Multi-talented John McCutcheon to perform Sept. 30 with CSB/SJU Orchestra and Chamber Choir

John McCutcheon has come a long ways since he wrote his first song – the aptly named “The Ponderosa No-Cream-In-My-Coffee Blues.”

He wrote that little ditty about a restaurant in his hometown of Wausau, Wisconsin, when he was 15 years old. It must have been good, since the song helped him win his high school talent show.

“My best friend claims that he still has a cassette of the song, and if we ever have a serious falling out it’s going right up on YouTube,” McCutcheon told the website folkmusic.com.

McCutcheon has gone on to write countless songs. He’ll be performing at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 30, at Escher Auditorium, Benedicta Arts Center at the College of Saint Benedict as part of the 2017-18 Fine Arts Series with the CSB/Saint John’s University Orchestra and Chamber Choir.

For McCutcheon, the concert is a homecoming. He is a 1974 graduate of Saint John’s who graduated summa cum laude with a degree in American Folk Studies. He sang with the Chamber Choir while he was attending SJU.

He has appeared in concert multiple times at both CSB and SJU. In 2012, he was the Commencement speaker at SJU and received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from the school.

McCutcheon has recorded 36 albums which have earned six Grammy nominations for his eclectic catalog of American folk music, ballads, historical songs, children’s songs, love songs, topical satire and even symphonic works.

One of his most successful songs is “Christmas in the Trenches,” which tells the story of the Christmas truce of 1914 during World War I. It was named one of the 100 Essential Folk Songs by Folk Alley, at No. 70.

To put that in some context, among the songs behind McCutcheon in the listing are “My Back Pages” (No. 76) and “Mr. Tambourine Man” (No. 82) by Bob Dylan; “Hallelujah” by Leonard Cohen (No. 78); “Bridge over Troubled Waters” by Simon and Garfunkel (No. 87) and “Fountains of Sorrow” by Jackson Browne (No. 97).

While most of his writing continues to focus on politically and socially conscious songs for adult audiences, he has released several children’s albums, starting with 1983’s “Howjadoo.”

McCutcheon has collaborated with some of the major songwriting talents in folk music, including Tom Paxson, Tom Chapin, Si Kahn, Holly Near and Steve Seskin.

With his deep roots in American traditional music, his approach to writing reflects both a simplicity and a layered complexity that creates songs that are always more than they seem.

 Tickets are $28 for adults, $25 for seniors, $21 for CSB/SJU faculty and staff and $15 for students and youth. For tickets, call the Benedicta Arts Center Box Office at 320-363-5777 or order online.

The event is sponsored in part by Bernick’s, D.J. Bitzan Jewelers and El-Jay Plumbing and Heating.

These activities are made possible in part by the voters of Minnesota through a Minnesota State Arts Board Operating Support grant, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.