Pophistory: music, movies, history, and life.
Roll Columbia: Woody Guthrie’s 26 Northwest Songs will make you feel like you are sitting in a bar in Oregon listening to singers capture the spirit of Guthrie. The album, released by Smithsonian Folkways in early 2017, pays tribute to the 26 songs Guthrie wrote in 30 days while working for the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA). … Continue reading ““Roll Columbia” Captures Spirit of Woody Guthrie (Album Review)”
Reading My Name is New York: Ramblin’ Around Woody Guthrie’s Town by Nora Guthrie and the Woody Guthrie Archives, I was surprised to discover that I often walk past where Woody Guthrie wrote “This Land is Your Land.” The picture above shows the corner of 43rd Street and 6th Avenue in Manhattan where he wrote … Continue reading “Where Woody Guthrie Wrote “This Land Is Your Land””
Woody Guthrie was born 100 years ago this Saturday, July 14, 1912. Perhaps the best one-sentence summary of Guthrie’s work came from Bob Dylan. In the documentary No Direction Home, Dylan described when he first heard Woody Guthrie’s music, “You could listen to his songs and actually learn how to live.” As regular Chimesfreedom readers … Continue reading “Happy 100th Birthday Woody Guthrie!”
“Peace Call” is one of Woody Guthrie’s lesser-known songs, perhaps because it was lost for awhile. I discovered the song not too long ago on the excellent Guthrie tribute CD, Ribbon of Highway Endless Skyway (2008). The CD is a live recording of performances of Guthrie’s songs and songs in his spirit, inter-cut with some … Continue reading “Woody Guthrie’s “Peace Call””
Woody Guthrie’s song about the outlaw Pretty Boy Floyd begins with a story of Floyd getting into a fight. Floyd gets upset that a deputy used vulgar language in front of Floyd’s wife. After Floyd “laid that deputy down,” he fled to the country where every crime was blamed on him. But Guthrie did not … Continue reading “Woody Guthrie’s “Pretty Boy Floyd” Was About More Than an Outlaw”