Background

Randall Eugene McNutt was born on August 17, 1948, in Hamilton, Ohio, United States, to William Edward and Katherine Elizabeth McNutt.

Education

In 1974, McNutt received a Bachelor of Arts from Miami University, and a Master of Arts in English from the University of Cincinnati in 1991.

Career

Randy McNutt began his career as a songwriter for Harry Carlson’s Buckeye Music in 1970. McNutt and his partner, singer-songwriter Wayne Perry, produced records independently for their PM productions until the mid-1970s, when McNutt moved into newspaper and magazine journalism. Working as a bureau chief for Cincinnati Enquirer in the late ’70s, McNutt covered parts of rural Ohio. There he developed a strong interest in rural topics, which he continued to write about for Ohio magazine and other newspapers and magazines across the country. Since 1981, he has written and edited a number of books on topics such as music, history, rural topics, and politics.

In 1981, McNutt wrote his first book, Cal Stewart, Your Uncle Josh, a musical biography of the early humorist and recording artist from Indiana, who performed as Uncle Josh Weathersby. That year, McNutt and his wife, journalist and teacher Cheryl Bauer, launched their own small publishing house, the Hamilton Hobby Press, to publish books on topics that might be otherwise ignored by larger companies. In 1985, they wrote and published Talking Machine Press. In 1986, McNutt edited and published Ohio Congressman John M. Ashbrook’s No Left Turns: A Handbook for Conservatives.

In 1988, McNutt wrote and published one of the first books devoted exclusively to rockabilly music, We Wanna Boogie: An Illustrated History of the American Rockabilly Movement. The book traces the evolution of early rock-and-roll and allows its practitioners to describe their music and times in oral histories. In 1996, McNutt switched to rural themes and history for his Ghosts: Ohio’s Haunted Landscapes, Lost Arts, and Forgotten Places. In this travel narrative, McNutt searched for what was once the early frontier and discovered old canals, ghost towns, oil towns, coal towns, battlefields, the memory of General Anthony Wayne, and forgotten Americana.

McNutt co-wrote Little Labels - Big Sound: Small Record Companies and the Rise of American Music with Rick Kennedy in 1999. In it, his contribution included interviews with recording entrepreneurs such as Fred Foster of Monument Records and John Vincent of Ace Records.

Achievements

• Randy McNutt is most commonly known as the author of the popular Ghosts: Ohio's Haunted Landscapes, Lost Arts, and Forgotten Places, an offbeat travel narrative and history that features ghost towns, Indian battles, canal boat crews, nitro shooters, moonshiners, tattooed chickens and colorful Buckeye characters.

Works

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  • Lost Ohio: More Travels into the Haunted Landscapes, Ghost Towns, and Forgotten Lives

    (Take a leisurely tour across the Buckeye State with autho...)

    2006
  • Spinning the Groove: An A to Z Guide to the Lingo and Legacy of the old Record Business

    (The old record business returns! Iron mother, biscuit, ne...)

    2018
  • Cal Stewart, Your Uncle Josh: America's King of Rural Comedy

    (An American recording icon of the early 1900s, Cal Stewar...)

    2011
  • King Records of Cincinnati

    (Starting with a few songs and a dream in 1943, King Recor...)

    2009
  • Little Labels-Big Sound: Small Record Companies and the Rise of American Music

    (Little Labels - Big Sound celebrates 10 legendary record ...)

    1999
  • Hamilton

    (Founded as Fort Hamilton in 1791, the City of Hamilton wa...)

    2005
  • Mad Anthony: General Anthony Wayne's Victory in the Northwest Territory

    (Who was Anthony Wayne? His name is proclaimed in cities, ...)

    2017
  • Finding Utopia: Another Journey Into Lost Ohio

    (A fascinating journey through Ohio—s forgotten pastIn Fin...)

    2012
  • Ghost Town 2: The Days of Gushers, Go-Devils, and Nitro Shooters

    (In the second of his "GHOST TOWN" stories, Randy McNutt g...)

    2017
  • GHOST TOWN: In Search of Lost Places

    ("GHOST TOWN" is a serious but offbeat journey to find gho...)

    2017
  • All About Ohio

    (All About Ohio takes readers on a journey through the cul...)

    2010
  • Too Hot to Handle: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of American Recording Studios of the 20th Century

    (Throughout the 20th century, American recording studios t...)

    2001
  • Butler County

    (Settlement in Butler County began when Fort Hamilton was ...)

    2006
  • Ghosts: Ohio's Haunted Landscapes, Lost Arts & Forgotten Places

    (Towns come and towns go. Travelers sometimes have to move...)

    1996
  • The Cincinnati Sound 2007
  • Guitar Towns: A Journey to the Crossroads of Rock 'n' Roll 2002
  • We Wanna Boogie: An Illustrated History of the American Rockabilly Movement 1989

Membership

McNutt was a member of the Society of Professional Journalists.

Connections

On September 26, 1981, Randy married Cheryl Elaine Bauer.

Father:

William Edward McNutt

Mother:

Katherine Elizabeth McNutt

Spouse:

Cheryl Elaine Bauer

References

• Contemporary Authors New Revision Series: A Bio-Bibliographical Guide to Current Writers in Fiction, General Non-Fiction, Poetry, Journalism, Drama, Motion Pictures, TV, & Other Fields, Vol. 193 In response to the escalating need for up-to-date information on writers, Contemporary Authors New Revision Series brings researchers the most recent data on the worlds most-popular authors.
  2010