Contact: Maridith Geuder
David Hutto
Two years ago, a poem written by the television center director at Mississippi State University aired on National Public Radio's "All Things Considered."
Response to the work encouraged David N. Hutto Jr. to continue producing poems and prose intended to be read aloud. The result of his literary labors is a recently released compact disc of wordscapes--writings accompanied by music and sound effects.
In addition to writing each piece and narrating one of them, the Ashville, Ala., native also served as executive producer of the project. "When Autumn Comes" is published by MapleRidge Media and produced at Dill Studios in Birmingham.
A variety of voices, among them Starkville resident Elizabeth Smith Gwin and actor-director John Maxwell of Jackson, provide glimpses into Southern life and passages.
"As I began to write, stories emerged from my rural Alabama childhood, from travels to the red clay hills of Georgia and experiences on beaches of the Gulf of Mexico," Hutto said. "Listeners will meet people who seem familiar if they grew up in the South."
All selections share a common thread about the spiritual journeys the University of Alabama art graduate said he believes most people make in life. Inspired by a fall trip to Maine, the title poem, which first aired in 1997 on NPR's nationally broadcast late afternoon news and variety show, shares Hutto's thoughts about metaphors of aging.
"A beautiful fall called attention to the time in life when all of us pause and reflect on things we have accomplished in a lifetime and on what the next steps might be," he said. "My mother was then in her 80s, the autumn of her years, and this provided additional inspiration."
Hutto said 73-year-old Betty Brewer of Birmingham, a retired Broadway performer and early television and radio voice talent, provided narration for the title poem. Though in failing health, Brewer took a keen interest in the project, he added.
"Sadly, Mrs. Brewer died within three weeks of finishing her work," Hutto said.
The CD is available at the MSU Bookstore and at the Book Mart and Be-Bop Records in Starkville. It is being distributed nationally through bookstores and record outlets.