Together Digital
John McCutcheon and Tom Paxton have been pals for decades, but it was COVID and Zoom that turned them into a songwriting team. Every Monday at 2PM they’d tell jokes, reminisce about old friends, and, of course, talk lots of sports. Eventually one would say, “Well, guess we better write a song, huh?” And off they’d go, two old warhorses pulling the plow. Now, a hundred songs later, they’ve gathered fourteen for their first joint recording, the aptly titled Together.
What happens when two of folk music’s most beloved and prolific songwriters join forces? Songs about history, the news, baseball, cowboys, America, love, the remembered, the forgotten. Gathering John’s familiar crew of supporting musicians, the arrangements are compelling, the production pristine, and the performances stunning. From the stirring Ukrainian Now to the hilarious Same Old Crap, the immigrant story of In America to the heart stopping finale, Together, each song shines as would be expected of this partnership.
Grammy Lifetime Achievement honoree Tom Paxton has been a force in the folk music world since the 1960’s, penning songs made famous by Peter, Paul, & Mary, the Kingston Trio, John Denver, Johnny Cash, Pete Seeger, Judy Collins, and more. His song, Last Thing on My Mind, is “one of the best damn songs ever written,” declares McCutcheon.
John McCutcheon is a part of the generation of folksingers that grew up singing Tom Paxton songs. His own impressive catalog of songs spans forty-four albums, six Grammy nominations, numerous awards and accolades and the citing of his song Christmas in the Trenches as “one of the 100 essential folk songs,” by Folk Alley.
Together, they have seeded the folk music landscape with hundreds of songs, sung by thousands for decades. With Together, they add another bunch of great new ones to the repertoire of our time. And, given the bounty of those Monday afternoons, this is only the beginning.
Details
This is a pay-what-you-will download. Knowing that there are many who’ve lost their jobs and their incomes, as well as many who are economically unfazed by this current situation, please…help yourself to the music if you cannot afford to buy it, but please be generous if you can. It’s entirely up to you.
You have 2 options for downloading this album.
1) Mp3 files. These are smaller files, more quickly downloaded, and take up less space on your devices. This is what almost all downloads are from everywhere.
2) Wav files. These are larger, full-range audio files, like you would get on a CD. They'll take longer to download and will take up more space. These are rarely offered as download files.
So why are we offering both? Because John works hard to get his albums sounding great and the compression used on mp3 files erases much of the fine tuning. John hates mp3's. Most musicians do. Yeah, we know it's kinda snobbish, but ears are what a musician is paid for, huh?
If you don't want to choose, you can have both. Listen to the mp3's on your mobile devices and burn a CD with the wav files for the total listening experience. With our compliments.
Track List
Ukrainian Now 4:23
This Campfire 4:11
Do the Work 4:16
Invisible Man 3:46
Same Old Crap 3:16
In America 4:28
Letters from Joe 2:18
The Fan 4:37
Complete 2:45
Everything 1:17
Life Before You 3:53
Christmas in the Desert 4:11
Prairie Star 3:30
Together 3:25