i didIf you’ve been around Nevada County for any length of time, you’ve probably expected to see an announcement that John McCutcheon will be playing in the area, helping raise money for KVMR Radio. This is the announcement! And, you can thank the late Utah Phillips for consistently bringing McCutcheon to local venues for the past several decades. McCutcheon, somewhat of a renaissance man, is a storyteller, author, activist and accomplished musician. He will be performing this Saturday, January 7, at the Center for the Arts to help raise funds for the public radio station that is KVMR-FM.
McCutcheon credits his friendship with Phillips with introducing him to the public radio station.
“I first started doing it around 1990,” he said. We just got tired of seeing each other occasionally at music festivals (where musicians meet each other). He said you know I live in this town that has this big community radio station and why don’t I see if they will make you a fundraiser for them – they play your music! So, I came in and I just loved the area and the radio station and it was a great chance to meet my friend, Utah, especially after he couldn’t go out on the road anymore.
In what has become an almost annual pilgrimage, McCutcheon has been handling the fundraiser in January for decades. He said it seems to be working.
“It’s a good time of year for everybody,” he said. “I started coming out, so I didn’t have to deal with snow concerts on the East Coast. (McCutcheon lives in Georgia). I just started going out and it became part of the annual stop.
This concert has been on January 1st since 2019 – a postponed concert (due to COVID) took place last summer.
January fundraisers have become a highly anticipated part of the norm.
“Doing it in January is downright Pavlovian,” McCutcheon said. “People are used to it being January. It’s the first concert after New Year’s. It’s McCutcheon. So, people didn’t have to announce it as much because people started looking for it.
Supporting KVMR is a win for both the music and the radio station, which McCutcheon explained is about more than music and information.
“Community radio is more than entertainment,” he said. “What community radio does, it helps build and maintain a community. So, you have a sense of a radio station that’s more than just a place where you listen to your favorite songs or where You turn to the news. It’s part of your information system. It’s part of your entertainment world. It’s where you go back to when times get weird. Where do I turn in my world to find what I want? Need? And, once I start interacting with the community, I’m not just a fun way to get away for a few hours once a year. I’m part of the family and I’m part of the information system.
He presents information in a different way as a storyteller and entertainer and perhaps as an inspiration and he gets as much as he gives.
“It’s not a one-way street,” McCutcheon said. “I needed that kind of training, too, so coming back to a place I know and love in the Grass Valley and Nevada City area, a place where KVMR has a huge network and you know people. It’s Family reunions are a kind of ending, especially in these times of a pandemic with so much isolation in many ways.
He said as people gather for the show, it feels like a community again.
McCutcheon spent a lot of time doing online concerts during the pandemic, and still does, but always prefers live interaction. He said he is very creative at the moment and is releasing several albums full of new material, but has slowed down on touring.
“I travel about half as much as I did before the pandemic,” he said. “I’m 70 now. I still feel as fit and creative as I ever have in my life.”
The storyteller and multi-instrumentalist plays guitar, hammered and mountain dulcimer, banjo, autoharp, fiddle and piano, just to name a few.
This concert performance will include familiar and introductions to some new material, although McCutcheon can’t really say specifically what he’ll be playing Saturday night, as he doesn’t use a set list. . However, he recently released a new album (in addition to two new releases last summer).
“So, I’m going to be doing some stuff from the new album. There’s been some stuff in the news that’s caused me to put some stuff in that I thought had a short shelf life but the world is what it is, I can I brought some of these old songs and the world will breathe new life into them.”
McCutcheon promises some old-fashioned favors and takes requests during the intermission, saying he’s doing his best to honor those requests.
“People come back based on what they’ve experienced before and maybe it’s a particular song, or maybe the way certain songs work together, or maybe it’s what it’s like to be in a room with 400 strangers – or 400 neighbors. Be in – so I don’t know if I’ll play anything other than the first song.
Discussing audience interaction, he said: “Yuta and I were discussing the arc of the performance and how it’s a two-way play. The music was the delivery system and the emotional experience was the real end.
The popular artist is looking forward to his return to Northern California, is happy to continue supporting public radio broadcasting and looks forward to interacting with the audience.
“People are so excited to go out. The fact that people are so excited to watch live concerts on their phones shows how much they’ve missed out on.
Know and go WHO: Presents string concerts what: John McCutcheon – KVMR Annual Fundraiser When: Saturday, January 7, 7 p.m Where: Center for the Arts, 314 W. Main Street, Grass Valley, CA Tickets: Reserved seats — $30 and $40 at thecenterforthearts.org or at https://ci.ovationtix.com/35565/production/1143341 {related_content_uuid}2ecc7f35-feeb-4580-9f9e-2fbd9f165entuit_contid
On the cover is John McCutcheon, a bit of a renaissance man, a storyteller, author, activist and accomplished musician. | Image courtesy of {span class=”dig-Text dig-Text–variant-paragraph dig-Text–size-standard dig-Text–color-standard dig-Text–isBold”}John Taber{/span} {related_content_uuid }b1fbd231-94ff-4556-8f45-ea299acbb79b{/related_content_uuid}
