John McCutcheon ('74)
Overview
John McCutcheon graduated from SJU in 1974 with the only degree in American Folk Studies SJU has ever awarded. McCutcheon is a prolific musician, whose career spans over five decades. McCutcheon came to SJU with a passion for music and with the assistance of Fr. Hillary Thimmesh, he was able to create an individualized major and spend 1972 in Appalachia studying folk music.
McCutcheon was active on the music scene while at SJU. McCutcheon joined the choir once he arrived. He worked closely with the director, Axel Theimer, and continued to stay connected to him after graduation. One of the things Theimer did for McCutcheon was he created a trio to play folk music at the choir concerts that included McCutcheon, himself, and a CSB student. Aside from music, McCutcheon got involved in clubs and created the Environmental Action Committee (EAC) in 1971. The goal of EAC was to host environmental programs on campus.
Starting his junior year, in the fall of 1972, McCutcheon went to Appalachia to learn about folk music. This was part of an experimental program, Tutorials, which allowed Johnnies to focus on study areas of their interest with tutors. McCutcheon came back to campus in the spring of 1973 to give a presentation on his learning on April 4, 1973. He gave another presentation on his learning on April 18th for the KTCA-TV program, Tangents, which discussed the Tutorials program.
1973 was a big year for McCutcheon as he appeared in many concerts. He first played at the Benedicta Arts Center (BAC) on February 18th. Then he played Homecoming on October 13th. Closely thereafter, he played at Owl’s Head, a campus coffee shop that featured local artists on October 17th. In 1974, he was on KTCA-TV again, this time as part of their Private College Concert Series on January 15th.
Following graduation, McCutcheon became a music instructor at Clinch Valley College, a branch of the University of Virginia in Wise in 1975. That same year, he also released his 1st recorded album and performed at the SJU main auditorium on March 16th.
McCutcheon at Swayed Pines Folk Festival
Swayed Pines Folk Festival was a festival that took place the last Saturday of every April from 1973 to around 1999. McCutcheon played the final concert at a lot of these festivals. What follows is McCutcheon’s contribution to the Swayed Pines Folk Festival.
The first Swayed Pines Folk Festival McCutcheon participated in was the 5th annual festival on April 22, 1978. This was the weekend that Swayed Pines coincided with Parents’ Weekend, so the crowd was fairly large. McCutcheon served as the Master of Ceremonies for the fiddling contest and would fill in the lulls in the contest with impromptu folk music. From 7:00-9:00 pm, he performed a concert as a part of the Appalachian trio, Wry Straw. Group members were McCutcheon who directed a federal project collecting traditional music throughout the south; Tom Bledsoe, an expert on the ethnic heritage of southwest Virginia; Rich Kirby, who had written textbooks and articles on folk music and Appalachia.
McCutcheon returned to Swayed Pines Folk Festival on April 26, 1980, to play with Reel World String Band. Hometown Revival also played during the festival that year. At the 8th Swayed Pines Folk Festival on April 25, 1981, McCutcheon played a concert with Mad Jack and Black Label Boys. At the 9th Annual Swayed Pines Folk Festival on April 24, 1982, McCutcheon performed along with The New Prairie Ramblers, Elizabeth “Libba” Cotton, and Mike Seeger.
The 10th annual Swayed Pines Folk Festival occurred on April 30, 1983. McCutcheon played the concert with Bryan Bowers. This was also a special festival for McCutcheon as SJU Registrar William Van Cleve gave McCutcheon his degree. Since McCutcheon spent his final year of college performing and doing research on traditional music in Appalachia, he missed his commencement.
McCutcheon played traditional mountain music at the 11th Swayed Pines on April 28, 1984, along with Neale Lundgren. On April 25, 1986, McCutcheon played a special Swayed Pines warm-up concert at the Stephen B. Humphrey Theater. On the actual day, April 26th, he played a concert with Taj Mahal at the Palaestra. At the 14th annual Swayed Pines Folk Festival on April 25, 1987, McCutcheon and Greg Brown played at 8 pm at Warner Palaestra. At this event, McCutcheon gave an interview and said, “Coming to Swayed Pines is important. It allows me to share my music and listen to the music of others. It excites me.”
For the Swayed Pines Folk Festival concert on April 30, 1988, McCutcheon played with Claudia Schmidt. On McCutcheon’s 11th appearance at Swayed Pines Folk Festival on April 28, 1990, he received an alumni award. McCutcheon was presented the Alumni Achievement Award by the National Alumni Association. Lee Hanley (SJU ’58) presented this award to him -- an honor, which McCutcheon was able to return in 1997 when Hanley was given the same award for his 32 years of working at SJU including helping create the Swayed Pines Folk Festival. At the 17th Swayed Pines Folk Festival, McCutcheon used his body as an instrument in “ham-boning” and performed with Tim Chapin.
The concert in 1991 was nicknamed “A Johnnie, A Russian, and A Loudon,” as McCutcheon (the American), Gregory Gladkov (the Russian), and Loudon Wainwright III (the Loudon) all performed. This was the same time McCutcheon and Gladkov were on their, “Friendship Tour” (more information on this tour under the section labeled, “Music Career”).
On April 25, 1992, Schooner Fare headlined Swayed Pines Folk Festival along with McCutcheon. McCutcheon had just finished his Australian tour before returning to SJU, along with his recent tours of Great Britain and Russia.
On April 24, 1993, McCutcheon performed with John Prine. The 1993 festival was special as a second day was added called, “Roots and Wings.” This happened on April 25th and was a full day of workshops on composing, storytelling, dancing, and playing a variety of musical instruments. McCutcheon gave a presentation on traditional folk music and played at the concert that ended the day.
The 21st Swayed Pines Folk Festival had the second “Roots and Wings” workshop on the Sunday after the main event on April 23, 1994. McCutcheon played the evening concert again with Holly Near.
On April 27, 1996, the 23rd Swayed Pines Folk Festival happened. Richie Havens and McCutcheon headlined the event. McCutcheon also played a family concert at 5 with Pat Surface. At the 24thSwayed Pines Folk Festival on April 26th, 1997, Robin and Linda Williams would be the headlining performers with McCutcheon. At this point, McCutcheon had appeared at the festival fifteen times and was the most influential hammer dulcimer player in America.
April 25, 1998, was the last time McCutcheon played the Swayed Pines Folk Festival at its 25thanniversary. Mulberry Lane was the group that headlined with him. The next year, the Swayed Pines Folk Festival was canceled due to scheduling conflicts. There was an attempt made to reschedule the festival for June, but by then all the fiddlers were booked for other festivals. To make up for this, a McCutcheon concert happened on April 24th to provide some folk music entertainment. The other change was that McCutcheon played at the BAC.
Music Career
McCutcheon is a talented musician, who aims to preserve the history of folk music and share it will the next generation. He can play many instruments including the fiddle, banjo, autoharp, guitar, and the once-nearly-extinct hammer dulcimer. He sings songs of justice, focusing some of his songs on racism, war, and unemployment. Some of his 43 albums are Step by Step (1987 Pick String Music Award of the Year), Howjado?, Signs of the Times, The Wind that Shakes the Barley, Fine Times at Our House, How Can I Keep from Singing?, Wry Straw: From Earth to Heaven, Barefoot Boy with Boots On, and Gonna Rise Again.
McCutcheon’s career as a musician has included tours across the world, what follows is a highlight of just some of the performances McCutcheon has done. A general rule for his concerts is that McCutcheon will have six instruments on stage and will choose instruments based on the audience’s reactions. In 1977, he did a tour of the British Isles, performing in England and collecting hammer dulcimer music in Ireland and England.
On December 15, 1981, St. Cloud State University (SCSU) hosted a folk concert called, “Coffeehouse Holiday Concert.” It featured solos and spontaneous jamming from Bryan Bowers, Claudia Schmidt, Larry Long, and John McCutcheon. On January 23, 1985, McCutcheon returned to St. Joe to play a concert at Bo Diddley’s.
McCutcheon has played in the US, Latin America, and Europe. He is considered the leading interpreter of the music of the rural southwest. Johnny Cash said this about McCutcheon, “the most impressive instrumentalist I’ve ever heard.”
One of McCutcheon’s most monumental tours was his “US/USSR Friendship Tour” with Gregory Gladkov, in which they toured both the US and Russia, starting in the spring of 1991. They did a 25-concert, 30-day tour of the US in April and May and did a similar tour in Russia, following the US tour. For the American tour, it was the two of them and a road manager and a translator. In Russia, it was a group of 15: the two of them, their translator, the US manager, McCutcheon’s family, their Russian tour manager and her two kids, and a six-person Russian film crew. Gladkov and McCutcheon adapted to each other’s original songs and styles. They constantly changed and adapted things during the tour. Gladkov provided a lot of information on Russian music. The event brought many people together and helped erase some long-held fear from the Cold War. Additionally, communities came together to sponsor the concerts. At one concert in the US a small college, a community peace group, and United Auto Workers joined to sponsor the event. The mayor even attended and made Gladkov an honorary citizen.
McCutcheon and Gladkov made a stop in Collegeville to play at the Swayed Pines Folk Festival in 1991. McCutcheon enjoyed this as it was the closest to his home he could bring Gladkov, and his father even came.
In mid-July 1991 they went to Russia. Leningrad was the first stop (recently renamed St. Petersburg). The Russians sang along at their concerts and were good singers. Moscow TV sent a film crew to document the venture. McCutcheon also went to studios to record songs with Gladkov and other Russian artists. They also went to the major press conference sponsored by the Moscow Committee for Peace.
McCutcheon’s 1993 children’s record Family Garden received a “Parent’s Prize” from Parent’s Magazine. His other record from 1983, Howjadoo was one of the bestselling folk children’s albums. It was also awarded the “Record of Special Merit” honors from the American Library Association. In 1995, he released two albums that are a part of his Four Seasons family album collection, Summersongs and Wintersongs. Summersongs received the Gold Award from the National Association of Parenting Publications. By 1996, McCutcheon had 19 albums out and by 1998, he had been nominated for a Grammy four times. In 1997, he released Bigger Than Yourself which received national praise, and was nominated for the “Best Musical Album for Children” at the 1998 Grammys. He co-wrote the songs with his friend and social activist Si Kahn. This was the third year in a row, McCutcheon had an album nominated for the “Best Musical Album Children” with the other nominations being for Four Seasons: Summersongs in 1996 and Four Seasons: Wintersongs in 1997.
McCutcheon is one of the few people with access to Woody Guthrie’s unrecorded songs. He finished two of the songs with permission from Guthrie’s daughter, Nora, and released them on his CD Mightier Than the Sword in 2005. In 2003, the postal service used his song, “Mail Myself to You” as their Christmas TV song.
McCutcheon came back to CSB+SJU to play many concerts in the 2000s. He played a concert on April 28, 2000. Next, he played on December 8, 2002, McCutcheon with his band Trapezoid. Then McCutcheon played at Family Fun Day on May 20, 2006, at 7:00 and 9:30 pm.
On October 21st, 2006, McCutcheon came back to campus to sign copies of his book Christmas in the Trenches. He was also a featured author at the Library of Congress National Book Festival in Washington, D.C., that year. McCutcheon performed on April 9, 2010, at Stephen B. Humphrey Theater, SJU.
McCutcheon was chosen to be the SJU commencement speaker for the class of 2012. At this point in his career, he had 30 recordings and had 6 Grammy nominations. The last concert McCutcheon played on campus was for Family Weekend in 2017. He played Escher on September 30th. He was accompanied by the CSB+SJU Orchestra, Chamber Choir, and his former director Axel Theimer for six songs. In 2018, McCutcheon recorded a concert at the Library of Congress performing traditional American folk music. During the Covid pandemic, McCutcheon played an online concert for CSB/SJU, "Home for Thanksgiving', in 2020.