By Frankie Shayne
Reports from The Scene
Growing up in Hutch for the majority of my life, I’ve seen a lot of great people and things come and go. Now that I’m older and wiser, it’s my turn to make a lasting mark. So let me tell you a little bit of my history to set the stage for the point I am coming back around to with that last statement. Shall we?
As a young kid growing up in Tulsa, Okla., I was surrounded by lots of music lovers and musicians, on both sides of the family, and it has always been a big part of my life and who I am. As with most teenagers, I had my rebellious phase where I didn’t want to conform to what felt like just an extension of my upbringing. Instead, as with most kids, I wanted to forge my own path, and for me that came in the style of music I listened to and wanted to play.
My dad was a guitarist in bands for as long as I could remember, and I always wanted to play guitar, but I didn’t want to cover other artists—I wanted to write and play. So I began to learn guitar and began to soak up as many influences as I could in the styles I wanted to play.
Then one day, my world was forever changed when my parents made the decision to move to Hutchinson. I was mortified. Moving from Tulsa to Hutch? It seemed like a step backwards, but it started something in me I could have never imagined. I came to Hutch as a skateboarding kid in the midst of a rebellious phase and ended up starting my first band with my skate buddies playing, you guessed it, punk rock. Throughout my teens and twenties, it morphed from punk rock to hard rock to metal to alternative metal to southern hard rock/metal and everything in between.
It was all for the love of the music and the camaraderie, but I was not making any money or getting any more well-known from it, and that wasn’t really the goal. I just loved the expression and the creative outlet, and when people “got” my songs, well, that was the payoff. The fact is, I did it because I loved it, and I still do; that hasn’t changed. What has changed is my style, my experience, and my influence with other artists in the area. I have garnered some “clout” among the community for being a go-to for local artists and a connection for different opportunities in that realm. Now that I have that kind of influence, I want to do what I wished someone had done for me: give me a chance and a platform. As I said, I do it for the love of it, but the more opportunities I have to share what I love, the better.
Circling back to the start, I’ve seen a lot of cool venues and a lot of cool opportunities for artists in this community, and many fizzled out or never really got the support necessary to keep building and getting better. I find myself in the unique position to affect some change in that arena, and I am either too stubborn or too stupid to know when to quit, so I just go for it. I found myself managing a music store in 2015 when the radio station we advertised with asked if I ever considered DJ’ing a show. What? Me? DJ? Um, no. I’d never considered that, but I was open to the opportunity and ran with it. Now here we are in 2026, and I’ve been running The Scene radio show ever since.
That show opened up community opportunities like assisting Hutch Rec with Third Thursday for three or four years, which then led to me being a go-to for artists for other downtown events and then in 2023, I decided to start The Scene Singer/Songwriter Showcase the last Saturday each month at Metropolitan Coffee. I’ve also worked with The Red Shed and am currently gearing up for a showcase for Smallville Fest this year in June. Why is all this important to Hutch? Because these things are not about me, they are about the opportunities for other artists in our community.
You may not know it, but our little big city is full of incredible talent, and you likely walk by these amazing artists every day and work next to them or go to school with them and have no clue the amount of talent and passion they have. I see behind the curtain and see the tremendous talent and work that these artists put into their craft, and it motivates me to keep at my own and to keep opening doors for them any chance I get. The world is full of uncertainty right now, and so many people want to share a little bit of who they are with you and let you know you are not alone and show you there is good and beauty and comfort in this madness. The amazing thing is they are right in front of you, and you didn’t even know it.
So, regardless of what genre of music you like, I can guarantee you our hometown has it. Country, folk, indie, alternative, punk, rock, metal, rap, gospel, pop. It’s all right here, and I want to help you find it and help them to be found.
Frankie Shayne is a radio show host, a local singer/songwriter and an advocate for local artists and musicians. He can be reached at fsp7774@gmail.com.