The Court Square Theater Music Series continues on Sunday, June 4th, with a concert by beloved folksinger John McCutcheon.
McCutcheon’s first award-winning song was titled The Ponderosa No-Cream-in-My-Coffee Blues, penned at the greasy spoon of the same name in his Wisconsin hometown. He was all of 15 years old and it won him his high school talent show. “My best friend claims that he still has a cassette of the song,” McCutcheon recently disclosed, “and if we ever have a serious falling out it’s going right up on YouTube.”
“What sets McCutcheon’s songs apart is that he’s actually writing about something!” observed well-known folk music Disc Jockey Bob Blackman. Whether it’s a musical snapshot of a day in the life of an Alaskan salmon fisherman, a child’s pondering the loss of her first tooth, remembering a moment that was omitted from our history books, lampooning the latest foibles on the national political scene, or celebrating the joy of old love, McCutcheon’s songs are always about something small and, at the same time, something much bigger. “All big things start with little things,” he observed, “the way in which a song is able to open up the universal from the personal is one of the great joys of writing.”
With his deep roots in American traditional music, McCutcheon’s approach to writing reflects both simplicity and a layered complexity, creating songs that are always more than they seem. “He is a master at the difficult craft of the ballad,” touted the Boston Globe. “Storytelling with the richness of fine literature,” added the Washington Post. “One of our country’s best songwriters,” said Pete Seeger.
McCutcheon performs at Harrisonburg’s Court Square Theater on Sunday, June 4th. Doors open at 6:30pm and the concert begins at 7:30pm. Tickets are $21 in advance and $25 at the door. Please visit valleyarts.org or call 540.433.9189 for more information and to purchase tickets.
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