In recent years some authors have recorded songs and collaborated with musicians, inadvertently producing an obscure subgenre that’s been referred to as “lit-rock.” John McCutcheon has been known mostly as a folk musician, but with his latest album, he drew on his passion for literature to produce one of his most ambitious projects ever. Most of the material, which was either co-written with an author or clearly inspired by a specific piece of writing, is presented in a sophisticated folk style.
The album leads off with “Our Flag Was Still There”, a song about the perversion of democracy that’s based on an essay by Barbara Kingsolver; it inspired McCutcheon to pursue the ambitious album project. “Dead Man Walking” was inspired by Helen Prejean’s book, while “It’s The Economy, Stupid” is a cogent song about misplaced priorities that was inspired by Jayber Crow, a novel by Wendell Berry. McCutcheon also wrote music to poems by José MartÍ and Pablo Neruda; “Ode To Common Things” is a song inspired by Neruda’s collection of the same name.
McCutcheon also was fortunate enough to gain access to a couple of unrecorded Woody Guthrie gems, which he finished. The songs are worthy additions to the Guthrie canon, and the album is a noteworthy contribution to the burgeoning world of literary and musical partnerships.
