For those unaware, when John McCutcheon returned from his Australian tour on March 16th, 2020, he was ready to record a new album. He had booked studio time and hired musicians months in advance.

Well, we know what happened and so he put the songs on the shelf and figured he’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, he is taking those songs down from the shelf for the album Field of Stars.

But, whilst some still felt right, others not so much. Plus, there were plenty of new songs vying to be heard. So he spent a lot of time writing with a bunch of his pals on Zoom during lockdown and a handful of those songs found themselves into this collection. It isn’t at all what he planned back in early 2020, but it feels just right now, he has admitted.

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 John for a while now and it’s good to get them out on their little coltish legs and begin to do their work.

Simply put, he has now turned them loose to all of us now and he hopes we find them good companions.

1. Here [4:32]
2. Field of Stars [6:19]
3. The Hammer [4:15]
4. Hell & High Water [4:31]
5. MS St. Louis [4:21]
6. Stubby [4:25]
7. Only Ones Dancing [4:26]
8. At the End of the Day [4:21]
9. Tikkun Olam [3:55]
10. Redneck [4:40]
11. Too Old to Die Young [4:34]
12. Tired [3:43]
13. Peter Norman [4:33]
14. Waiting for the Moon [3:19]
15. Blessing [3:22]

This magnificently crafted new recording opens on the ornately spun beauty of Here and the impassioned title track Field of Stars and then we get the spirited The Hammer, an aching yearn that drives Hell & High Water, the dutiful story told within MS St. Louis, before both the enthusiastic Stubby and the beautiful balladry of Only Ones Dancing are brought forth.

Along next is the emphatically melodious At the End of the Day and the spirited Tikkun Olam, and they are in turn followed seamlessly by the backwoods, banjo-picking rhythms of Redneck, the decadent dance floor swirls and twirls of Too Old to Die Young, the gentle ballad Tired, the album rounding out on the foot-tapper Peter Norman, the lushly-crafted Waiting for the Moon, closing on the heartwarming prayer Blessing.

John McCutcheon is an American folk music singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who has produced 40 albums since 1970. He is regarded as a master of the hammered dulcimer, and is also proficient on many other instruments including guitar, banjo, autoharp, mountain dulcimer, fiddle, and jawharp.

Known best for his prolific work in the field of children’s music, John McCutcheon has consistently produced both quality children’s albums and folk albums since the early ’70s. McCutcheon is first and foremost an instrumentalist. Like thousands of others in the ’60s, McCutcheon, a Wisconsin native, taught himself how to play a mail-order guitar and joined the local folk scene. His interest became more serious, however, when he sought to find the roots of this music.

McCutcheon headed for Appalachia and learned from some of the legendary greats of traditional folk music. Along the way, he became adept at a multitude of instruments, including fiddle, banjo, guitar, autoharp, jaw harp, and especially the hammered dulcimer. McCutcheon is considered one of the undisputed masters on the hammered dulcimer and adapts much of his music around the instrument.

With his deep roots in American traditional music, his approach to writing reflects both a simplicity and a layered complexity that creates 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.

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John McCutcheon @ Facebook