PREVIEW This is a preview of a BEAR FAMILY release. The full book is part of BCD 17329 Woody Guthrie: The Tribute Concerts 3-CD Set in slipcase (33 x 28 cm) with 2 hardcover books (160 + 88 pages)
WOODY GUTHRIE THE TRIBUTE CONCERTS
Carnegie Hall 1968 | Hollywood Bowl 1970
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3 OP & OC 2017 Bear Family Productions Ltd. First Edition All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without written permission of the publisher, except where permitted by law, or by a reviewer who may quote brief passages.
4 CONTENTS So Long To Woody Guthrie by Sean Wilentz ...... 7 Troubadour, Poet, Topical Songwriter by Jorge Arevalo Mateus & Michael Kleff ...... 15 Carnegie Hall, New York City 1968 Photos by David Gahr ...... 30 What The Press Said ...... 46 We Were There ...... 49 Hollywood Bowl, Hollywood 1970 Photos by Jim Marshall & Susan Titelman ...... 55 What The Press Said ...... 78 I Was There ...... 80 The Artists – Where Were They Then by Nora Guthrie & Michael Kleff ...... 83 The Carnegie Hall Band ...... 106 The Hollywood Bowl Band ...... 107
The people behind this project Producer's Notes ...... 111 The Studio ...... 112 The Filming ...... 113
The recordings in this set Track Listing CD 1-3 ...... 116 Final Facts ...... 119 When The Poet Is A Singer by Wenzel ...... 121 What We've Learned by Will Kaufman ...... 127
The Woody Guthrie Center ...... 136 The Cause ...... 137 The Original Albums ...... 140 Discography ...... 147 Filmography ...... 149 Bibliography ...... 151 (OPPOSITE PAGE ) (ABOVE ) Bob Dylan album cover, Acknowledgements ...... 158 Woody Guthrie, circa 1945. with Dylan's handwritten Song To Woody lyric excerpt, 1962. Credits ...... 159
5 14 TROUBADOUR, POET, TOPICAL SONGWRITER "All you can write is what you see"
by Jorge Arévalo Mateus and Michael Kleff
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As a folk musician and chronicler, Woody Guthrie is one of the greatest bal - the plight of everyman. While traveling throughout the American landscape lad writers in America. The essential features of his life are mainly known during the 1930s, '40s, and '50s, Woody's observations of what he saw and by Joe Klein's biography 'Woody Guthrie – A Life.' However, Woody described experienced has left for us a lasting and sometimes haunting legacy of im - the first stations himself in his songs and his autobiography 'Bound For ages, sounds, and voices of the marginalized, disenfranchised, and oppressed Glory,' published in 1943. Here he describes, according to the 'Rock Lexikon,' people with whom he struggled to survive despite all odds. Although the cor -
"his traveling years through poor America with the same uncontrolled literary spon - pus of original Woody Guthrie songs, or as Woody preferred, "people's songs" taneity" as fourteen years later the Beat poet Jack Kerouac, in his book 'On are perhaps his most recognized contribution to American culture, the sting - the Road.' In 1940, Woody wrote in a letter to Alan Lomax, "The best stuff you ing honesty, humor, and wit found even in his most vernacular prose writings can sing about is what you saw and if you look hard enough you can see plenty to exhibit Woody's fervent belief in social, political, and spiritual justice. sing about it." This Land Is Your Land , Woody's most famous song, is regarded by many as In his lifetime, Woody Guthrie wrote nearly 3,000 song lyrics, published two America's "alternative" national anthem. The words for this song actually novels, created artworks, authored numerous published and unpublished began brewing in his mind during the month he spent hitchhiking from Los manuscripts, poems, prose, and plays and hundreds of letters and news arti - Angeles to New York in early 1940. Everywhere he went he heard Kate Smith's cles. Having lived through some of the most significant historic movements #1 hit God Bless America , composed by Irving Berlin, blaring out of jukeboxes and events of the Twentieth Century – the Great Depression, the Great Dust and radios, at truckstops and diners. This Land Is Yor Land described the beau - Storm, World War II, the social and the political upheavals resulting from ties of the country he had traveled through on his journey east, and the hard Unionism, the Communist Party and the Cold War – Woody absorbed it all times of the people he'd met along the way. He questioned the idea that to become a prolific writer whose songs, ballads, prose and poetry captured America was "blessed," which at the time didn't appear to be exactly true. To
15 Troubadour, Poet, Topical Songwriter
Woody, it seemed like much of the country was suffering. And rather than count on God's blessing, he thought it would be up to the people to work to - gether and make sure that all these "blessings" – like freedom, justice and equality – actually happened.
Woodrow Wilson Guthrie was born on July 14, 1912, in Okemah, Oklahoma. He was the second-born son of Charles and Nora Belle Guthrie. His father – a cowboy, land speculator, and local politician – taught Woody Western songs, Indian songs, and Scottish folk tunes. His Kansas-born mother, also musically inclined, had an equally profound effect on Woody.
Slightly built, with an extremely full and curly head of hair, Woody was a precocious and unconventional boy from the start. Always a keen observer of the world around him, the people, music and landscape he was exposed to made lasting impressions on him. (ABOVE ) Woody’s parents Charley and Nora Belle Guthrie, 1917. (BELOW , FROM LEFT ) Woody, Nora Belle, Charley, and George Guthrie, During his early years in Oklahoma, Woody experienced the first of a series Okemah, Oklahoma, 1926. of immensely tragic personal losses. With the accidental death of his older sister Clara, the family's financial ruin, and the institutionalization and eventual loss of his mother, Woody's family and home life was forever dev - astated.
In 1920, oil was discovered nearby and Okemah was transformed overnight into an "oil boom" town, bringing thousands of workers, gamblers and hus - tlers to the once sleepy farm town. Within a few years, the oil flow suddenly stopped and Okemah suffered a severe economic turnaround, leaving the town and its inhabitants "busted, disgusted, and not to be trusted." From his experiences in Okemah, Woody's uniquely wry outlook on life, as well as his abiding interest in rambling around the country, was formed. And so, he took to the open road. In 1931, when Okemah's boomtown period went bust, Woody left for Texas. In the panhandle town of Pampa he fell in love with Mary Jennings, the younger sister of a friend, Matt Jennings. Woody and Mary were married in 1933, and together had three children, Gwen, Sue and Bill. It was with Matt Jennings and Cluster Baker that Woody made his first attempt at a musical career, forming The Corn Cob Trio and later the Pampa Junior Chamber of Commerce Band. It was also in Pampa that Woody first
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discovered a love and talent for drawing and painting, an interest he would pursue throughout his life.
If the Great Depression made it hard for Woody to support his family, the on - slaught of the Great Dust Storm period, which hit the Great Plains in 1935, made it impossible. Drought and dust forced thousands of desperate farmers and unemployed workers from Oklahoma, Kansas, Tennessee, and Georgia to head west in search of work. Woody, like hundreds of "dustbowl refugees," hit Route 66, also looking for a way to support his family, who remained back in Pampa. Moneyless and hungry, Woody hitchhiked, rode freight trains, and even walked his way to California, taking whatever small jobs he could. In exchange for bed and board, Woody painted signs and played guitar and sang in saloons along the way, developing a love for traveling the open road – a lifelong habit he would often repeat. By the time he arrived in Cal - ifornia in 1937, Woody had experienced intense scorn, hatred, and even physical antagonism from resident Californians, who opposed the massive migration of the so-called "Okie" outsiders.
In Los Angeles Woody landed a job on KFVD radio, singing "old-time" tradi - tional songs as well as some original songs. Together with his singing partner Maxine Crissman, aka 'Lefty Lou,' Woody began to attract widespread public attention, particularly from the thousands of relocated Okies gathered in mi -
(ABOVE ) 19-year-old Woody in Pampa, Texas, 1931. grant camps. Living in makeshift cardboard and tin shelters, Woody's pro - gram provided entertainment and a nostalgic sense of the "home" life they'd left behind; despite their desperate circumstances, it was a respite from the harsh realities of migrant life. The local radio airwaves also provided Woody a forum from which he developed his talent for controversial social commen - tary and criticism. On topics ranging from corrupt politicians, lawyers, and businessmen to praising the compassionate and humanist principles of Jesus Christ, the outlaw hero Pretty Boy Floyd, and the union organizers that were fighting for the rights of migrant workers in California's agricultural com - munities, Woody proved himself a hard-hitting advocate for truth, fairness, and justice.
In May 1938, Woody started to write a regular column titled "Woody Sez" (a wordplay on the word "says") in the communist newspaper 'People's World.'
17 (FROM LEFT ) Robert Ryan, Pete Seeger, Millard Lampell, Bob Dylan, Judy Collins, Arlo Guthrie, Mary Jo (Guthrie) Edgmon, Gwen Guthrie, and Marjorie Guthrie .
34 Pete Seeger and Judy Collins.
35 (FROM LEFT ) Pete Seeger, Judy Collins, Garth Hudson, Arlo Guthrie, Bob Dylan, Rick Danko, Jack Elliott, Levon Helm, Odetta, Robbie Robertson, and Richie Havens .
(OPPOSITE PAGE , FROM LEFT ) Rick Danko, Bob Dylan, and Robbie Robertson.
36 37 54 HOLLYWOOD BOWL A TRIBUTE TO WOODY GUTHRIE
Hollywood, September 12, 1970
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(CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT ) Terry Sullivan, Joan Baez, Millard Lampell, Pete Seeger, Country Joe McDonald, Jack Elliott, Gil Gilbeau, Thad Maxwell, and Arlo Guthrie.
55 Rehearsals at Continental Hyatt Hotel, Sunset Blvd,. L.A.
(ABOVE , FROM LEFT ) Pete Seeger, Gib Guilbeau, Thad Maxwell, Jack Elliott, Country Joe McDonald, and John Pilla.
(RIGHT ) Earl Robinson, Arlo Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Country Joe McDonald, Thad Maxwell, Gib Guilbeau, Joan Baez, and Ry Cooder.
56 (RIGHT ) Joan Baez, Country Joe McDonald, Jack Elliott, Earl Robinson, and Odetta (FROM LEFT ).
(BELOW ) Country Joe McDonald and Arlo Guthrie.
(BELOW RIGHT ) Pete Seeger.
57 (CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT ) Odetta • Pete Seeger • Joan Baez and Pete Seeger
76 (ABOVE , FROM LEFT ) Earl Robinson, Odetta, Jack Elliott, Pete Seeger, Arlo Guthrie, and Peter Fonda
(RIGHT ) Finale with full cast. (FAR RIGHT ) Will Geer
77 Woody Guthrie in print
150 Bibliography
Woody Guthrie in print Books about Woody Guthrie Guthrie, Woody: Bound For Glory • E.P. Dutton & Co., 1943 (reprint 1995) Bray, Thelma: Reflections – The Life And Times Of Woody Guthrie • Bray, 2001 Guthrie, Woody: Born To Win (Edit. by Robert Shelton) • MacMillan Company, 1965 Brower, Steven & Nora Guthrie: Woody Guthrie – Art Works • Rizzoli, 2005 Guthrie, Woody: Every 100 Years Songbook • New York, TRO/The Richmond Organization, 2012 Buehler, Phillip: Woody Guthrie's Wardy Forty – Grey Stone Park State Hospital Revisited • Woody Guthrie Publications, 2012 Guthrie, Woody: Pastures Of Plenty (Edit. by Dave Marsh und Harold Leventhal) • Harper Collins, 1990 Butler, Martin: Voices Of The Down And Out – The Dust Bowl Migration And The Great De - pression In The Songs Of Woody Guthrie • Heidelberg, 2008 Guthrie, Woody: Woody Sez (Edit. by Marjorie Guthrie and Harold Leventhal) • Grosset & Dunlap, 1975 Carman, Bryan K.: A Race Of Singers • The University of North Carolina Press, 2000 Guthrie, Woody: Seeds Of Man, An Experience Lived And Dreamed • Christensen, Bonnie: Woody Guthrie – Poet Of The People • Alfred A Knopf, 2001 Dutton, 1976 (reprint 1995) Cohen, Ron: Woody Guthrie – Writing America's Songs • Routledge, 2012 Guthrie, Woody: Woody Guthrie Songbook – The Classics • TRO, 1994 (reprint 2011) Coombs, Karen Mueller: Woody Guthrie – America's Folksinger • Lerner, 2002 Guthrie, Woody: Riding In My Car • Little Brown & Co, 2012 (illustrated children's book) Cray, Ed: Ramblin' Man – The Life And Times Of Woody Guthrie • W.W. Norton, 2004 Guthrie, Woody: Roll On, Columbia: The Columbia River Songs 75th Anniversary – Songbook • Edgmon, Mary Jo & Guy Logsdon: Woody's Road • Routledge Books, 2012 TRO, 2016 Guthrie, Nora: My Name Is New York • Powerhouse Books, 2012 Guthrie, Woody: Woody Guthrie For Ukulele – Songbook • TRO, 2016 Hernandez, Tim: All They Will Call You • University of Arizona Press, 2017 Guthrie, Woody & Kathy Jakobsen: This Land Is Your Land • Little, Brown & Co., 1998 (reprint 2008, illustrated children's book) Holter, Darry & William Deverell: Woody Guthrie L.A. 1937-1941 • Angel Press, 2016 • Guthrie, Woody & Marjorie Mazia Guthrie, Woody's 20 Grow Big Songs • Harper Collins, 1992 Jackson, Mark Allan: Prophet Singer – The Voice And Vision Of Woody Guthrie (illustrated children's book) The University Press of Mississippi, 2007 • University of Illinois Press, 2011 Guthrie, Woody & Marla Frazee: New Baby Train • Megan Tingley Books, 2004 Kaufman, Will: Woody Guthrie – American Radical (illustrated children's book) Kaufman, Will: Woody Guthrie's Modern World Blues • University of Oklahoma Press, 2017 Guthrie, Woody & Dave Horowitz: Honeyky Hanukah • Doubleday Books for Young Readers, Kaufman, Will: Woody Guthrie: Down, Up Or Anywhere • 2015 (illustrated children's book; CD included) University of Oklahoma Press, 2018 (tbc)
Guthrie, Woody & Vladimir Radunsky: Howdi Do • Candlewick Press, 2000 Klein, Joe: Woody Guthrie, A Life • New York, Alfred Knopf, 1980 (reprint 1999) (illustrated children's book) Longhi, Jim: Woody, Cisco And Me – Seamen Three In The Merchant Marine • Guthrie, Woody & Vladimir Radunsky: Bling Blang • Candlewick Press, 2000 University Of Illinois Press, 1997 (illustrated children's book) Nowlin, Bill: Woody Guthrie – American Radical Patriot • Rounder/Woody Guthrie Legacy, 2013 Guthrie, Woody & Vladimir Radunsky: My Dolly • Candlewick Press, 2001 (illustrated children's book) Partington, John S. (Editor): The Life, Music And Thought Of Woody Guthrie – A Critical Appraisal • Ashgate, 2011 Guthrie, Woody/Seeger, Pete/Lomax, Alan: Hard Hitting Songs For Hard Hit People • University Of Nebraska, 2012 (Songbook) Partridge, Elizabeth: This Land Was Made For You And Me – The Life And Songs Of Woody Guthrie • New York, Viking/Penguin, 2002 Guthrie, Woody: House Of Earth • Infinitum Nihil/Harper Collins, 2013 Santelli, Robert: This Land Is Your Land – Woody Guthrie And The Journey Of The American Folk Song • Running Press, 2012 Santelli, Robert & Emily Davidson (Editors): Hard Travelin’ – The Life And Legacy Of Woody Guthrie • University Press Of New England, 1999 Vandy, Greg: 26 Songs In 30 Days: Woody Guthrie's Columbia River Songs • Sasquatch Books, 2016
Yates, Janelle: Guthrie, American Balladeer • Ward Hill Press, 1995
Books in German
Guthrie, Woody: Dies Land ist mein Land – Autobiografie • Edition Nautilus, 2000 Guthrie, Woody: Haus aus Erde • Eichborn/Bastei Lübbe, 2013 Kleff, Michael (Editor): Hard Tavelin' – Das Woody Guthrie Buch • Palmyra, 2002 Klein, Joe: Woody Guthrie – Die Biografie • Econ/Ullstein/ List, 2001 Mürdter, Barbara: Woody Guthrie – Die Stimme des anderen Amerika • Verlag Neues Leben, 2012
151 Credits
THE CONCERTS THE ALBUMS THE TRO WOODY GUTHRIE A Musical Tribute to Woody Guthrie A Tribute to Woody Guthrie CONCERT BOOK Concerts at Carnegie Hall and at the Hollywood Highlights from concerts A Tribute to Woody Guthrie – As Performed Bowl produced by Harold Leventhal at Carnegie Hall, 1968 / at Hollywood Bowl, 1970 at Carnegie Hall 1968 / Hollywood Bowl 1970 Assistant to Producer: Terry Sullivan Record produced TRO © Copyright 1972 Ludlow Music, Inc., in associa - tion with Woody Guthrie Publications, Inc. by Harold Leventhal and Millard Lampell Production editor and photo research: Judy Bell Hollywood Bowl concert recorded by Warner Bros. Records Cover design: John Berg and Ron Coro A Tribute to Woody Guthrie, Part 1 Graphics: Faculty Press Inc. Engineer: Lee Herschberg 1972, Columbia Records, KC 31171 There have been copyright changes to the songs in this 1972 fac - Executive Producer: Lenny Waronker simile copy of the Carnegie Hall and Hollywood Bowl tribute A Tribute to Woody Guthrie, Part 2 songbook (Book II in this set). The copyrights have been re - Carnegie Hall concert 1972, Warner Bros. Records, BS 2586 newed: All TRO – Ludlow Music, Inc., TRO – Folkways Music recorded off the house sound system Publishers, Inc. and TRO – Hollis Music, Inc. songs included in (no further information available) A Tribute to Woody Guthrie, Part 1 and Part 2 this book are now jointly published by Woody Guthrie Publica - 1972, Warner Bros. Records, 2W 3007 tions, Inc. and administered by TRO. “Pretty Boy Floyd” and “1913 Massacre” are now published by Woody Guthrie Publica - tions, Inc. “The Sinking of the Reuben James” is published by Universal Music Corp. “Hobo’s Lullaby” is now published by Bi - cycle Music. The lyrics of “Woman at Home” printed in the book are Woody Guthrie’s original song, not what Country Joe McDonald per - formed on the show.
WOODY GUTHRIE The Tribute Concerts • 2017 Anniversary Edition Carnegie Hall, January 20, 1968 | Hollywood Bowl, September 12, 1970
Produced by Nora Guthrie, Michael Kleff, and Steve Rosenthal Executive Producer: Richard Weize/ AND MORE BEARS for BEAR FAMILY RECORDS Hollywood Bowl show mixed by Kabir Hermon and Steve Rosenthal Editors: Nora Guthrie and Michael Kleff at Magic Shop NYC Interview transcriptions: Phillip Wells English translation (Wenzel essay): All analog to digital transfers and editing: Kabir Hermon Evelyne Gerstenberger Photo research and reproductions: Anna Canoni and Tiffany Colannino Mastering: Matt Boynton at Vacation Island Recording Picture Restoration: Assistant mastering engineer: Alex Slohm Sam Malbuch Design: Audio restoration: Mychael Gerstenberger Matt Boynton, Kabir Hermon, Steve Rosenthal, Alex Slohm Special Thanks: Judy Bell/TRO Essex Music Group • David Bernz • Kate Blalack/ Woody Guthrie Center • Mitch Blank • Jim Brown • Anna Canoni/Woody Guthrie Interviews: Publications • Steven Finger/Los Angeles Free Press • Arlo Guthrie • Bill Inglot/ Judy Collins, Jack Elliott, Arlo Guthrie, Tom Paxton, Rick Robbins: Rhino Records • J.R. Jones • Glenn Korman/Studio Archives LLC • Steve Lang/WEA Michael Kleff Studios • Judy Leventhal • Deana McCloud/Woody Guthrie Center • Jim Mussel - Country Joe McDonald: Sandy Miranda man/Appleseed Recordings • Sonny Ochs • Jeff Place/Smithsonian Folkways • Phil Ochs: 'Broadside Ballads, Vol. 11: Interviews With Phil Ochs ', David Ponak/WMG Domestic and International Licensing • Larry Richmond/TRO Smithsonian Folkways FW05321 Essex Music Group • Wayne Rooks • Jeff Rosen • John Schlau/ Warner Brothers • Pete Seeger: 'Pete Remembers Woody ', Appleseed APR CD 1131 Theresa Tellis/Warner Brothers • Frederic Under hill
159 Woody’s original illustration for 'Bound For Glory', 1942.