
Woody Guthrie
Woodrow Wilson Guthrie (; July 14, 1912 – October 3, 1967) was an American singer-songwriter, who is considered one of the most significant figures in American western folk music. His music, including songs, such as "This Land Is Your Land", has inspired several generations both politically and musically. Guthrie wrote hundreds of country, folk, and children's songs, along with ballads and improvised works. His album of songs about the Dust Bowl period, Dust Bowl Ballads, was included on Mojo magazine's list of 100 Records That Changed The World, and many of his recorded songs are archived in the Library of Congress. Songwriters such as Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs, Johnny Cash, Bruce Springsteen, Robert Hunter, Harry Chapin, John Mellencamp, Pete Seeger, Andy Irvine, Joe Strummer, Billy Bragg, Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Jeff Tweedy, Tom Paxton, Brian Fallon, and Sixto Rodríguez have acknowledged Guthrie as a major influence on their work. He frequently performed with the slogan "This machine kills fascists" displayed on his guitar. Guthrie was brought up by middle-class parents in Okemah, Oklahoma, until he was 14, when his mother Nora was hospitalized as a consequence of Huntington's disease, a fatal hereditary neurological disorder. His father moved to Pampa, Texas, to repay debts from unsuccessful real estate deals. During his early teens, Guthrie learned folk and blues songs from his parents' friends. He married at 19, but with the advent of the dust storms that marked the Dust Bowl period, he left his wife and three children to join the thousands of Okies who were migrating to California looking for employment. He worked at Los Angeles radio station KFVD, achieving some fame from playing hillbilly music; made friends with Will Geer and John Steinbeck; and wrote a column for the communist newspaper People's World from May 1939 to January 1940. Throughout his life, Guthrie was associated with United States communist groups, although he did not appear to belong to any. With the outbreak of World War II and the non-aggression pact the Soviet Union had signed with Germany in 1939, the owners of KFVD radio were not comfortable with Guthrie's political leanings. He left the station, ending up in New York where he wrote and recorded his 1940 album Dust Bowl Ballads, based on his experiences during the 1930s, which earned him the nickname the "Dust Bowl Troubadour". In February 1940 he wrote his most famous song, "This Land Is Your Land". He said it was a response to what he felt was the overplaying of Irving Berlin's "God Bless America" on the radio. Guthrie was married three times and fathered eight children. His son Arlo Guthrie became nationally known as a musician. Guthrie died in 1967 from complications of Huntington's disease. His first two daughters also died of the disease. During his later years, in spite of his illness, Guthrie served as a figurehead in the folk movement, providing inspiration to a generation of new folk and country musicians, including mentoring Ramblin' Jack Elliott and Bob Dylan. |
- Show More...
- Continue reading at Wikipedia...
- Wikipedia content provided under the terms of the Creative Commons BY-SA license
Birth and Death Data: Born July 14, 1912 (Okemah), Died October 3, 1967 (New York City)
Date Range of DAHR Recordings: 1940 - 1952
Roles Represented in DAHR: vocalist, composer, harmonica, guitar, lyricist
= Recordings are available for online listening.
= Recordings were issued from this master. No recordings issued from other masters.
Recordings
Company | Matrix No. | Size | First Recording Date | Title | Primary Performer | Description | Role | Audio |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Victor | BS-050145 | 10-in. | 4/26/1940 | The great dust storm | Woody Guthrie | Male vocal solo, with guitar and harmonica | lyricist, composer, instrumentalist, harmonica, guitar, vocalist | |
Victor | BS-050146 | 10-in. | 4/26/1940 | Talkin' Dust Bowl blues | Woody Guthrie | Male vocal solo, with guitar and harmonica | lyricist, composer, vocalist, instrumentalist, harmonica, guitar | |
Victor | BS-050148 | 10-in. | 4/26/1940 | Dusty old dust | Woody Guthrie | Male vocal solo, with guitar and harmonica | lyricist, composer, instrumentalist, harmonica, guitar, vocalist | |
Victor | BS-050150 | 10-in. | 4/26/1940 | Blowin' down this road | Woody Guthrie | Male vocal solo, with guitar and harmonica | lyricist, composer, instrumentalist, guitar, harmonica, vocalist | |
Victor | BS-050151 | 10-in. | 4/26/1940 | Tom Joad | Woody Guthrie | Male vocal solo, with guitar and harmonica | lyricist, composer, instrumentalist, harmonica, guitar, vocalist | |
Victor | BS-050152 | 10-in. | 4/26/1940 | Tom Joad | Woody Guthrie | Male vocal solo, with guitar and harmonica | lyricist, composer, instrumentalist, harmonica, guitar, vocalist | |
Victor | BS-050153 | 10-in. | 4/26/1940 | Do re me | Woody Guthrie | Male vocal solo, with guitar and harmonica | lyricist, composer, vocalist, instrumentalist, harmonica, guitar | |
Victor | BS-050154 | 10-in. | 4/26/1940 | Dust Bowl refugee | Woody Guthrie | Male vocal solo, with guitar and harmonica | lyricist, composer, instrumentalist, harmonica, guitar, vocalist | |
Victor | BS-050155 | 10-in. | 4/26/1940 | I ain't got no home in this world anymore | Woody Guthrie | Male vocal solo, with guitar and harmonica | lyricist, composer, instrumentalist, harmonica, guitar, vocalist | |
Victor | BS-050156 | 10-in. | 4/26/1940 | Vigilante man | Woody Guthrie | Male vocal solo, with guitar and harmonica | lyricist, composer, instrumentalist, harmonica, guitar, vocalist | |
Victor | BS-050600 | 10-in. | 5/3/1940 | Dust cain't kill me | Woody Guthrie | Male vocal solo, with guitar and harmonica | lyricist, composer, instrumentalist, guitar, harmonica, vocalist | |
Victor | BS-050601 | 10-in. | 5/3/1940 | Dust pneumonia blues | Woody Guthrie | Male vocal solo, with guitar and harmonica | lyricist, composer, instrumentalist, harmonica, guitar, vocalist | |
Victor | E1VB-0374 | 10-in. | 1/28/1951 | So long no. 2 | Homer and Jethro | Male vocal solo, with string band | composer | |
Decca | 82077 | 1/7/1952 | Kissin' on | Woody Guthrie | vocalist | |||
Decca | 82078 | 1/7/1952 | This land | Woody Guthrie | vocalist |
Citation
Discography of American Historical Recordings, s.v. "Guthrie, Woody," accessed March 26, 2023, https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/102548.
Guthrie, Woody. (2023). In Discography of American Historical Recordings. Retrieved March 26, 2023, from https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/102548.
"Guthrie, Woody." Discography of American Historical Recordings. UC Santa Barbara Library, 2023. Web. 26 March 2023.
DAHR Persistent Identifier
Linked Open Data Sources
LCNAR: Guthrie, Woody, 1912-1967 - http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n79111488
Wikidata: Woody Guthrie - http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q4061
VIAF: http://viaf.org/viaf/11879
MusicBrainz: Woody Guthrie - https://musicbrainz.org/artist/cbd827e1-4e38-427e-a436-642683433732
Wikipedia content provided under the terms of the Creative Commons BY-SA license
Feedback
Send the Editors a message about this record.