Tom Paxton & John McCutcheon: “Together” (2023) CD Review

I really hope someone is now hard at work on a comprehensive book on the music that came out of the pandemic. So much anxiety and fear and sorrow were experienced during that time, which we are well aware of. But so much incredible, and often beautiful, music has also resulted from it. Friends Tom Paxton and John McCutcheon helped each other through the time with weekly (and of course remote) songwriting sessions, which resulted in a whole lot of new material. Now we are getting the first album of that material. Appropriately titled Together, this album contains fourteen songs, most of which feature the vocal work of both artists. They clearly used the time well, something that wasn’t true of all of us. John McCutcheon actually released a solo album quite early in the pandemic that addressed these crazy times. Titled Cabin Fever: Songs From The Quarantine, it was a true solo album, with John McCutcheon providing all the vocals and playing all the instruments. And that was just the first of three albums he released since the pandemic began. Tom Paxton released a double album with Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer last year, All New (which contains the succinct “Trump Lost, Biden Won”). These two incredibly accomplished and talented songwriters don’t seem to be slowing down, and for that we can be grateful. And if the rest of the material they wrote during their pandemic sessions is as good as what is contained on this disc (and why wouldn’t it be?), let’s hope more releases will be coming soon.

The album opens with a heartfelt number about the war in Ukraine, “Ukrainian Now.” The song was written approximately a month after the Russian invasion of that country, and touches upon the sense of fellowship and solidarity many here in this country felt with the people of that nation. “I am Ukrainian now/I will stand and I will not bow/A half-world away but somehow/I am Ukrainian now.” I remember immediately seeing Ukrainian flags and stickers on cars and so on. John McCutcheon plays both guitar and hammer dulcimer on this track. This track also features some really nice work by Stuart Duncan on fiddle, and by Pete Kennedy on electric guitar. JT Brown is on bass and backing vocals, and Steve Fidyk is on drums. Yes, there is a lot of talent here. That’s followed by “This Campfire.” A song about a campfire must feature harmonica, and this one does. That’s Charlie McCoy on harmonica. “We’re passing round the bottle/And this battered old guitar/Everything sounds sweeter/Beneath this prairie star.” It’s a song with a timeless appeal, and it reminds me of some wonderful evenings spent listening to folk and country musicians in a back yard right here in the San Fernando Valley. “Sing us a song you’ve known forever/Or a story that we’ve heard again and again/It takes more than a fire to keep a body warm/Take us back to you can’t remember when.” This song also contains a reference to Utah Phillips. And I love that work by Stuart Duncan on mandolin, and by Jon Carroll on accordion.

Tom Paxton and John McCutcheon switch gears with “Do The Work,” a delicious, jazzy number featuring some wonderful stuff by Jon Carroll on piano and Stuart Duncan on fiddle. Here is a taste of the lyrics: “And you spend all your day/Just courting the muse/But there ain’t no fire/If they’re ain’t no fuse/Do the work/Just do the work.” Oh yes, this song provides a good reminder, gives us that push that we certainly need from time to time. Even when we have the time, it is sometimes difficult to actually sit down to it. I love and appreciate this song (though now I should get back to that short story I’ve been working on). “Success should not be your concern/Do the work, just do the work.” Some pretty work on piano begins “Invisible Man,” a sweet and moving song about those people who surround us but whom we may not notice or acknowledge, sung from their perspectives. “When you come to a stop on the street/My eyes are the ones you won’t meet/With my sign,‘I haven’t eaten yet today’/I watch as your car pulls away/I am the invisible man/This was really not my plan/Wherever you don’t look, there I am.” There is a beautiful lead on fiddle in the second half.

“Same Old Crap” is a playful, fun and funny song about having no new ideas as songwriters. There is an odd and delightful joy in their voices as they sing about their frustrations, and not just at coming up dry, but with people’s reactions to what they’re doing. “Each day I pour my heart out on the paper/I open up a vein and let it bleed/I think I’ve got a hit/But no one gives a shit/So I guess I’ll give ‘em what they think they need/Same old crap tonight/Same old crap tonight. ” But the saddest line by far is “So here I am again at Shakey’s Pizza.” If you’ve never eaten there, consider yourself lucky. It is among the worst pizza I’ve ever eaten, in a place without a hint of atmosphere. By the end, they do have new material, but no one cares, and they refer to it as “brand new crap.” Again, this track is a delight. And wouldn’t Same Old Crap be a fantastic title for a greatest hits collection? That’s followed by “In America.” I just finished reading a novel about a Jewish family that comes to the US in the early 1900s, the book then following these characters for the next seventy years. This song begins in the same place, same time, and is about making a home in a new country, and then learning about how those who did not make the journey are being murdered by the Nazis (the book I read also dealt with that, how the family members who remained behind perished in the holocaust). “It cannot be forgotten/And it cannot happen here.” Ah, but these days a percentage of the population is dangerously flirting with fascism, still following a racist conman who just had his mug shot taken for trying to overturn the results of a fair election. This song features some excellent vocal work, plus some strong stuff from Jim Roberts on electric guitar. And I love Steve Fidyk’s work on drums.

“Letters From Joe” is delivered a cappella by Tom Paxton. This song also takes us back to World War II through a series of letters found within a wall. “The letters start in ’43/When he shipped overseas/They reached her nearly every day/‘Til they ended in Normandy/You’re with me all the time, he wrote/I miss you every night/It’s you who gives me courage/When I go into the fight.” That’s followed by “The Fan.” I am a big baseball fan, even now when MLB seems determined to destroy the game with its horrible new rules (pitch clock, not having to throw the four pitches for an intentional walk, having a runner start on second base in extra innings, etc.), and so I am naturally inclined to love this song. “I was a fan when they stunk up the cellar/I was a fan when they brought home the gold.” I started going to Red Sox games in 1978. If you want to learn about heartache, read about that season, and how it ended. But then forty years later, in 2018, I was able to go to a World Series game with my brother. What an incredible experience that was, particularly as the Sox came from behind to win it. This song addresses how the game has changed, mainly because players no longer stick with a team. My favorite player growing up was Yaz, who spent his entire career with the Red Sox. This track ends with the shout of “Play ball!”

“Complete” is about the thrill for a songwriter of getting to hear an artist he respects cover his material, in this case Johnny Cash. And in the lines “You do the work, you give them wings/And hope that they might fly,” they touch briefly upon that theme addressed in two earlier tracks, “Do The Work” and “Same Old Crap.” The song in question, by the way, is Tom Paxton’s “I Can’t Help But Wonder Where I’m Bound,” which was included on Johnny Cash’s American VI: Ain’t No Grave. What’s interesting is that it is a song from the beginning of Tom Paxton’s career, included on his debut album, Ramblin’ Boy, and it came at the end of Johnny Cash’s career, included on an album released posthumously. Two very different feelings from the same song. “Complete” features some good work by Charlie McCoy on harmonica. Then John McCutcheon performs “Everything” solo, just vocals and banjo. And it is delightful. This short song is an answer to those so-called Christians who speak against gay people, just a little reminder that Jesus said absolutely nothing about homosexuality, and delivered with a sense of humor.

“Life Before You” is a sweet number, a love song about the changes a child brings to a parent’s life and heart. “I had a life before you/But it all seems empty now/When I feel your hand in mine/The world is right somehow.” This track features some warm work on piano and some beautiful soaring moments on fiddle. That’s followed by “Christmas In The Desert,” which has a somber sound and mood, and is about a woman giving birth in the desert. This is one to add to your holiday play list, and it includes some pretty work on fiddle. In “This Campfire,” the phrase “prairie star” is heard. And then toward the end of the album comes a track titled “Prairie Star.” It’s a gentle, beautiful number. “For it’s only in the dark now/That we can see so far/We can see halfway to heaven/In one shining prairie star.” The album concludes with its title track, “Together,” another beautiful song, Tom Paxton’s voice supported just by piano. There is some humor regarding their age, heard in a line like “Not too fond of flights of stairs.” These lines are particularly moving: “We hope for just a little more/But no one knows what lies in store/I know we can’t go through that door/Together.”

CD Track List

1. Ukrainian Now
2. This Campfire
3. Do The Work
4. Invisible Man
5. Same Old Crap
6. In America
7. Letters From Joe
8. The Fan
9. Complete
10. Everything
11. Life Before You
12. Christmas In The Desert
13. Prairie Star
14. Together

Together is scheduled to be released on October 13, 2023.