Two folk music icons double up on their Grammy-winning ‘debut’ with a formidable follow-up.
And once again, your humble reviewer has the great pleasure of reviewing an album by an artist, or artists in this case, so revered that you quake at the thought of maybe having to be a little critical of its content. If, maybe lyrically, it doesn’t stack up against their earlier iconic music, or their vocal or instrumental prowess has dimmed in older age to any significant degree. Well, why would you ever think that of Tom Paxton (in case you needed reminding, writer of one of the most recorded and performed songs of all time, ‘The Last Thing on my Mind’) and his longtime friend John McCutcheon? Their new album “Together Again” is the second in a possible series of albums and follows the highly acclaimed “Together“, that was borne out of a common desire to make music during the course of the COVID pandemic.
To dive into their collective pasts would take a book, but suffice it to say that Paxton has recorded or appeared on more than 70 albums starting in 1964, and written thousands of songs which are largely staples of the folk tradition that he inherited from his musical pilot, Woody Guthrie and/or his folk mentor, Pete Seeger; songs covering a wide range of subject matter but often about protest and social commentary, political rights and civil liberty, often tempered with some levity and humour. He is now 88 years old and has just recently given up touring, which he addresses on the closing track of the new album: ‘Lay This Old Guitar Down’.
John McCutcheon is a sprightly 73 and is known for his melodic songwriting; probably more personal than Paxton, but with many political overtones. He is also a very talented multi-instrumentalist and plays guitar, fiddle and hammered dulcimer. His output is no less substantial, as he has released more than 45 albums since the early 70s.
During COVID, the two communicated by Zoom when they discovered the need to write songs and were looking for a way to deliver them to the public. “Together” was released in 2023, the songs collated from more than 200 that the duo wrote during the restricted time. The Monday at two Zoom meetings became the stuff of legend and apparently continue to this day. They are featured on the album in a track called ‘Every Monday at Two’.
The first collaboration came out as a kind of celebration of its release after COVID, “This Campfire of Ours”, and was quite a lively affair, given some of its subject matter: ‘Ukrainian Now’, ‘Do the Work’, ‘Same old Crap’. The new album retains much of the flavour of its predecessor, not surprising considering that the session men were effectively the same; multi-instrumentalist McCutcheon, the estimable Jon Carroll on piano, superstar fiddler Stuart Duncan, but is more contemplative, reflective of the past, anticipating the future, with nods to friends and artists from both, nostalgia and not a little humour, and a couple of political statements. It just needs to be said that the creative juices of these two acoustic folk giants are still intact, their voices still strong, and their instrumental talent preserved, and this album can rank with the best of either of them or their collaborations.
The opener, ‘The Future‘, is in effect a guess that the generation of talent that followed them will keep the acoustic fires burning. Paxton saw Alison Krauss when she was just a teenager, but the track’s lyrics refer to seeing Molly Tuttle at the Walnut Valley Folk Festival- “I saw the future yesterday on a small town Kansas stage / She was a girl a few years older than my own granddaughter’s age / She was playing like the devil and singing like a bird / It was just about the finest thing that I had ever heard / I sat there and I hung on every note and every word”.
Paxton describes the next track as two old dogs singing about ‘Old Dogs’, a lovely song about his faithful mongrel friend Obray that will resonate with any dog owner. ‘Artie’s Last Stand’ bemoans the loss of printed news with a nice couplet about the ubiquitous mobile phone: “They pass me by here on my corner / They’re always alone on the phone / They think they’re really connected / But they are out there on their own”.
These writers’ observations about life are without peer: take this bridge, for example, from ‘Stop at Nothing‘, written about the impact of school shootings in the US: “When we dare to raise our voices / We hear too soon! Too soon!” / The families and survivors / Are left howling at the moon / And the cowards we elected / Just turn their heads away / While their bloody hands / Accept their Judas pay”.
There is a fine tribute to their peer, Pete Seeger, on ‘Pathfinder’, with just McCutcheon’s banjo for accompaniment. And there is humour, as in the wonderful ‘Cheatin’ While You’re Eating’, about poor diet choices. Nice, Steve Hinson on steel guitar on this one. Then there are a couple of wistful tales of the good old days; ‘Rebel Gal’ is the story of a B17 bomber and its WW2 attacks, while ‘Last Man Sitting’, with just piano accompaniment, is a poignant reminiscence about the time when “time was timeless, time was free” but now his old friends are gone.
‘Famous For a Day’ is one of their ‘regular’ sports fan songs about baseball player Ron Necciai, while ‘Every Monday at 2’ describes their writing process, where they talk about sports among other things and sign off with a sporting metaphor when it’s all done – “Might not please everyone / Maybe not a homerun / But, man, it was fun”. Paxton delivers the delightful tale of ‘Sgt Reilly’, without any accompaniment.
The album ends on a note which explains Paxton’s decision to stop touring, on ‘Lay My Guitar Down‘: – “I’m gonna lay this good old guitar down / My steadfast, old companion / As we went from town to town / We did the best that we could do / Now this is where we are / Gonna lay down this old guitar”. And at the same time presages in a quiet gentle humourous way, Paxton’s mortality: “I picked up the phone, called John and said, “Guess what?” / For sixty years and better / This job has kicked my butt / This is a young man’s game / I’m not a young man anymore / I’ve got another whole life to explore”.
You don’t expect a great variety in the pacing of these old folkies but the arrangements and instrumental backing are outstanding (occasional leaning into classic country when Hinson provides steel guitar accompaniment) and, in any case, there is no denying the abiding lyrical talent of these two giants of the folk world and it is a pleasure not only to listen to, but to review this very moving, beautifully produced album.
