Recess! Media

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That’s John McCutcheon swinging into fall on his “Autumnsongs” CD, the third in his Four Seasons cycle of songs that we’ve been reviewing on this program. McCutcheon again brings his talents for poetry and music along with his keen sense of childhood’s mythic moments to welcome in this season with an eclectic mix of songs about pumpkins and campfires, trees bursting with color and Thanksgiving tables filled with blessings. But there are other kinds of songs in this collection that suggest another level of thought about autumn along with their joyful exuberance — one is about Cesar Chavez, the remarkable leader of the United Farm Workers, the folks who harvest many of the nation’s crops, and another is a resounding hymn to working women and men in honor of Labor Day. One of the real surprises on the CD is McCutcheon’s celebration of the 1957 Milwaukee Braves who won the first and only World Series ever to be claimed by a team from Wisconsin. It’s part nostalgia, part patriotic salute, part Homeric Ode — as sharp and cool as a breeze off the lake:

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