John McCutcheon | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Born | Wausau, Wisconsin, United States | August 14, 1952
Genres | Folk |
Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist |
John McCutcheon (born August 14, 1952) is an American folk music singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who has produced 45 albums since the 1970s. [1] 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 jaw harp. [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] He has received six Grammy Award nominations. [10]
McCutcheon was born to Roman Catholic parents in Wausau, Wisconsin. He attended Saint James Grade School, Newman Catholic High School, and Saint John's University.[ citation needed ]
While in his 20s, he travelled to Appalachia and learned from some of the legendary greats of traditional folk music, including Roscoe Holcomb and Tommy Hunter. His repertoire includes songs from contemporary writers like Si Kahn (e.g. "Gone Gonna Rise Again", "Rubber Blubber Whale") as well as a large body of his own music.[ citation needed ]
When McCutcheon became a father in the early 1980s he found most children's music "unmusical and condescending", [11] and sought to change the situation by releasing a children's album, Howjadoo, in 1983. Originally, he had only intended to do one children's record, but the popularity of this first effort led to the production of seven additional children's albums. [12] He has written three children's books. Much of his work, however, continues to focus on writing politically and socially conscious songs for adult audiences. One of his most successful songs, "Christmas in the Trenches" (from his 1984 album Winter Solstice), tells the story of the Christmas truce of 1914.[ citation needed ]
In his performances, McCutcheon often introduces his music with a story. He has become known as a storyteller, and has made multiple appearances at the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tennessee. He is married to children's author and storyteller, Carmen Agra Deedy, [13] and the two live in Smoke Rise, Georgia. [14]
McCutcheon's music has, since the 1990s, increasingly evolved into heartland rock-influenced ballads, while he still occasionally performs purer folk music. In 2011, he portrayed IWW organizer and songwriter Joe Hill in Si Kahn's one-man play Joe Hill's Last Will, produced by Main Stage West in Sebastopol, California.[ citation needed ]
John McCutcheon has received six Grammy nominations. The Grammy Awards are awarded annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.
Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result |
---|---|---|---|
1995 | "John McCutcheon's Four Seasons: Summersongs" | Best Musical Album for Children | Nominated |
1996 | "John McCutcheon's Four Seasons: Wintersongs" | Best Musical Album for Children | Nominated |
1997 | "Bigger Than Yourself" | Best Musical Album for Children | Nominated |
1998 | "John McCutcheon's Four Seasons: Autumnsongs" | Best Musical Album for Children | Nominated |
1999 | "John McCutcheon's Four Seasons: Springsongs" | Best Musical Album for Children | Nominated |
2006 | "Christmas in the Trenches" | Best Spoken Word Album for Children | Nominated |
Peter Seeger was an American folk singer-songwriter, musician and social activist. He was a fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, and had a string of hit records in the early 1950s as a member of The Weavers, notably their recording of Lead Belly's "Goodnight, Irene," which topped the charts for 14 weeks in 1950. Members of the Weavers were blacklisted during the McCarthy Era. In the 1960s, Seeger re-emerged on the public scene as a prominent singer of protest music in support of international disarmament, civil rights, workers' rights, counterculture, environmental causes, and ending the Vietnam War.
Norah Jones is an American singer-songwriter and musician. She has won several awards for her music and, as of 2023, had sold more than 53 million records worldwide. Billboard named her the top jazz artist of the 2000s decade. She has won nine Grammy Awards and was ranked 60th on Billboard magazine's artists of the '00s decade chart.
Guy Hughes Carawan Jr. was an American folk musician and musicologist. He served as music director and song leader for the Highlander Research and Education Center in New Market, Tennessee.
Nanci Caroline Griffith was an American singer, guitarist, and songwriter. She often appeared on the PBS music program Austin City Limits, starting in 1985 during Season 10. In 1990, Griffith appeared on the Channel 4 programme Town & Country with John Prine in a segment entitled "White Pants", where she wore white pants at the Bluebird Café in Nashville, Tennessee, along with Buddy Mondlock, Barry "Byrd" Burton, and Robert Earl Keen. In 1994, Griffith won a Grammy Award for the album Other Voices, Other Rooms.
Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em is the third studio album by American rapper MC Hammer, released on February 12, 1990 by Capitol Records and EMI Records. Produced, recorded and mixed by Felton Pilate and James Earley, the album was made on a small budget of around $10,000 and recorded on a modified tour bus between May 1988 and November 1989.
Jean Ruth Ritchie was an American folk singer, songwriter, and Appalachian dulcimer player, called by some the "Mother of Folk". In her youth she learned hundreds of folk songs in the traditional way, many of which were Appalachian variants of centuries old British and Irish songs, including dozens of Child Ballads. In adulthood, she shared these songs with wide audiences, as well as writing some of her own songs using traditional foundations.
Mike Seeger was an American folk musician and folklorist. He was a distinctive singer and an accomplished musician who mainly played autoharp, banjo, fiddle, dulcimer, guitar, harmonica, mandolin, dobro, jaw harp, and pan pipes. Seeger, a half-brother of Pete Seeger, produced more than 30 documentary recordings, and performed in more than 40 other recordings. He desired to make known the caretakers of culture that inspired and taught him. He was posthumously inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame in 2018.
"U Can't Touch This" is a song co-written, produced, and performed by American rapper MC Hammer. It was released as the third single from his third album, Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em (1990), and has been considered his signature song. Along with Hammer, Rick James shares songwriting credits with Alonzo Miller, as the song samples the prominent opening riff of James' 1981 single "Super Freak". The song has been used and referred to in many television shows, films, commercials, and other forms of media. It has also received multiple awards and recognition.
Malcolm Dalglish is an American hammered dulcimer player and builder, composer, and choral director.
Jimmy Cooper (1907–1977) was a hammered dulcimer player from Scotland.
Paul Van Arsdale was an American hammered dulcimer player from North Tonawanda in upstate New York.
Bill Spence was a hammered dulcimer player from New York.
Chet Parker was a hammered dulcimer player from Michigan.
Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer are a musical duo who perform folk, bluegrass and children’s music. They have performed with Pete Seeger, Theodore Bikel, Tom Paxton, Patsy Montana, Riders in the Sky and others. The Washington Area Music Association has recognized the duo with over 60 Wammie Awards for folk, bluegrass, and children’s music.
Si Kahn is an American singer-songwriter, and activist; he is the founder and former executive director of Grassroots Leadership.
Trapezoid is an American folk music group led by Paul Reisler. Founded in 1975 by Sam Rizzetta and Reisler, they began as a quartet of hammer dulcimer players. Two of the four played the traditional hammer dulcimer, while the other two played baritone and treble hammer dulcimers specially designed by Rizzetta. The name of the band reflects the shape of the hammer dulcimer. Since 1975, the group's membership and instrumentation has changed repeatedly, always with Paul Reisler as a member. Their sound has been described as a "plinking and plunking, buzzing, sweeping, ringing, droning, and wailing acoustic construction" and as "a delightful musical melange" by the New York Times.
The Monkees' discography spans over 50 years, from the release of their first single, "Last Train to Clarksville" in August 1966 to their final live album The Mike and Micky Show in April 2020. Their discography is complicated due to the large volume of unique releases in many international markets, the release of many recordings not credited to the Monkees for lack of rights to the trademark, and the existence of many bootleg, promotional, and novelty recordings that are beyond the scope of this article.
Sue Harris is an English musician classically trained as an oboeist, but best known for her folk music performances with the hammered dulcimer.
Addie Prater Graham was born in 1890 at Gilmore in Wolfe County in the mountains of eastern Kentucky. She was a masterful traditional singer whose life and repertoire reflect both deep tradition and an era of social change in the Appalachian Mountains. She sang ballads which trace back to the British Isles, others composed in America, frolic songs and ditties, and religious songs in the Primitive Baptist tradition. While the Old Baptist belief of her parents forbade the use of musical instruments, she became an accomplished unaccompanied singer in the complex, highly ornamented style of Kentucky's oral tradition.
Erwilian is an American musical group featuring acoustic instrumentation, led by soprano recorder, violin, and hammered dulcimer. The group blends elements from celtic, world, and folk music into an original cross-genre style classified as New Age. Since its formation in 2000, the group has featured various multi-instrumentalists in its lineup. Current members and primary instruments include founders Scott Melton (guitar) and Jordan Buetow (recorders), Bethel Melton, Malcolm Lee (bass), Matt Garcia (harp), John Hintze (percussion), and Keely Rendle (violin).