You may have seen Yvonne Hutchison around Bakersfield College campus or in her Institutional Development office, and assumed she was a normal Jane. You wouldn’t assume she knew how to play the violin, and guitar, and actually made her living for years playing gigs.
Hutchison, who is a department assistant, grew up in a musical household. Her father also played country music and knew how to play violin, guitar, bass and up-right bass. Hutchison’s mother played piano and her brothers could play the violin and viola. Music was an important part of Hutchison’s life, and she was involved in band and orchestra throughout middle school.
The Bakersfield native learned violin at a young age, and after graduating from East High School in 1965, decided music was a career she wanted to pursue. Her father showed her the basics of a guitar, and she began to practice singing and playing country music and gospel songs. Soon after she started playing at fairs from California to Nevada and through Alabama.
“I used to know probably.400 to 500 songs,” Hutchison said. She would usually take requests from people, playing country songs she learned by listening to the recording and decoding chords by ear.
Hutchison recalled an experience when a bar owner kept requesting the same song, but she had to play it because, “she was paying me.”
For about 15 years, Hutchison made her living traveling and playing music for people. She loved the traveling and playing shows but did not like to stay in a new place for very long because she didn’t know anyone. Hutchison said most of the people were very nice and she enjoyed performing for them but recalled a show in Alabama when a man was pounding on her door and threatening her life because she refused to have a drink with him.
Most of her musical career Hutchison worked through Buck Owens’ agency and was never signed by a record company. Before working with the agency, she was almost picked up by a record label. While traveling to Visalia to watch Hutchison perform, her manager, who was in the process of getting her a record deal, was tragically killed in an automobile accident. After the accident, hope for being signed dissolved, which led to working for the agency. Hutchison has not played seriously since 1981, when she returned home to get her Associate of Arts degree at BC, and to help her mother who had been diagnosed with cancer. Hutchison was involved in speech, performed in a play and worked for KPMC radio station. In 1984 Hutchison earned an AA in liberal arts and transferred to Cal State Bakersfield, but after a year away returned to BC, this time as an employee.
Hutchison has worked at the college ever since. She never seriously pursued her music career since because she has been busy working. Hutchison has composed music for BC English teacher Nancy Edwards’ poems at certain BC events, even outside of the college and in Santa Barbara. Hutchison plans to start playing again and says she has been writing lyrics and creating music. She wants to play contemporary Christian music.