Daniel Hutchens Honorary Shebang Delang Jubilee & Magic Show

On Thursday June 20, 2024, dozens of musicians will gather at LIVE WIRE ATHENS to pay tribute to the life and extensive catalog of songs written by Daniel Hutchens, long known as one of preeminent songwriters of not only Athens, GA, but of his entire generation. Hutchens, best known for his work in Bloodkin, a band he and childhood friend Eric Carter formed upon moving to Athens in 1986, spent his entire life dedicated to the craft of writing songs, a journey he began at the age of five, when his sisters gave him The Beatles SGT PEPPER’S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND album for Christmas.

From that day forward, Hutchens dedicated his life to writing songs, with a dream of one day compiling everything he’d written into a single song book. The project consumed his life, and nearly every minute of his time, especially during the last few years before he passed away in May 2021. Hutchens and his archivist, Fred Adams, spent thousands of hours during those last two years digging through bins of old cassette tapes and lyric notebooks, looking for any songs that may have been lost or forgotten along the way.

At the time of his passing, Hutchens had an extensive list of projects in the works, many of which will likely remain unfinished. There is, however, at least one new album, schedule for release on October 20, 2024 (which would have been Hutchens’ 60th birthday), featuring songs Hutchens had co-written with Bentley Rhodes, who traveled extensively as Bloodkin’s drummer for nearly a decade starting in the mid-90’s, continued writing with Hutchens even after departing the band. Rhodes has continued working on the project the past two years, putting the finishing touches on many of those songs for an album, tentatively titled “Bentley Rhodes’ Obscene Jubilee.”

Many of the artists performing at this Daniel Hutchens Honorary Shebang DeLand Jubilee & Magic Show (Redux) either played or co-wrote with Hutchens, or long admired his ability at crafting lyrics that painted imagery of the stories being told in a way few others have ever imagined, will join Rhodes in presenting the second annual Daniel Hutchens Honorary Shebang Delang Jubilee & Magic Show (Redux), a four-hour event featuring dozens of songs from Hutchens’ catalog.

Proceeds from this event will benefit Nucçi’s Space (an Athens-based nonprofit whose mission is to prevent suicide with an emphasis on musicians’ mental health, that assisted with Hutchens’ medical bills following his first stroke in 2016).