John McCutcheon Teams with Kathy Mattea for Powerful New Track About Charlottesville

Wisconsin-bred, Georgia-based musician John McCutcheon is folk music's Renaissance man - master multi-instrumentalist, powerful singer-songwriter, storyteller, activist, and author. His recordings which now number 38, have garnered every imaginable honor including six Grammy nominations. He has produced over twenty albums of other artists, from traditional fiddlers to contemporary singer-songwriters to educational and documentary works. McCutcheon's commitment to grassroots political organizations has put him on the front lines of many issues with relevance to communities and workers.

McCutcheon lived in Virginia for most of his life and raised his children in Charlottesville where he was a resident from 1986-2006. As soon as he heard the terrible news on August 12, he knew he would write about it. As McCutcheon notes, "One of the things that art enables us to do is look at the world through different eyes. I lost my father a couple of years ago. He was an old WWII vet and thinking about him helped me imagine an entire generation for whom there would be no question about "which side are you on?" Only horror, anger, and resolve. I thought their voice deserved to be heard and give perspective to what happened."

The result is a timely, powerful song called "The Machine" which features John on guitar and vocals and his friends Stuart Duncan (Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson, Dwight Yoakam) on fiddle and Kathy Mattea and Tim O'Brien (John Prine, Mark Knopfler) on harmony vocals.

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