Born 5-11-1916 Died march 21 2016

After serving in the U.S. Air Force, he became a musician. He was a studio musician and played with many famous artists such as Connie Smith, Pee Wee King and the Osborne Brothers. He also produced many of his own recordings. He won the Champion of Champions Thumb Picking Contest in Central City Kentucky and was inducted into the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame, and performed regularly at The Ozark Folk Center in Mountain View, Ark. with Sassafras Moon.

He is survived by his wife, Theda Mullins of Vicksburg; son, Mark Mullins of North Carolina; five brothers; five sisters; and one grandchild. In 1985, he won the National Merle Travis Tribute thumbpicking contest at the Ozark Folk Center in Arkansas.
He captured top honors in 1991 at the International Thumbpicking Contest in Central City, Ky.
Then, in a special 1996 contest allowing only the former international champions to compete, Mullins won first place as the “Champion of Champions.”
On a recent morning, Mullins scoots a kitchen chair into the living room and grabs his favorite guitar, made by master builder Dumitru Manea of Nashville, Tenn.
“I won this in a contest, by the way, and it’s an incredible instrument,” Mullins says.
He soon inserts his right thumb into a pick and launches into “Hello, My Baby,” which has a simple ragtime quality to it.
His thumb beats out the bass rhythm, and those fingers with the fake nails seem to make a sound of several instruments in harmony.