Good Music

This weekend I attended a John McCutcheon concert.  It was a birthday present to my dad, who raised us listening to Mr. McCutcheon's music.  I'm not really sure how well-known John McCutcheon is anymore.  At least, I'm not sure among my generation how many people know who he is.  Most people my age seem to enjoy rock, pop or country music, which John is not.  John is a folk singer, but his music is so beautiful and inspiring.  I really enjoyed sitting and listening to him play his variety of instruments while singing along.  Some of his most well-known songs include "Christmas in the Trenches" and "Cut the Cake." 

John wrote "Cut the Cake" in the hopes that it would catch on and people wouuld stop singing the tired old song of "Happy Birthday to You."  John's birthday song is so much better.  He took requests last night at the concert, which was nice because my sister and I had thought ahead to send a request backstage before the concert even started, asking him to sing "Cut the Cake" to Dad.  It was so much fun listening to him sing that song to my dad - Dad's played it for our birthday every year since we were little. (And during one segment of the show, John threw a baseball to the audience and Dad caught it. :)  Great birthday present!  And of course, John was kind of enough to sign it after the show.)

And listening to him was just like sitting in the car listening to his cd play.  But better. :)  My husband really enjoyed the music, as well, which was nice.  Everyone really seemed to enjoy the night.

I would most definately encourage others to check out his music. John McCutcheon sings such a variety of music - kid songs, love songs, political songs, funny songs, sad songs, the list goes on.  There's bound to be something for everyone. 

I think one of the neatest songs, though, is the song he wrote at the request of friend, "Happy Adoption Day." Coming from a social work background and working in the juvenile court system, I have seen how happy kids are when they are adopted, as well as how little there is in the world which celebrates the occassion.  It's hard to find cards or gifts or momentos of such a wonderful thing.  John's even put the song into a book.  For those of you who work with adoptions, or have had an adoption touch your life in one form or another, I'm sure you can appreciate this piece. 

Here's a picture from after the show.  Dad's on the left, John McCutcheon's on the right. :)