange time off ended further work with Hutchison. He also withdrew from fiddle contests after judging shifted from panels of professionals to audience votes, believing the change rewarded showmanship and antics over substantive playing. Lawson retained his technical command and impressed Seeger during a performance at age seventy-one, yet he never resumed public appearances and passed away several years afterward.