John McCutcheon - Field of Stars (2025)

John’s PR states that at age 72 he should be retired. Did anyone tell Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Keith Richards, Mick Jagger, Paul McCartney, or Neil Young? No. This collection finds Mr. McCutcheon in a good voice. His repertoire is age-appropriate. This album features a regional singer-songwriter who should be more widely known, Carrie Newcomer - a marvelous, consistently good singer-songwriter who co-wrote & sings with John on “Fields of Stars,” a surprise like this is what I always look forward to.

The Wisconsin-born, Georgia-based John (vocals/guitars) is a 5-time Grammy-nominated artist who is never at a loss for finding creative & original stories to narrate with his beautifully rendered music. This is why at 72 he’s still going to the Well - because unlike so many other artists he still has a deep well of inspiration & with artists like Ms. Newcomer & bluegrass great Claire Lynch he has the necessary motivation.

There are 15 well-conveyed tunes on Field of Stars produced & recorded by John with Bob Dawson in Springfield, Virginia & Nashville, TN. John’s folk style is not necessarily radical, aggressive, or controversial but more reassuring, educational & poignant.

A baseball song is constructed through “The Hammer” with a lovely piano lead. The song names several baseball greats & while songs of this type can be hokey, half-baked & cliché-filled John avoids that for the sake of making the song accessible & imaginative. It’s in the tradition of other great baseball songs like the late Steve Goodman’s “Go, Cubs, Go.”

John explores the belief in the power of history to guide, of faith to heal, of love to abide, of humor to relieve & for music to give voice to the silenced or forgotten. Heavy-duty subjects are the focus of this latest LP - his 45th in a 52-year career.

With “MS St. Louis” John cruises through a style that was once the domain of the late Harry Chapin who often tackled what became controversial through sad & true events. Narrated in a short story manner & supported by Stuart Duncan’s mournful fiddle. At times, John has a good mainstream folky vocal tonality & intonation (“Stubby” & “End of the Day”) akin to the late John Stewart (“Gold”). Especially as applied in well-written storytelling pieces about reminiscing about childhood, memorable people & earlier times.

When I returned from my Australian tour on March 16, 2020, I was ready to record a new album. I had booked studio time and hired musicians months in advance. Well, we know what happened. I put the songs on the shelf and figured I’d start up again when it was safe to gather some of your best friends into a cozy, windowless studio.

The pandemic provided a wealth of material all on its own and now, over four years and four subsequent albums later, I’m taking those songs down from the shelf. Some still felt right, others not so much. Plus, there were plenty of new songs vying to be heard. I spent a lot of time writing with a bunch of my pals on Zoom during lockdown and a handful of those songs found themselves into this collection. It isn’t at all what I planned back in early 2020, but it feels just right now.

Whether celebrating small moments of oft-forgotten history, heroes that quietly stood up, family, friends, birthdays, a table grace, walking an ancient pilgrimage, or the simple joy of dancing through an entire lifetime, these songs have lived with me for a while now and it’s good to get them out on their little coltish legs and begin to do their work. I turn them loose to you now and I hope you find them good companions.