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11

The Artist As Busker: ', Boundto.- Glory by Jam'" C. McKelly

In 1940 Alan lomax, lhe folk: AI the time Guthrie, twenty.nine, was musicologist primarily responsible ror the in love with a ~nty-five year-ok!. married now legendary Ubnuy of Congrc::u field daocer named MarjOrie Maria, who recordings of American folk: and blues performed with Martha Graham's anists, urged his friend folksinger Woody COOlpaIl}'. Marjorie, soon to become: his Guthrie [0 try bioi haod at (he wrillen word; seamd wife, was insuument31 in helping Guthrie responded with "'1'1 outline Bod a the rambling, distnJcted !inger find tbe few stories for an aUlobklgraphic::a1 nCJYeI. space, time, alld disciplioe 10 fulfill ~ elld A\ his biographer Joe Klein tells it in of the contract with Dulton. ~'E1o'Cn if you Woody GUlJuie: A Life, Gulnrie Vr1lS don'I ""';te,'" Klein quotes her 8& saying, amazed aDd delighted !O discover in the "'you should be silting at thai desk from spring of 1942 that "people were be~ng nine to five each day. Somel.h.iDg wW to pay him money \0 ''''THe ~ories.~ While hawen. You haYe to be a daily worker, in New York. with the , he just like someone in a factory, Writing is met Charles Olson, who bad L8ughl Pete your job now and you mUll late it Seeger at Harvard. Olson, upon seeger's seriously.'"2 Guthrie would imbue his tM'D recommendation, read some of Guthrie's autobiographic:al penona witb tbe same .....,-jting, and ask.ed him 10 write a piece ror ethic. Common Ground. 1be ~ory, called ~Ear Somewhere belWl:en Joy Doerflinger's Players.," was pUblished in the magazine's editorial cutting and 5baping, Marjorie Spring '42 wue; Common Ground Maria's persistence, and GUlllrie's own sUbsequently wei'll on to publish "State unCellered genius, tbe bOOt. got wrinen. Joy line 10 Skid Row~ (Fall '42) and Doerflinger had succeeded in geuing "Crossroadl;~ (Spring '43), Ihe laUer an Guthrie to change tht. title of tbe book to excerpt from Iht. new book. &1wId for Glory, after the 8OI1g that figures William Doerninger of E.P. Duuon prominently in both the first and last signed Guthrie on for an autobiographical chaplers of the book.. Upan iu pu b1ication work, and Guthrie recei\ied a 5500 in the spring of 1943, Bound for Glory advance, half of which was to be sem to tlis garnered Mdt: acclaim. Richard ReUlili, wife Mary, then living in El Pli!O, Texas Gu lhrie's bibliograp/ler, reports "favorable" with their three children. The arrangement to "enthusiaslic" nOlm from sources as with Duuon specified that Doerflinger's varied ali Book Wed: in Inc: ChU:ago Sun, wife Joy, herself an eJrperienced tbe Columbus (ObiO) Ci1iznt, tbe Doily autobiographer, '0\1& to act 8& Guthrie's Ok/ohomal1, the DetroiJ TUJW:r, the editor. Guthrie wanted 10 call the book Namville &nner, New Masses, tbe New _Mun" Yorlc Post, New Yorker, Ihe SaJWTiay 12

~ of LiJertJJJIJT, the WashUlgrOtr Post, national exigency and conflJ&i.on, their and The Worlcer MagaziM.] artisa would 001 for58ke Ihem for refuge in Beyond Ibis immediale popular aesthetici&m or al:6traction. reception, lhe book found an enduring The governirlg metaphor at me center place as one of the gCl1eralional astringents of 1M myth of promi.1c is thai of the artist toot unify Amerit:aD culture by virtue of its as bu..sk.er. Guthrie explains lhe meMing influence upon a )'OU1lS man from small­ and derivauon of the word: "You are called town oorthern Minneso18. named Rooen a 'buner', from the Spanisl:t or Mexican Zimmennan, who later would change his word, 'buM;ar' wmeh meanll 'search'. The last name to Dylan. Wayne Hamptoo musicians play a few hau rs in one saloOn. recounts lhe ~tory of 's first year and lhen say, 'WeD. it's gelting a Little bit 01'1 campus at the UnIversity of MinnesOla dead around here, let's go busking. Fmd a in 1959: "He frantically searched the livelier joint.'06 (punctuation!k) This artist_ c:ampus for a copy of Guthrie's searcher, however, is looking for more Ihan autobiography, &W&d for Glory, which he jusl "a livelier joint." Guthrie's narrattve greedily devoured in a single aftemoon, and poem "Voice" helps LO clarify and further then excitedly pUl'5ued his hiencb, reading articulate the Object of the artist's search: them pas.o;ages as if he were quoting from a holy len...4 I don'l Irnow hOW" fur I'm going to Part of what must have appealed to have to go tbe young folk-artisl Dylan, himself on the To see my CMTI self or to hear my cusp of a rise to iconic cultural StatuS CMTI voice during a decade perhaps more consumed I tuocd in on the radio and for than any other in the century by the iMoues hours never heard it of war, race, and cullural identity, was Ute And then I went to the moving boOk's self-conscious portrait of a radically pictures shOW" new arcnetype of the American artist, one And never heard it there who must be holh in the world and of the I put handsful of coins irllo world; one whose art must, 10 invert Willa machines and watched records Cather's phrase, be anything but escape. "m That Guthrie is guilty of what Klein caJ~ But lhe voice there was no voice "setf-mythologizing and fudging of the of mine facts," that his sLOnes range from the "not I mean it was not my voice always trulhful" to the "utterly The words nOI the words that I preposterous" is a testimony to the author's IJear in my CMTI ears fictive, rather than Strictly aULObiographical, When I walk along and look at 7 concem: to CEl)t this new archetype in the your faces dust and din of the actual while al the same time presenting a possibility of The poem charac\eriz.es GUlhrie's art firsl. imegrity, intelligence, power, and relevance and foremost as one of restlessness and that Guthrie knew full well he himself had uncenainty, a dirCCl function of mobility, fallen shon of achieving. Klein is COrrect in c:xpc6Ure, and aperience. It is an art of saying that "he had wnLlen more of a novel dis18.nce:s. ranged and inquiry assayed. The than an autobiography."S In Boond for artist-seaTeher's mOYemenl outward aCf'C1\6 Glory Wr:x::Dj Guthrie writes a myth of exterior landscape genenues, reciprocally promi.1c 10 America and Americans which and s.imultaneously, a !learch OYer interior would guaranlee thaI irI times of extreme dis18.ncea; the busker's rambling becomes a 1. ----~c_'"7C

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13

I:irI:lal c:zigency and ronfusion, tbeir modal acculion of an interior oooditioo, inaugurate his presentauan of I.be :iIII woold DOl: forsake lbem for refuge in and bence a kind of lloneaty. The object of reLaOOoship of tbe American artist and llbf'.tDrm or abstraction. this search in botb its eI1erilY and interilY American art to the \and's peopk and 1bc grM:ming metaphor at the center iNW'lliat)om is idenlity. This identity, like culture. When a bard rain. beginll to pelt tbiI myth of promise is lhal of tbe artist lhe search for it, is a knowledge wlUcb is bin:I. and his lhree rompaoioM as ,hey ride reciprlX31 in character, one ·of bu&tcr. Guthrie e:tplains tbe meaning my ovm 00 the roof of a txw:ar, both artisl and and "of CMTI voice," but one which II derivation of the word: "You are called selr my audielX% make tbe instrument lhe object of depends absolutely upon tbe voices of 'buster'. from lbe Spanish or Mexican lbeir cbeerful, voluntary sacrifioe: lhey tau tbose around him as sources of rd, 'busc:ar' wbicb means 'searcb'. The off their sI1irU and 5wealers and wr identification of his CMTI voice in the living to a member of tbe community. Art. is voices of Americall5 that finally enables paired witb buman concern aod generosity To see my own self or to hear my GUlbrie to sing both himself and Lbem wilb against the onslaught of natural upbeaval. confidence and authenticity. """I tuned ill on the radio and for Out of an undeDlocd mulual VUlnerability """ &JWIt1 hours never beard il for Glory presents the guitar as evolves a mutual protection, and from this And !hen I -went to Ihe moving the quintessential inslrument of the search mutual protection is derived a mUlual pictures &how of the arlist as busker. Guthrie finds in the strength. ~nd And never beard il Ibere American West a Landscape hospitable to A idea that pervades &JWIt1 for lbe journey: "Maybe Ibe west country Glory as one of Gutbrie's central aesthetic I put ha~ful of coins inlo tnltCbinl:3 and \1l"8tcbed rerord! needs me out there. It's so big and I'm so lenets is that of art ali work.. Throughout lillie. It needs me lO help fill il up and I Ihe book. Guthrie refers 10 his guitar lorn as need it to grow up in..<;I The guitar allows "my meallicker." It is as if lhe inclusion of But the voice lbere \YtIA no voice for maximum mobility within \he exparL\ive his art into the hard, pbysical labor that of mine conten of the Wesl, especially when that gives (orm to lbe American spirit is the I mean it was not my voice The words I10l the words that I conten is plumbed by a poor man whose only legitimate claim the artist has to it. primary mooes of lransponation are This sense of the artisL's Iileral bear ill my ovm ears Wben L walk along and look at hopping freights, bitch-hiting, and waiting. collaboration wilh all working people in the your races1 And because of its aggressively polyphonic corwruction of a cultural edifice is design, it is capable both of mating a supported by Guthrie's understanding of prodigious rackel and of creating a ...ehicle bis art as a frank.Jy engaged facet of free Ie poem characterizes GULbrie's art first of intricate lexture for the accompaniment II fotC,most as one of resUessness and enterprise. In the \\QI"ld of Bound for of the singer. Its iMislenl, rhythrruc jangle Glory, art is inextricably enlWlned imo lhe IDCr18inty, a direct function of mobility, cries OUt for an audience; Ibe resonanl fabric of culture, providing an influence of ~re, aDd aperience. It is an art of lonal stage il sets cries oul for tbe more idea and entertainment so direclly relevant it8tlICa ranged and inquiry assayed. The focused declarations of the buman voice. and rousing that people wanl to to it iIt«arcber's mcwement outward ac:mv; see Appropriately, in "Soldiers in tbe Lhat it continues., in whatever way Lhey can. ~ landAcape generates, reciprocally Dust," the first ebapler of his book, II multaneou&ly, a seareb over interior In bis book, Guthrie displays a Guthrie uses the guitar symbolically to profound trusl in the people for whom he ~ lbe busker's rambling beromes a 14

sings [bal despile their extreme ccoaomic staff, walks 00l. He plays and sinp in the and cultural dispas5c:uioo, lhey too will antiseptic orderlincM of tbe lobby on his realize the concrele relevance of !:lis work way OOL La the street tbat had beckoned to their IiYes and will DOt aX.I8lenaocc his him even al a distance of smy.five flooR.: being forced by poverty into a line of 'MX'1t tbat wiJI late him away from lbem. He I DeYer beard my guitar ring so mainlainl a sort of amfidence tbat even loud and 50 Ioog aod so clear as when OJnfronLed by the disinleresl or it did there in them high-poIWIed amag0ni5m of l.hose in pc6itions of marble balls.. . . . People had ecooomic: and poI.itical power, such as waited hw.hed up and too nice record company txeCUlives, his an holds and quieL through these liled such a vilal place in Lhe lives of worting floc:m too long. I decided that for Americans thaI they are willing LO grant iL this minule, for thu one snap of economic sustenance despite Ihe paUcity of their lives, lhey'd see a human their own resource&. II is llKXlt whether this walking through that place, not is the pc6itioo of a charming, sincere, singing becau&e he W36 hired and romanLic naif, or a self.important fool in told what to sing, but ju:'>t walking love with the poetry of bi& own narcissism; through there thinkin~ about the wbat is beyond question is the art~'s faith world and :'>inging il. l in the social indispell.'l8bilily of his art. The fact of GUlbrie's IN5( that his For Gulhrie, the independence of his art audience will prcMde for him, hlJ"lJreVer, from the endorsement of economy and does nol mean thaI his an will make him power is of definilive importance. This rich. Guthrie's ~cal body and moral independence is essenlial to his idea of his imagination meas.ure their range art as a celebration of the radically thrOOghoul a milieu in which serious, unsponsored exhilaration of lbe human debilltaling poverty is Ubiquitous, even imaginalion and the human consdence. For mobiJe; his aesthetic, so imimBlely joined LO those about whom and for whom he sings lbe condition of its subjects, must find its economically to sustain Lhe artist is just and auLbenticity there. There is a po'olIer, filling. Guthrie depends upon lhu relevance, and directness thaL Guthrie reciprocity of interest between artist and identifies in an art fired in the wlnerability, audience for survival. But to accept money homelessness, and fortitude of extreme from a ilOUrce lhal is untouched by the need. As he puts it, "somehow or another, ";cV;s.itudes imo which his art is 50 the besl singing jusl nalurnl~ comes from resolutely ~n is to fracture the integrity under the leakingesl roof."l The reason lhal is its strength. for GUlhrie's consisLenl, willful refusal of Much of Bound for Glory chronicles the kind of money usually aa:orded to Ihe artist's search for this integrity, and the entertainers of national renown is experiential, emolional, and intellectual presented in the penuUimate chapler of constituents which accrue aver lhe course BowwJ for Glory, appropriately tilled or a youth LO inform it. As the book. "CfCl';5road5." It is a highly fictionalized portrays it, Gulhrie's indefatigable concern acrounl of an audilion at the Rainl:xJw for lhose all but vanquished in their Room, On the 65th fI(X)f or Rock.efeller Slruggle again&t fort:e:'> of measureles6 center. ]n it, after he has impressed lhe strength finds its ilOUrcc in his mother, management and landed a job, Guthrie, Nora Shennan Guthrie. With a poignant, abruptly and without explanation to lhe reluctant uncertainty, Guthrie depictS her 15 llBff, WB1b out. He plBy& and 5i.ngs in tbe as IW !fering from a kind of phyaically arise3 from lbe living COOt.acl with poYeny, lDliIcptic ordcl'1iDcM of lbe ~ 00 biB degenerative insanity, for wllicb she is hale, danger, and Ilnlggle be encounters ..,. out lo tbe atr=t lwn had bcct.ooed eventually insUtuUonalized until ner dealh. ad lbe road and ad the rails raLbtr tban It is likely that ber ooodition was a result of Iaim a'CO at a disI.ance of sixty.fM: f1()(}f'S: boinll im,.- by tile """"'"'" ax=! the S}1Ilptoms of Huntington's Chorea, the authority of party or t:nIct. I oever lard my guil8l rtng ~ geneLically inherited disease of wllicb her Guthrie aIsa fills his DillI3tNe with loud 8Dd 10 Joog IIlId 10 clear as son was lo die in 1967, some twenty-four episodes lhat, wil.h.id a roDlICiou5Iy wrought it did there in Lbtm high-polished. years after Lhe book's publication. Nora is COOICZl of ethnic ptunility, iOlIisl upon racial marble baJI5.. . People had cast by Gulhrie as a damaged saint wboIIe equity and Lbt imp:rtanee of racial walked buabed up and too nice life imparts Lo him !lis abiding, personal cooperalion in Lbt face of aoc:iaI and 8Dd qu~t through tbet.e tiled and anistic identification with Lbt erooomic oprres&ioo. In Guthrie', portnIitl 600n 100 loog. 1 decided thai for victimized, and with those who struggle for of his childhood, he is full of a child's lhis minute, for lhis one snap of dignity against the amoral rapacity of sensitivity and unabashed curios.ity, and lbeit IiYes, lhey'd see a human JXJWCrs beyond tbeir influence. learns the human consequeooes of racial 'lW1king through that place, not Guthrie abo presenLS in the book prejudice not through abslract socialization tinging becau!le he was hired and seYeral parabl~ of conflict that in effect by majority cullure bul Ibough direcl, U*l what lo sing, but just walking !ieI'Ve all crucibles for the formulation of an coocrete ront.acl wilh its victilll6. Guthrie's through there thinkinp about the ethical identity and as scaled-down adult artisl, Whitmanesque in his breadth workl and singing it. I paradigms of te5ponse to the larger, more of embrace, celebrate5 the difference universal conflicLS which often provide 8lOO1]g peopIe5, and finds subject and For Guthrie, lhe independence of his an either subject or contot for his an. afflatus in their sheer diversity: 'rom the endorsement of economy and GUlhrie COMtruct.s these ehildhOCld XJM:t is of definitive importance. This epiSOdes as anatomically correct metaphors "There was a big mature of IlIdcpcndence is essential to his idea of his for Ihe de$ltuctive internal confrontations people here. I could hear tbe fast b't 81 a celebration of Lhe radically lhat beset working people's battle for accents of men from lbe big ~1'lIfXlIWX'Cd l2hilaration of the human JXJWCr and equity, and for the anist's Eastern joints. You beard Lbt imagination and the human conscience. For increasingly precise, polilically specific 5kJw, easy-going voices of tbo&e about whom and for whom he sin~ pledge of allegiance to the disfOW'ssW, Southern swamp dwellers, and lbe :cooomicaIIy lo sustain the art~ ill just and staled in lerms unburdened by the rhetoric people from the SouLbtrn hills lilting. Guthrie depends upon thill of ideology. and mountains. Then another ooe rttiprocity of inlerest between artist and Given Woody's paYtion in these lIlQuld talk up, and it would he IUdience for iWMvaI. But to accept money parable5 of personal integrity and social the dry, t'I06Y twang of the folks fraD a source thai is untouched by lhe confrontation, it is difficult 10 accept John from lhe flat wheat plains; or tbe ticlssitudes into which his an is so Greenway's :w;enion that Guthrie was a dialect of peopk= that come from ~utely woYen is to fracture Ihe integrity "harmless. . . . innocent captive of [he Olher countriea, whose parents M12 Lbat is its strength. cynical Left. It is doubtful that Guthrie talked another longue. 1ben )OJ. Much of BouNi for Glory chrooicle5 was ever a captive of anything but the would hear tbe 5kJw, outdoor ibe artiN's search for this inlegrity, and Ihe disease that killed him, and if in fact be was vt*::es of the men from Arizona, ::zperiential, emotional, and intelleclual a prisoner of lhe Left, it musL have been a ridiI'lg 8 short hop to get a job, :mstituems wtIic.b. accrue over the course happy incarceration indeed, in the light of see a girl, or to l.hrow a lillie Jf 8 )UUlh LO infonn it. As the book the profusion in 80uNI fOl" Glory of celebration. There WIt) the deep, ;avays ii, Guthrie's indefatigable concern episode and detail that consW.cntly ally its thick ..aces of two or lhree for tbc6e all but vanqUished in their young protagonist wilh liberal LbooghL. "The Ne~ It sounded mighty good 13 Ill\IgIe against forces of measureless boot, again without IapYng into the 10 me. IUalgtb finds its source in hil mmher, rbeloric of Kk:okIgy, skJwly builds for the ~orlI Shennan Guthrie. With a poignant, artist an ideok>gical orientation, and a And in OIapter Thirteen, ~Off To reluCWIt uncenainty, Guthrie depiClS her currency of value Lbt foundation of which Califomia,~ GuLhrie reveab a fully 16 accuJerized spirituality for hi5 anisl. lba1 is myalCry, and 8utbolity, as tbe J7imiun auoaanl wiLb IDe populi&( teDa' of his mobik of aodaI C\IOIuum. A1I tblmge, if it political aod ae&l.helic values.. His rtligiou& is to be meaningful aDd of coosequeoce diIroul"le is as unburdeoed by lbc I8tlgugical Clrtension in lbe words of circumstance in good hutDOl' and iDspires a 10000Jcss ad maD .00 bas been quietly lbe I3mily aDd aD Dlbel1l wOO beat it to listelling to tbe group: persist despite hardship. The fact of the anw's IiteOllly riding along wilh his All or thiI talting a!:lout what's uf) audienoe lluoo8h the material difficulty IrI the sky, or down in heU, fa' reslIlting frrxn CCObOI11ic and political lhal maller, islI't balf as pawerleMneM !lOt only authenlicatt8 !lis importalll 811 whal's ri(!hl bere, art, but M5UraI bi6 improvi&atioo of right OOIV, right in front of your accuracy or oetail aDd adequacy to human eyes. Thing5 are lOUgh. FolD apeneoce. A 5Cripted, rebeatKd an broke. KkIs bungry. Sid;. en~ in tranquil recollection, Everything. And people has just although perhaps supern in refinemenL of got 10 twne mere faith in one tee.bniql.le, is by definition incapable of the 8llOlber, belie\le in eacb oUter. medal itItimacy that more tban aay Ol!Jer There's a spirit of some kind quality distinguisbes iInpr'cMsalional an. wc\oe aU gaL 1bal" gOL to draw Yet it is not merely the S{lOIltaneOWl 14 WI alltogether. oyc~ or a culturally amr, 50CialIy delacbed Qll/nu; tbt artisl's wloerabilil)' Gulhrie depicts lM &pint, stripped as it i:!. and Icm of contact guarantee the of lilt myalicaJ ltappin&'l of micacJe, improviutiot::t of ita precision, releYw1a:, 0 • •

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IIIJIICIJ, and autbarity, as the pt'inWm aod paMioo, as well as i15 wspiritual W 1ay)'OU on his shelf, and bum)'OU IIfIbiIr or lIOCial C\'ohnion. All chaDge. if it ~oess. in his stoYe. BUI hell have )'OUr • 10 be me:.aniDgful and of coosequerx:e At the cenler of Guthrie's DamltiYe is IDCS5age in his bead and bell ta1k Dl ulIIiIy, mUll be pluged into um tbe young American anisl's busk fix two it and itll get arouod.lS ~,lXlIDIDunal spirit. ADd au an, coodiLions viLa! to desire's satiafaclian: a If it is to figure in the Dux of Deed and persooal and aestbetic identity as weD as a It is in its eodunng. abiding IDCS5age, in the l:IXIc:aM:r. mUll be suffuaed with thiI spirt fuocUooaJ, universally acknowk:dged place didactic outreadl of his an, thai Guthrie's in the human community of wort, struggk, artist places his faith and c:stablisbc:s his BowttI for Glory chn:Joides the llI1.W:'s and accomplishment. Guthrie's singer sease of self. ADd it is precisely in the .-for and W8)'!I IClIl'dI UIiI spirit, fix the in achieYeI the IirsL of tbe:se in Lbe message of artist's act of bequealbiDg thiI IDCS5age to MIi:b billM migbI: achic¥t idcDtity with it, his art. In the passage that Hampton cites the public domain that the artisl's)QIUiDg Dl ICne il tnOIl etrect:tvely. In order to as the inspiration of Dylan's "BklwiD'in tbe for community is assuaged as weD. After rulfill thiI cullural and aesthetic imperaLiYe, Wmd," Guthrie uses a discarded scrap of Woody walks out 00 tbe Rainbow Room ilCO:l"din& 10 the: paradigm Guthrie offers, newsprint buffeted by "the rain and the audition, in tbe city below be speaks with tile Amcricad 8ttiIl. mUll be irI a position wind and tbe soot and sm.ake and Ihe grit his frieod, actor Will Geer. Geer ralionally to offer lID immediate resp:108C to the that gets in your eyes in the big city" as a 858eSlIelItbe implications of his companicll's c:w:IFo:::icI 01. Americ::lln.i. In Chapter metaphor for the artisl struggling to unwillingness to aa::ede to the weD­ ~teen, "&tty Select&,· the famiJy with articulate against the diD of living: imbursed iDstitutionalizaLioD of his an, lIIIIcm Woody baA hitched 8 ride bkJuni a Keep on trying to tell your suSSesting that "moneys wbat it takes" 10 tire; Ute puup is loreed 10 drive ahead CHl message, and keep 00 trying to he make a lasIing doDaHoll to the cause of tile wobtUns rim, put.bed forward by the a picture of a man, because social justice. Woody's rel*! is telling: ilclperale bope of 8 fruit.pictlng job. The without that story and without wCain't I jest sorta donale my own self, sort iDFr, even deBer tban be w.ually ilia the that message prinled on you of?"16 For Guthrie, the mark of the artist IOUI'OC 0( blrdsbip, !ideA in tbe Ile8t just tbere, )'OU \muldn'l he much. is a genel'ClSity beyood ecooomy, an Ibl:Ml Ute jIlrTing wheel. In rcapoo6C to a Remember, it's just maybe, some ontologiall compulsMxl. to giYe the YeIJ rricDdIy c:blIljenjJl:, be compcll!lC3 a song that day, sometime. somebody will idelltity that his ar1 engendered in bim to Mmul18DCOualy bathe. the trying pick you up and loot at )'OUr his pe:op'e. With this final gift the artisl as ciralaIIWJQC in JOOd hu mar and iDspirC'l picture and read your mes&8ge, busker discoYen the community in wbid:I tile family and au others who bear it to and carry you in his pocket, and the self can find meaning. ~ despite bardlhip. The fact of the .-till'. literally riding alerlS with bi!I. ....1Il:lC tbrooJb lbe material difficulty rau1tinl from economk and PJlitiCBI ~ DOC only authentk:alC'l bi!I. III't., ~l 8lI6Ura his improvisation of IDCUnIt'J of det8il and adequacy La human CIpClicoce. A lICI"ipted, rebeatx:d art ~red in lraoquil recol.lechoo, IIIlbwJb pcltIiI~ superior in refinement of lCCbDique, if tly de6oition incBpabk: of the lDOdaI intimacy lbat more lban any other ~ diMinguillbc:s improvisational art. Yet it iI DOC merely the sponlaneoUl I:W'Cl'fIow of 8 cul1urally amI, socially ~ GWtUr, the antK's wlnerability IDd Io¥e of lXlOtaet guarantee the imptMutioo of i15 preei&ioo. rebance, 18

ENDNOTES

I. Joe Klein, Woody GuJhrie: A Life (New York: AJfred A. Knopf, 1980),230.

2. Ibid., 233.

3. Richard A ReUllli,A Woody Gwitrie Bibliography (New York: Guthrie Children'li Trusl Fund, 1968),34-35.

4. Wayne Hampton, Gunillo Milutnu (Koorvilk: The University of Tennessee Press, 1986), 152.

5. Klein. 243.

6. Ml;RS Aach, ed., Americall FolksOlfg: Woody GuJlIrV (New York: Qak Publications, 1961},4O.

7. Ibid., 15.

8. Hampton, 94.

9. Woody Guthrie, Bound few Glory (Ne'N York: E.P. DUHon and C'..ompony. Inc., 1943), 193.

10. Klein, 176.

11. Guthrie, 296.

12. John Greenway, "Woody Guthrie: the Man, the Land, the Unde~tanding," Amm:c~ Waf 3 (Fall 1%6): 28.

13. GuUvie.216.

14. lbd., 230.

IS. INd., 295.

16. Ibd., 307