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Woody Guthrie artist page: interviews, features and/or performances archived at NPR Music
Guthrie has had a profound influence on American music, and he was such a prolific writer that some of his lyrics have yet to be set to music. Having been given access to the Guthrie archives, singer-songwriter Jonatha Brooke recently released The Works, which adapts previously unreleased Guthrie lyrics.
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In May 1941, folk singer Woody Guthrie was hired by the federal government to travel up the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest and write about what he saw. Among the 26 songs Guthrie penned that month are "Roll On Columbia" and "Grand Coulee Dam."
()An online animated short is under criticism from the publisher that owns the copyright to Woody Guthrie's song "This Land is Your Land." The political parody features President Bush and Democratic nominee John Kerry singing very different lyrics to the tune. Guthrie's son, Arlo, calls in from a Flying J truck stop in Des Moines, Iowa, to offer his take on the controversy.
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Woody Guthrie scribbled the words to "This Land Is Your Land" down on a loose-leaf sheet of paper in 1940. He recorded it for Moses Asch, founder of Folkways Records, in 1944, but the song wasn't released until 1951. By that time, "This Land Is Your Land" had become something of a leftist national anthem.
()Guthrie has had a profound influence on American music, and he was such a prolific writer that some of his lyrics have yet to be set to music. Having been given access to the Guthrie archives, singer-songwriter Jonatha Brooke recently released The Works, which adapts previously unreleased Guthrie lyrics.
()When folk songwriting legend Woody Guthrie died in 1967, he left behind more than 3,000 songs, most of them unpublished and unrecorded. His daughter sometimes hand-picks artists to record their takes on Guthrie's music and lyrics — but her latest choice is drawing interest and some criticism. NPR's Neda Ulaby reports.
()Reporter Jeff Lunden reports on the origins of the songs God Bless America and This Land is Your Land. Woody Guthrie wrote the latter in response to Irving Berlin's tune.
()NPR's Tony Sarabia reports on a travelling exhibit that is now at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C titled This Land is Your Land: The Life and Legacy of Woody Guthrie. Guthrie's music is finding a new life among listeners. Younger musicians acknowledge their debt to him, with new and re-issued recordings in his honor.
()One of critic Robert Christgau's favorite CD's of the year is also a holiday CD: Happy Joyous Hanukah, with music performed by America's premiere Klezmer band, The Klezmatics. But the lyrics are all written by folk icon Woody Guthrie. Although Guthrie wasn't Jewish, his wife was; her background inspired a collection of words never before set to music.
()Music critic Milo Miles tells us how the klezmer-fusion band the Klezmatics are keeping the music of Woody Guthrie alive. Their latest albums are Woody Guthrie's Happy Joyous Hanukkah and the Grammy-nominated Wonder Wheel. They are currently on tour.
()Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews "Mermaid Avenue, Vol. 2 " by British folksinger Billy Bragg, and the American rock band Wilco. It's a sequel to "Mermaid Avenue" a collection of Woody Guthrie lyrics set to music.
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