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'''Woodrow Wilson Guthrie''' (], ]–], ]) was a highly influential and prolific ] noted for his identification with the common man, and for his abhorrence of ], ]s, ] and economic ]. He is best known for his song "]". He is the father of musician ]. '''Woodrow Wilson Guthrie''' (], ]–], ]) was a highly influential and prolific ] noted for his identification with the common man, and for his abhorrence of ], ]s, ] and economic ]. He is best known for his song "]". He is the father of musician ].


==Life and career==
Guthrie was born in ]. His parents named him after ], who was elected ] in the ] the same year Guthrie was born. At age 19, he left home for ], where he met and married his first wife, Mary Jennings, with whom he had three children. He used his musical talents to earn money as a street musician and by doing small gigs. He left Texas and his family with the coming of the ] era, following the ] to ]. The poverty he saw on these early trips affected him greatly, and many of his songs are concerned with the conditions faced by the ]. He frequently donated money made from his music gigs and ] to help various peoples and causes. A lifelong ] and ]ist, he also contributed a regular column, "Woody Sez," to the '']'' and '']'' newspapers. He was a member of the ] (] or ]) for some years. Conservatives frequently criticized the ostensibly ] leanings of Guthrie's work; although he was never actually a member of the party, he did express sympathy towards the party many times, which was not unusual among 1930s folk singers.


In the late ], Guthrie achieved fame in ], California, with radio partner Maxine "Lefty Lou" Crissman as a broadcast performer of commercial "hillbilly" music and traditional folk music. While appearing on radio station KFVD, a commercial radio station owned by a populist-minded ] Democrat, Guthrie also began to write and perform some of the protest songs that would eventually end up on '']''. In ], Guthrie moved to ] and was embraced by its leftist and folk music community. He also made perhaps his first real recordings: several hours of conversation and songs, recorded by folklorist ] for the ], as well as an album, '']'', for ] in ]. He began writing his autobiography, ''Bound for Glory,'' which was completed and published in ]. It later became a motion picture in 1976 (see See Also).

In February 1940, Guthrie wrote his most famous song, "This Land Is Your Land." It was inspired in part by his experiences during a cross-country trip and in part by his distaste for the ] song "]", which he considered unrealistic and complacent (and he was tired of hearing ] sing it on the radio). The melody may have been based on the gospel song "When the World's on Fire," best known as sung by the country group ] around 1930. Guthrie protested class inequality in the final verse:

:''In the squares of the city, In the shadow of a steeple;''
:''By the relief office, I'd seen my people.''
:''As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking,''
:''Is this land made for you and me?''

:''As I went walking, I saw a sign there,''
:''And on the sign there, It said "no trespassing."''
:''But on the other side, it didn't say nothing!''
:''That side was made for you and me.''

These verses were sometimes omitted in subsequent recordings, sometimes by Guthrie himself.

In May ], Guthrie was commissioned by the ] and its ] to write songs about the ] and the building of the federal dams; the best known of these are "]" and "]." Around the same time, he joined ] in the legendary folk-protest group ], with whom he toured the country, and moved into the cooperative Almanac House in ].

Guthrie originally wrote and sang anti-war songs with the Almanac Singers, but after America's entry into ] he began writing anti-fascist tunes. Guthrie famously wrote the slogan "This Machine Kills Fascists" on his ]. He joined the ], where he served with fellow folk singer ], and then the ].

In ], Guthrie met ] of ], for whom he first recorded "This Land Is Your Land," along with hundreds of others over the next few years.
{{Quote_box|
width=45%
|align=right
|quote="This song is Copyrighted in U.S., under Seal of Copyright #154085, for a period of 28 years, and anybody caught singin' it without our permission, will be mighty good friends of ourn, cause we don't give a dern. Publish it. Write it. Sing it. Swing to it. Yodel it. We wrote it, that's all we wanted to do."
|source=Written by Guthrie in the late 1930s on a songbook distributed to listeners who wanted the words to his recordings
|}}
He began courting ] in ] and married her in ] while on furlough from the army. They moved into a house on Mermaid Avenue in ], and together had four children—including Cathy, his daughter who died at age four in a fire, sending him into a serious depression. Guthrie's son ] became a famous singer-songwriter in his own right. During this period, Guthrie wrote and recorded '']'', a collection of ], which includes the song "Goodnight Little Arlo (Goodnight Little Darlin')," written when Arlo was about nine years old.

At the same time Guthrie was still writing ]s. The ] ] of a plane carrying 28 Mexican farm workers from ] to be ] back to Mexico inspired the poem "]." The poem was set to music a decade later by Martin Hoffman, and the song has since been covered by performers such as ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ] and Woody's son ].

By the late ], Guthrie's health was worsening and his behavior becoming extremely erratic, showing signs of ]. He left his family, travelling with ] to California, where he married for a third time and had another child before eventually returning to New York. He received various diagnoses (including ] and ]){{fact}}, before he was finally discovered to be suffering from ], the ] that had caused the death of his mother.

Guthrie was hospitalized at ] from 1956 to 1961, at ] until ], and finally at ]. Due to his failing health during the final years of his life, he was unable to enjoy the renewed interest in his work during the ] ].


==Legacy== ==Legacy==

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Woody Guthrie with guitar, which is labelled "This machine kills fascists."

Woodrow Wilson Guthrie (July 14, 1912–October 3, 1967) was a highly influential and prolific American folk musician noted for his identification with the common man, and for his abhorrence of fascism, politicians, hypocrisy and economic exploitation. He is best known for his song "This Land Is Your Land". He is the father of musician Arlo Guthrie.


Legacy

By the time of Guthrie's death, his work had been discovered by a new audience, introduced to them in part through Bob Dylan, who visited Guthrie in the last years of his life and described him as "my last hero." Dylan later went on to write Last Thoughts on Woody Guthrie, a five-page tribute, and included "Song to Woody" on his first, eponymous album (1962).

In 1964, Phil Ochs's debut album, All the News That's Fit to Sing, included the song "Bound for Glory," a tribute to Guthrie and a criticism of revisionism and ignorance among modern audiences who preferred to forget some of Guthrie's more controversial (especially socialist) lyrics.

In 1967 his wife, Marjorie Guthrie, helped found the Committee to Combat Huntington's Disease which became the Huntington's Disease Society of America.

In 1971, Joan Baez first began publically performing Guthrie's song "Deportee (Plane Wreck At Los Gatos)." She continues performing it, most recently releasing it on her 2005 live album "Bowery Songs."

During the early 1970's, before adopting the name of Joe Strummer and founding The Clash, a young John Mellor began calling himself "Woody Mellor," derived obviously from Woody Guthrie.

Bruce Springsteen recorded "This Land Is Your Land" live December 28, 1980 at the Nassau Coliseum and is included on the Live/1975-85 album (1986). It was a cover song never released by Springsteen before.

In 1995, Woody's daughter Nora approached the British singer Billy Bragg about recording lyrics her father had composed in the later years of his life. After researching the lyrics at the Woody Guthrie Archive in New York City, Bragg worked with the band Wilco to record 40 tracks, a number of which were released on the albums Mermaid Avenue in 1998, and Mermaid Avenue Vol. II in 2000. These albums derived their names from the street on Coney Island where Woody lived with Marjorie and their family. She also approached Janis Ian about writing a song using the lyrics of one of Guthrie's unfinished songs, "I Hear You Sing Again." Ian wrote music in his style for the song, changing some of his lyrics and incorporated some of her own. The song was released on her 2004 album Billie's Bones. Nora Guthrie also invited the punk band Anti-Flag to visit the Archive. Subsequently, they covered "Post-War Breakout" and wrote a song called "This Machine Kills Fascists." These efforts have brought Guthrie's music to a new audience of fans. The Dropkick Murphys recorded an unreleased song of his, titled 'Gonna Be A Blackout Tonight' on their 2003 album Blackout. They later covered "I'm Shipping Up to Boston" on their 2005 CD, The Warrior's Code.

Steve Earle mentions Woody in his song "Christmas in Washington" on his 1997 CD El Corazon. Joan Baez covered the song in 2003 and it has since become a concert staple of hers.

Although initially the subject of much controversy, a statue honoring Guthrie stands in Memorial Park on Main Street in his hometown of Okemah. Also in Okemah, the Woody Guthrie Folk Festival celebrates his legacy each summer. It is produced by the Woody Guthrie Coalition, founded by his sister, Mary Jo Edgmon. The 2006 festival, July 12-16 in Okemah, featured Joe Ely, Jimmy LaFave, Ellis Paul, the David Amram Family Band and more. Arlo Guthrie kicked off the festival.

Navajo Native American punk-rock band Blackfire released their "Woody Guthrie Singles" in 2003. The Colorado-based band, Leftover Salmon, honored Guthrie on their 2004 self-titled release with the song "Woody Guthrie".

In 1996 Ani Difranco produced the tribute album "'Til We Outnumber 'Em: Live From Cleveland" and performed a rendition of "Do Re Mi." Also featured performing Guthrie covers were Billy Bragg, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, the Indigo Girls, Dave Pirner, Tim Robbins, Bruce Springsteen and Arlo Guthrie, his son.

In 2001, Frankie Fuchs produced "Daddy-O Daddy", rare family songs from lyrics written by Woody, set to music from musicans varied from Joe Ely to Taj Mahal.

Woody Guthrie is also a featured part of the band Son Volt's 2005 album "Okemah and the Melody of Riot" and is mentioned by name in the first track on that album, "Bandages & Scars".

In 2003 Alabama 3 composed a song called "Woody Guthrie".

In 2006, Old Crow Medicine Show released a cover of Guthrie's "Union Maid" on their album Big Iron World.

John Mellencamp's 2007 album "Freedom Road" is described by Mellencamp as a "Woody Guthrie" album.

In August 22 2006 the band The Casualties released a new album called UNDER ATTACK. In this album they make a song called IN IT FOR LIFE that is dedicated to Woody Guthrie.

Selected songs and albums by Woody Guthrie

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See also

External links

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