John McCutcheon is the 21st century’s traveling minstrel, a cultural icon who performs on multiple instruments and sings songs that open the heart and mind. His Wolf Trap audience can look forward to selections from “Sermon on the Mound,” his latest recording, which pays homage to baseball.
The original songs celebrate his love of the sport from the age of 5, when the televised World Series launched a lifelong romance. “I Am Here” expresses his joy in visiting Cooperstown and seeing the trophies and mementos of his heroes.
Along with “Cross That Line,” honoring Jackie Robinson, McCutcheon pays tribute to several favorite stars whose gifts to the game transcend their records. “Te Recuerdo” incorporates an appealing Latin beat to lament the premature loss of Roberto Clemente in a plane crash, while the jolly “Talking Yogi Talk” quotes some of the malapropisms attributed to the record-breaking Yankee catcher, manager and coach.
But McCutcheon doesn’t avoid those who give the game a bad name. “John Rocker” rues bad behavior, and “Big” tackles the steroid scandal.
The theme running through “Sermon on the Mound” is the advice McCutcheon’s father gave many years ago when the young boy’s greatest pleasure was playing “Baseball on the Block.” No matter what he does today, he recalls his father’s words, “Nothing is free, and you must play every game as if it’s your last.”
It is a sermon McCutcheon hopes all youngsters will take to heart, especially those who are programmed so tightly from dawn to dark that they suffer from “Modern Kid Blues.”
A master of the hammered dulcimer, guitar, banjo, autoharp, fiddle, Jew’s harp and other instruments, McCutcheon has cut more than 30 recordings and racked up thousands of miles spreading his good news and perceptive observations through song. He concludes that most adults, like every child who tries out for Little League, begin each phase of life thinking, “Hope I Make It.”
When he is not penning lyrics to teach life’s lessons with a musical beat, he is a fervent supporter of people and projects that promise a better world. A few of his favorite causes are Handgun Control Inc., Literacy Volunteers of America and Foundation for Popular Health Education. He pins his hope for a re-United States on Barack Obama for president.
If you go
John McCutcheon performs folk music for our time.
When: 8 p.m. Thursday
Venue: The Barns at Wolf Trap
Tickets: $18 at 877-WOLFTRAP (965-3872) or wolftrap.org
