Tom Paxton is a much beloved singer-songwriter who helped bridge the transition from traditional folk music to “the more modern conception of the field, with its inclusion of performing songwriters.” With a professional career that began in 1962, the still-active Paxton has written hundreds of songs and released more than 60 albums. Some of his classic tunes include Last Thing On My Mind (sung below with IMT regular Robin Bullock), Bottle Of Wine, I Can’t Help But Wonder (Where I’m Bound), and Ramblin’ Boy. He is a voice of a generation.

“In describing Tom Paxton’s influence on his fellow musicians, Pete Seeger has said: ‘Tom’s songs have a way of sneaking up on you. You find yourself humming them, whistling them, and singing a verse to a friend. Like the songs of Woody Guthrie, they’re becoming part of America.'”

Other musicians heard and recorded Paxton’s songs. The late Doc Watson is one example and the two musicians had a long friendship. Paxton tells the story of hearing Doc for the first time at a small Italian neighborhood coffee house in New York City in 1961 or 62.

“Those who hear Doc Watson for the first time find it difficult to describe their amazement. No one we knew of could play so fast and so cleanly. You could hear the space between the notes, no matter how amazingly fast they came. He had this wonderful untrained baritone that carried the lyrics unfailingly. He was jaw-dropping great.”

Later, Watson would sit backstage at The Gaslight and operate a reel-to-reel tape recorder, listening to the other musicians sing. Paxton surmises that this is how Doc came to know and record several of his songs. Leaving London is a Paxton tune that Watson recorded for his Portraits album. It includes a solo by Jerry Douglas that another guitar great, Billy Strings, describes as his favorite dobro solo ever. Paxton’s tune has now become a staple of Billy’s live shows as well.

Michael Berick writing in The Bluegrass Situation had a terrific article earlier this month on the newest Paxton project: Bluegrass Sings Paxton. As Berick notes, “Paxton has earned Lifetime Achievement Awards from the GRAMMYs, ASCAP, and the BBC.” His tunes have been covered “by a wide spectrum of acts, ranging from Harry Belafonte and Neil Diamond to the Pogues and Norah Jones,” and several fellow singer-songwriters have devoted entire albums to Paxton music. But “it took a group of admiring bluegrass musicians to deliver the first multi-artist tribute album of his songs.”

“The genesis for Bluegrass Sings Paxton started with a conversation that GRAMMY-winning musician/producer [and DC-area resident] Cathy Fink had some years ago with Paxton, who she has worked with since the early 1980s and has known even longer. ‘I know Tom’s catalog really well and have often thought there was great material there for bluegrass,’ she shared with BGS. ‘I could hear this album before we even began.’” 

The album opens with Della Mae and their version of I Can’t Help But Wonder (Where I’m Bound) which has long been a part of their live show. Paxton joins in to sing with the band.

On some of the tunes Paxton is the co-writer. On You Took Me In his collaborator was Tim O’Brien. In a short interview, Paxton talks about this gospel song that has “everything but the gospel in it.”

Traditional and bluegrass music pioneer Alice Gerrard brings her haunting and distinctive voice to the project on Paxton’s The Things I Notice Now.

Several of the leading ladies of bluegrass are included in this project. Besides newer acts like Della Mae and Sister Sadie, older musicians—including Gerrard, Laurie Lewis (Central Square) and the great Claire Lynch (I Give You the Morning)—have tunes on the album.

It is worth noting that there was a de facto “house band” that played on the majority of Bluegrass Sings Paxton’s tracks.

“This team of bluegrass all-stars includes IBMA award-winners banjo player Kristin Scott Benson (the Grascals), fiddler Deanie Richardson (Sister Sadie), and Chris Jones on guitar, along with mandolinist Darren Nicholson (formerly of Balsam Range), bassist Nelson Williams (Chris Jones & the Night Drivers, New Dangerfield) and harmony singers Travis Book (The Infamous Stringdusters) and Wendy Hickman.”

Cathy Fink, along with Mountain Home executive Jon Weisberger, co-produced the album. Fink and her long-time partner, Marcy Marxer also added a tune, All I Want, for the project.

---

Judy Collins once said of Paxton,

“Tom Paxton’s songs are so powerful and lyrical, written from the heart and the conscience, and they reach their mark, our most inner being. He writes stirring songs of social protest and gentle songs of love, each woven together with his personal gift for language. His melodies haunt, his lyrics reverberate. I have sung Tom’s songs for three decades and will go on doing so in the new century, for they are beautiful and timeless, and meant for every age.”

Enjoy!

More to come . . .

DJB

Photo credit: TomPaxton.com