Midnight Cabaret 2009

Friday, October 2, 10:30 p.m.
John McCutcheon – Love in the Time of Collards: How a Nice Wisconsin Boy Found His Heart, Home, and Stomach in the South
As a 19-year-old, John McCutcheon walked out to the end of a farm driveway, armed only with a backpack and a banjo; he stuck out his thumb and left Wisconsin on a 3-month independent study that he’s still on.  Since that time, McCutcheon’s made the South his home, embracing its music, people and food.  From coal mines to camp meetings, baseball fields to BBQ joints, courthouse squares to cotton mills, there are few things Southern that John doesn’t have a voracious appetite for, and he always manages to find humorous, loving and moving ways to sing and talk about them.  Called by Johnny Cash “the most impressive instrumentalist I’ve ever heard,” McCutcheon is one of America’s most respected and beloved folksingers. “His work…carries the profound mark of place, family, and strength. “…Virginia’s Rustic Renaissance Man.” —Washington Post

Saturday October 3, 10:30 p.m.
Chic Street Man – Passin’ the Blues Along
No one has asked for a case of the blues, but we all know what it’s like to feel down. Blues music, like African-American spirituals before it, transcends those feelings and transforms them into something powerful—even celebratory—that brings audiences together. Chic’s songs and stories do just that, with his combination of acoustic ballads, funky rhythms and a soulful, gifted voice. Join Chic Street Man, a world-class musician who has been a featured performer for the United Nations, for a light-hearted look at this heavy-hearted tradition. “With a voice like an angel’s…Chic Street Man could sing stock-market reports and still enthrall.” —Billboard Magazine. “One of the artists we recommend over and over for his mix of richness, lightness, simple touch and thoughtful in-depth songs.” —CD Baby