John McCutcheon: Making folk music angry again

John McCutcheon, a legend in the folk music world, has addressed some of America’s greatest injustices over the last 50 years. His latest album, Field of Stars, is no different.

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“It’s kind of amusing that almost every interview I’m doing for this album mentions my age,” chuckles folk luminary John McCutcheon. 

McCutcheon still devotes massive amounts of time to touring and recording, undeterred by his 72 years. “I went to a high school reunion and I said to my wife, ‘God I’m glad I’m not as old as those people!’” he jokes. As much as he tours, he’s committed to staying connected to home life. Regular calls to his wife, children and grandkids, along with church visits and a healthy diet, he says, are indispensable staples of his busy schedule.

He’s now traveling the country to introduce fans to his just-released, 46th album, Field of Stars, another foray into his signature blend of rootsy folk and rural atmosphere. This tour, which would have featured folk music icon Tom Paxton had he not retired from the road at the age of 87, includes a stop at Atlanta’s Eddie’s Attic on February 7. He will perform songs from the new album and more.

A multi-instrumentalist, archivist and one of the primary revivalists of the hammered dulcimer, McCutcheon can claim a decades-long legacy that is more than a personal achievement. It’s a journey through the history and evolution of his genre and of the country that shaped it.

Today, artists that fall broadly under the “country” umbrella are presumed to have red state political leanings, but McCutcheon recalls a time when American roots music was about far more liberal concerns. His anti-war “Christmas in the Trenches” is one of his most famous protest songs.

“I’m glad I’m able to add some political diversity to the genre [today],” he says, because social consciousness is at the heart of folk music. He cites Merle Haggard’s “Mama’s Hungry Eyes” as an example of the tales of class struggle that used to typify so-called “country” music. The thread of protest music in McCutcheon’s writing is interwoven with a love of historical storytelling. On Field of Stars, the track “MS St. Louis” tells the heartbreaking true story of an ocean liner full of Jewish refugees seeking asylum from Hitler during World War II. They sought shelter in North America only to be turned away at every port. 

“I’ve often used history to shine a light on contemporary life,” McCutcheon says of the song’s sobering subject matter. “Plenty of refugees are being turned away right now, and it has to do with the same thing that turned the Jews away: racism.” On a lighter note is his “Christmas in the Trenches,” in which he tells the story of a temporary, unofficial and moving truce between soldiers during World War I.

Like many liberals, he says he is alarmed by incoming president Donald Trump’s musings about the annexation of Canada and Greenland and threats of deportations.

Still strongly committed to folk music’s rabble-rousing legacy, he also laments that the genre is often chewed up and spat out by a capitalist system always hungry for the next new thing. “Like any genre, it lives in the spotlight for a while and then goes underground,” he says. “Every now and then, they’ll pull out a Tracy Chapman or a Lyle Lovett and wave them around for a while and then suddenly you don’t see them as much anymore — but they’re still out there playing.”

In that light, you might assume that McCutcheon views music streaming as a positive outlet both for emergent and long-standing artists, but he is cynical. “Streaming is larceny, pure and simple,” he declares, adding that if Neil Young had pulled his music from Spotify over the platform’s economic structure (instead of reacting to the political views of Joe Rogan) he would have had the support of a vast array of artists. “Then the public would understand how inequitable it is and maybe something would have changed,” he opines.

His long and storied career has seen him take occasional forays into rock and pop styles (which he describes as ill-fated attempts at increasing radio play), but in more recent years his albums have settled into a comfortable relationship with the folk stylings with which he’s most closely associated. His concerns about what he sees as both historical atrocities and business practices are offset by the warm, familial tone of his music and the intimate, friendly atmosphere he fosters in the recording studio. 

His albums feature a who’s who of acoustic folk musicians (Nashville fiddle player Stuart Duncan features prominently on the new album), but McCutcheon emphasizes a relaxed, creative atmosphere over rigid arrangements and precise orchestration. “They’re all better musicians than I am,” he admits with a laugh.

McCutcheon may be in life’s third act, but his music is as relevant as ever.

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Jordan Owen began writing about music professionally at the age of 16 in Oxford, Mississippi. A 2006 graduate of the Berklee College of Music, he is a professional guitarist, bandleader and composer. He is currently the lead guitarist for the jazz group Other Strangers, the power metal band Axis of Empires and the melodic death/thrash metal band Century Spawn.