Doing Our Job

Both seasoned troubadours, Tom Chapin (Harry's brother) and Virginia banjo and dulcimer player John McCutcheon have done many shows together in recent years. Two of those shows were taped last December and edited into Doing Our Job. Rather than reprise their best known songs, the duo unveils a dozen new compositions as well as new arrangements of Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie numbers. McCutcheon's title song was inspired by Cal Ripken Jr. and his "I Don't Care" is a Tom Paxton-like satire on celebrity. Chapin cowrote two songs with Si Kahn about honoring the past. The results are sometimes too earnest and cheerful for their own good, but saxophonist Bobby Read and bassist Michael Mark flesh out the sound. --Geoffrey Himes