Storyteller Spotlight: John McCutcheon

photo © John McCutcheon at the National Storytelling Festival 2012 John McCutcheon at the National Storytelling Festival 2012 John McCutcheon is an American folk singer who has been making music since the 1970s. His eclectic catalog of ballads, historical songs, children’s songs, love songs, topical satire, fiddle and hammer dulcimer instruments, and even symphonic works are among the broadest in American folk music. His influences include the prolific, Pete Seeger, and John has composed musical settings and projects influenced by Woody Guthrie, Pablo Neruda, and Jose Marti. John has collaborated with some of the major songwriting talents in the folk music world including Tom Paxton, Si Kahn, Holly Near, Steve Seskin, and Tom Chapin. In 2006 he released an album of collaborations entitled Mightier than the Sword, in which he co-wrote songs with some of his favorite authors, including Barbara Kingsolver, Wendell Berry, Rita Dove, Lee Smith, and Carmen Agra Deedy. Often introducing his music with a story, he has become known and respected as a storyteller, appearing multiple times at the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesboro, Tennessee, among others. John has told and sung in countless venues and has taught many workshops, including a yearly folk music camp held in Tennessee every year. On this episode, listen in on a conversation between John and host, Sam Payne, and hear stories and songs from the albums, "Passage", "Untold", "This Land: Woody Guthrie's America", "Joe Hill's Last Will." To learn more about John and find more of his work, visit his website at www.folkmusic.com