Meg Hutchinson at Eagle Hill
A Berkshire Bard Stretches Out
By: David Wilson - Nov 08, 2010
Meg Hutchinson gave two performances on Friday evening, Nov 5th in the intimate Kresge studio theatre at the Eagle Hill Cultural Center in Hardwick. This room with a cabaret seating allowed the audience an opportunity for proximity comparable to a coffeehouse.
It was the first time I had attended a performance by Meg. Advance word from some of my acquaintances, including notice here from Charles Giuliano when she opened for Richie Havens in Pittsfield earlier this fall, had praised her. I had yet to hear her.
After an extended period of fine tuning her instrument she launched into her first song. She did not so much accompany herself with her instrument as use it to punctuate her vocals. As unconventional as it is, it works, and by the end of her evening’s performance the audience was insistent in calling her back for an encore.
Born in the Berkshires, to parents who encouraged her to read and to appreciate the written and presumably the spoken word, Meg began writing verse before puberty. In an interview with satellite radio's Bob Edwards she credits a cassette of Dick and Mimi Farina singing “Pack Up Your Sorrows” with inspiring her to create songs. Moving to Boston and plunging into the life of a busker further shaped the contrasting (urban vs. rural) nature of the images in those songs.
There is a basic irony, I think, when a rather sophisticated poet dons the garb of a singer/songwriter. These complex and contemplative creations of hers when performed fall more readily into the category of art songs than into the folk idiom wherein Meg finds most of her audience. Nonetheless and for reasons I really do not at this time comprehend, it works, and she easily draws her audience to her. Her shy and very intimate between song patter summons us closer in anticipation of each new offering.
In performance her voice is a soft alto, straying irregularly into a breathy falsetto. It fits comfortably with her near mystical, starkly honest, exploration of her (and our) internal emotional landscapes. Those landscapes while containing hurt, regret and grief are most often dominated by hope.
If you have a chance to catch her act, I would strongly suggest you first listen on-line to a few of her songs and take time to read from her posted lyrics. Better yet, find and listen to one of her cds.
The expanded accompaniments on her recordings give welcome support to the full weight of her poetic constructs, well beyond what she by herself is able to provide. Once armed with this experience you will find her solo performances far more accessible.
Twice during the evening I was witness to a complete stranger voicing to me or to another nearby their gratitude to the Eagle Hill facility for providing to this rural community, such rich experiences in general, and Meg Hutchinson in particular. I could only nod in agreement.