Mayf Nutter

Born 1941, Clarksburg, Harrison County

Born into a musical family, singer/songwriter/actor Mayf Nutter (born Mayfred Nutter Adamson) has had a long and varied career that includes songwriting, recording and acting. He first appeared on radio at age 6 and, while in school, played music and hosted his own music show on a local TV station. His extensive resume includes being the guitarist for Rock ’n’ Roll Hall of Fame Member Del Shannon, and leader of The New Christy Minstrels (whose alumni includes Kenny Rogers and Kim Carnes).

After stops in Michigan, Florida and Georgia, he settled in California where experimental rock musician Frank Zappa signed him to a recording and songwriting deal. He also recorded numerous sides for Capitol Records, backed by Merle Haggard’s band The Strangers, and Buck Owens’s Buckaroos.

During the early ’70s, Nutter guested on Buck Owens’s TV Ranch 56 times. His song “Simpson Creek” – about a creek near his home in Bridgeport that had become polluted from mine runoff – is considered one of the first environmental recordings. He also appeared on television shows like The Waltons, Falcon Crest, Knots Landing and The Fall Guy, and won a “Best Actor” award for the TV series Lone Star Bar.

Nutter came back to WV regularly to perform in the Wheeling Jamboree’s “Jamboree in the Hills” and, in 1978, penned its theme song.

Nutter was the youngest honoree in the Nashville Country Music Hall of Fame Walkway of Stars, and is a member of the Rockabilly Hall of Fame. On its opening day, The Bakersfield County Music Museum inducted Mayf Nutter and Buck Owens as its first honorees.