It’s not often, when searching an artist on this site that the result is a big, unambiguous, Nothing Found. Safe to say then, that anyone familiar with Meg Hutchinson would have had to have gleaned their knowledge elsewhere. And, in all likelihood, they would have had to have leant towards the more folky branch of americana.
With a diagnosis of Bipolar One Disorder, her work as a palliative care chaplain and the release of many works of poetry amongst a 25-year musical career, Hutchinson’s story is not a common one. Hutchinson grew up in the quiet hills of Western Massachusetts. Without TV or internet, Hutchinson recalls that there were so many quiet hours in the day that the stillness and intimacy with nature, the time for contemplation and thought, were formative lifelines. Inheriting her grandmother’s 1957 Martin guitar at the age of 12 fostered a love of both music and the written word for Hutchinson and was only enhanced by a subsequent degree in creative writing.
Moving to Boston drew Hutchinson into their vibrant songwriting community and included time spent busking in subway stations. Her first studio album Against The Grey attracted enough attention to earn her a number of folk awards in 2000, including the Kerrville New Folk Award In Texas. It was her 2004 album The Crossing that persuaded renowned folk/roots label Red House Records to sign her in 2007.
Hutchinson was to record three albums on the Red House label. 2008’s Come Up Full was heavily promoted and led to extensive tours on both sides of the pond. It was with her 2010 album The Living Side that first gave a glimpse of the path that Hutchinson would take away from music. The album included songs about suicide prevention on the Golden Gate Bridge and the crash of Flight 1549 on the Hudson River, the famous ‘Miracle on the Hudson’ landing.
Hutchinson’s research into the attraction of the bridge for so many unhappy people led to a meeting with Kevin Briggs, a sergeant with the California Highway Patrol. Briggs had saved hundreds of people from jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge by asking them a few simple questions. Hutchinson wrote the song Gatekeeper based on those questions and dedicated it to Briggs. Ten years later, Briggs heard the song and wrote to Hutchinson. They formed a friendship based on their dedication to mental health literacy and their shared struggles.
It was after touring her 2013 album Beyond That when Hutchinson placed her music to one side to follow her desire to work with people at the end of their lives. Accompanying her grandmother through hospice care in 2005 had stayed with Hutchinson and, in 2015, she enrolled in Divinity School in Boston University’s School of Theology, training to be an interfaith hospice and palliative care chaplain. While not entirely stepping away from her music, Hutchinson’s focus was, and remains firmly fixed on the issues about which she is passionate: creativity, healing, mindfulness, mental health advocacy and wellness. In 2020 she took this a step further taking on a role as a member of the palliative care oncology programme at a local medical centre.
While her priorities may have shifted over the years, Hutchinson has always felt that her music complemented her work. For Hutchinson, music had always been a place of refuge, of healing and of spiritual rest and, in 2022, she took went on a remote retreat to the coast of Ireland which became the inspiration for what, at this point, remains her most recent album All The Wonder, All The Beauty. Having left Red House Records behind, Hutchinson now releases music on her own LRH Music but, with producer Crit Harmon a constant throughout her career, her music remains as affecting as ever.
