The album’s opening track, “Here,” eases in with some pretty work on piano. And then it suddenly comes alive with a bright force like the sun breaking through the clouds. There is a sweet vibe to this tune. “Your whole life, here is what you waited for/Your whole life, you’ve always wondered what’s in store/It’s always just out of reach/You believe that each one satisfied your need for more/Your whole life, here is what you waited for.” In this song, he sings of family, and the track has the feeling of home. It features some nice work on fiddle. There is something soothing about this song, about its message and its delivery, and I appreciate that, particularly in these turbulent and unsettling times. It is followed by the album’s title track, which was co-written by Carrie Newcomer, who joins John McCutcheon on vocals. This is a beautiful song about walking the Camino de Santiago. John indicates in the liner notes that he plans to walk the route in May of next year. Holy moly! It is five hundred miles, and supposedly it takes between thirty and thirty-five days to walk it. Anyway, this track features some nice work on both piano and fiddle, and, as you’d expect, some touching harmonies. Check out these heartbreaking opening lines: “I promised my brother we’d do it one day/But we waited six months too long/Though this isn’t the way we imagined it’d be/I couldn’t bear to admit I was wrong/So I carry this small box of ashes/Just like I told him I’d do/This last journey we will take together/I walk the Camino for two.”
Baseball is far and away my favorite sport, the only one I truly care about, and I love songs about the sport (so The Baseball Project pleases and delights me no end). “The Hammer” is a song about Hank Aaron, written the day he died in January of 2021, The Hammer being his nickname. The lyrics mention the song “If I Had A Hammer.” They also, of course, mention Hank Aaron’s home run feat, breaking Babe Ruth’s record: “For the 715th time he’d trot the bases round/Skinny kid from Alabama/All the way to Cooperstown.” I like how this song plays on multiple meanings of the word “home.” By the way, this song mentions several other baseball players, including Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, Cy Young, Ted Williams and Roberto Clemente. That’s followed by “Hell & High Water,” which was co-written by Trent Wagler. This one has a darker tone, feeling like it comes to us from the storm clouds, or up from the mines. It is about the flooding in eastern Kentucky in 2022. Stuart Duncan’s work on fiddle is especially effective in creating the song’s tone, and John McCutcheon delivers a powerful and passionate vocal performance. Listen to the way he delivers the line, “When the waters come for you, you won’t be kneeling down.” Wow. This is one of my personal favorites.
“MS St. Louis” tells the true story of the ship that in 1939 carried Jewish refugees to Cuba, then to Canada and the United States. The refugees were turned away, and had to return to Europe, where many of them died in the Holocaust. “And the lady of the harbor lifts her lamp for all to see/Your poor and huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” This country has often failed to act according to the principles it claims to have. Is it a lesson we’ve learned? Absolutely not. Our country is about to enter a dark and cold time, with a convicted felon and sociopath at the helm. “I remember the St. Louis/As I read the news today/Another tale of refugees/Turned back and turned away/What does our history tell us/Must we live it all again?” John McCutcheon follows that with a song about his uncle, “Stubby,” the second song he’s written about him, the first being “One Strong Arm.” He was a pitcher for a softball team, and John sings here, “They say he once threw a no-hitter/Was the best thing they ever had seen/And I sat and I cheered in the bleachers/As he worked in the hot August sun/He made every batter look foolish that day.” Did I mention how I love songs about baseball? Softball is close enough. And this song provides some wonderful detail, making the game easy to follow, to imagine.
“Only Ones Dancing” has a sweet, enchanting sound, inviting us to move to a waltz. Claire Lynch joins John McCutcheon on vocals, their voices sounding wonderful together. “We didn’t care we were the only ones dancing/Dancing just suddenly seemed like the right thing to do/Our new favorite melody, simple and sweet/Put your arms around me and sway to the beat/And everyone else can stay glued to their seats/I just want to dance with you.” I love this song. It speaks to me strongly. So lovely, so magical, with beautiful work on fiddle. And if you find you’re the only ones dancing, that is just fine. Life is too short to worry what others are doing, or what they might think. Dance on! This song was co-written by Zoe Mulford. Then “At The End Of The Day” is a gentle, warm, pretty song as it begins. “At the end of the day/All my troubles put to rest.” It builds in power then as he sings, “We will rise up,” which is perfect, the backing vocalists joining him. Then in “Tikkun Olam,” John McCutcheon sings, “No matter that you feel so small/Or the task looms ever large/And we know the darkest hour of night is just before the dawn/You are the one, you are enough.” It is an empowering song, with an important message.
John McCutcheon turns to a bluegrass sound for “Redneck,” with Tim O’Brien on mandolin, and Cory Walker on banjo. It’s a song about a labor struggle, the “redneck” of this song being one of the miners who wore red bandanas around their necks. Toward the end it is made clear that the labor struggles continue. “Still we fight for decent wages/For dignity, respect.” That’s followed by “Too Old To Die Young,” a delightful and humorous number about turning seventy. It feels like a dance. So go ahead and dance. “It’s a punch in the gut/My youth passed before me/I guess I just missed the cut/It seemed only yesterday/That my life had begun/Though my body’s intact/I must face the fact/I’m too old to die young.” Pete Kennedy delivers some nice work on lap steel on this track, and Stuart Duncan again delivers wonderful stuff on fiddle. The line “What did you expect” caused me to burst out laughing. I’m guessing it might have the same effect on a lot of folks. Enjoy, and “Be the best damn old fart that there ever has been.”
A more somber tone is established at the beginning of “I’m Tired.” And there is a wonderfully deep, intimate sound to his delivery of the first lines, “I’m tired/I don’t know how I got this way/I’m just so tired.” I think a lot of folks are going to relate to this song, particularly the lines about working. “I am weary to my bones/Dead tired/And I just collapse when I get home.” Life is short, and though we need money, it is a shame to give the best of our lives to our jobs. But it is something other than work that has this person worn out. The song’s final lines had me in tears: “This night’s too long, this bed’s too wide/Is it really any wonder/That I’m tired/And I’m so lost without you/I’m so lost.” This track features some moving work on lap steel. That’s followed by “Peter Norman.” This song was inspired by the photo of Tommie Smith and John Carlos at the 1968 Olympics, focusing on the third person in the photo, Peter Norman. I like how the song uses running as a metaphor: “Some will run in circles just to end up where they start/To some it is a relay where each must do their part/And to others, it’s a marathon, a long and lonely race/But in the battle between right and wrong, there is no second place.”
“Waiting For The Moon” features some nice work on both keys and fiddle. Its lyrics refer to a famous moment in It’s A Wonderful Life, “How I longed to tame her when I was a kid/Could I lasso the moon like George Bailey did/Could I tie it up tight for the one that I love.” I’ve been thinking about mortality a lot lately, and a line like “Don’t know just how many I might see again” just takes the wind from me. Then the vocalists of Windborne join John McCutcheon on the album’s final song, “Blessing.” “So raise your voice/Raise your song/And leave your thanks/Your whole life long/We all are saints/We all are jerks/Bless this food/And bless this work.” The vocalists echo each of those lines. But there is a moment toward the end when they just say the word “Jerk” instead of echoing the full line, catching me by surprise and totally delighting me.
CD Track List
- Here
- Field Of Stars
- The Hammer
- Hell & High Water
- MS St. Louis
- Stubby
- Only Ones Dancing
- At The End Of The Day
- Tikkun Olam
- Redneck
- Too Old To Die Young
- Tired
- Peter Norman
- Waiting For The Moon
- Blessing
Field Of Stars is scheduled to be released on January 10, 2025.
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