Green Room: Folk for Free

John McCutcheon is one of the area's favorite performers –  the popular folk singer lived in Virginia for many years and has played at The Barns at Wolf Trap 35 times.

But tonight, Vienna residents will get the chance to see him for free at Nottoway Park.

“I do something every summer for the parks department and it moves around every year and it’s nice being in a neighborhood I know so much up in Vienna,” he said. “It’s going to be fun and I will delve into some stuff to make the evening great.”

For the past decade, has hosted a free Thursday concert series in the summer known as Nottaway Nights.

“Gerry Connolly got it started when he was supervisor,” Providence District Supervisor Linda Smyth said. “We get donations from corporate sponsors to pay for the concert series so it’s not at the taxpayer expense and it’s a fun evening for everyone.”

The concerts begin at 7:30 p.m. each Thursday, featuring a diverse group of entertainers offering everything from rock to jazz to country.

“It’s within the neighborhood, it’s close by for a lot of people, and we have people who can walk to the concerts to get there,” Smyth said. “It’s a nice community event for people to enjoy. People love their parks in Fairfax County and this is just one of those nice activities.”

McCutcheon is currently touring behind his new album, “Passage,” an album that wasn't even supposed to exist.

“I have done an album every year for a ridiculous number of years and this is my 34th,” he said. “I decided there were enough of my CDs floating around and I didn’t need to do another one.”

His feeling changed when he became a grandfather for the first time and wanted to write about it.

“There was no intent of having any product; it was just about the writing, and I just sat down every day from the day before I met my granddaughter for the first time, and I guess after being a songwriter for four decades, I couldn’t help myself,” he said. “Every day there was a new song … about two to three months later I looked at this big body of work and it became this album which dealt with everything from the Gulf oil spill to the West Virginia mine disaster to meeting my granddaughter … they all seemed to be about a rite of passage.”

Those coming to the free show can expect to hear a number of songs off of that album, some old favorites and even some from his upcoming –you guessed it – 35th album.

“Next year is the centennial of the birth of Woody Guthrie and he was a huge influence to me growing up,” McCutcheon said. “The only folk record that my library had was his, so I listened to it over and over again.”

Over the years, McCutcheon has recorded some of the folk legend’s stuff, worked in the Guthrie archives and completed some of his songs at the invitation of his family. Now, he's planning an album of unusual versions of those songs.

“I’m jacked up about that and will include some of those songs,” he said. “It’s only an hour show though, which is half the length of my normal concert so who knows. There will people who come see me every year and they are going to want to hear the old favorites.”

One thing is for sure: McCutcheon will have his usual arsenal of instruments at his disposal and at any given time may break out his guitar, banjo, accordion or mandolin.

“I love playing and I have this orchestra’s worth of instruments behind me and I may decide to play the banjo or feel like playing the harmonium,” he said. “These evenings are just as big surprise to me as it is to the audience. ... I have the best job in the world. I have been doing this for so long and I still can’t wait to wake up and do my job.”

Nottoway Nights will run for three more weeks. Glass Onion takes the stage Aug.11; Ocean Celtic plays Aug.18; and Daryl Davis finishes the summer series Aug. 25. All performances are at 7:30 p.m. For more information, click here.