Woodrow Wilson Guthrie was born July 14, 1912 in Okemah, OK. He died March 10, 1967 in Queens, NY.
Woody Guthrie\ I Ain't Got No Home in this World Anymore\ Hard Travelin'\ Smithsonian/Folkways
Arlo Guthrie\ Deportees\ Arlo Guthrie\ Warner Bros.
Pete Seeger\ This Land Is Your Land\ American Favorite Ballads, Vol. 1\ Smithsonian/Folkways
(this version, alas, lacks the "private property" verse)
Bob Dylan\ Song to Woody\ Bob Dylan\ Columbia (also on No Direction Home)
Woody Guthrie\ Dusty Old Dust (So Long It's Been Good To Know You)\ Dust Bowl Ballads\ Buddha
Utah Phillips\ I've Got To Know\ I've Got To Know\ Daemon
Phil Ochs: Bound for Glory (on "All the News That's Fit to Sing")
Bob Dylan reads a long poem about Woody on "The Bootleg Tapes, v. 1".
Chris Chandler: Talkin' Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan Blues (American Storyteller)
Bob Dylan - Song to Woody (Bob Dylan)
Ramblin' Jack Elliott - Woody's Last Ride (I Stand Alone)
JIMMY LaFAVE: Woody's Road (Restless Spirit: A Tribute To The Songs Of Bob Childers)
Leftover Salmon / Woody Guthrie
Larry Penn: Prayer to Woody (I'm a Little Cookie), Collector
Dana Robinson: What Would Woody Do?
Neil Woodward: Singin' Woody's Songs (Life, Love & Food Songs)
Woody Guthrie Cover Songs
From: Paul Stamler, some years back
Woody Guthrie: "Near-riot" ("Library of Congress Recordings", Rounder)
[talk about a mob of hungry, cold men who come close to rioting and tearing
a small town apart for food]
Arlo Guthrie: "Oklahoma Hills" ("Tribute To Woody Guthrie, Vol. 1", Columbia)
[i believe woody co-wrote this with his brother, jack guthrie, a
moderately-popular western swing bandleader]
Almanac Singers: "Hard, Ain't It Hard" ("The Complete General Recordings", MCA)
[woody was in the almanac singers, which he called 'the only band i know
that rehearses on the stage'. they did political and union songs, but they
also recorded traditional songs and some of woody's compositions]
Woody Guthrie: "Tom Joad" ("Dust Bowl Ballads", RCA Victor)
[woody never seems to have read 'the grapes of wrath'. instead, he went to
a theatre where the movie was playing and watched it three times, then came
over to pete seeger's new york with a bottle of scotch and asked to use his
typewriter. when pete assented, woody sat down with the bottle close at hand
and started writing. eventually pete fell asleep; when he woke up woody was
curled up under the table, the bottle was empty and the manuscript of 'tom
joad' was on top of the typewriter. not long after he recorded it for
victor. if you think about it, compressing a long novel into 6 minutes --
and staying serious -- isn't easy]
Norman Blake: "Grand Coulee Dam" ("Blind Dog", Rounder)
[the department of the interior commissioned woody to travel through the
pacific northwest and write about the hydroelectric projects going on. this
is probably the best-known song from that assignment and trip]
[[Bill Murlin writes: The Department of Interior did not commission Woody;
he was hired by the Bonneville Power Administration in Portland, Or. BPA
was, at the time, a part of the Department of Interior, but the Department
in Washington, D.C., knew nothing of Woody's engagement for the song-
writing project until after the fact.
I would agree that "Grand Coulee Dam" is certainly one of the better known
songs from the 26 that Woody wrote in May 1941 and it has been recorded by
many artists. However I would argue that "Pastures of Plenty" certainly
ranks as one of the best-known songs from the Columbia River Collection.
"Pastures" was the only song recognized with Woody at the time he was
inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The song continues to be
recorded by popular artists today with all of their various spins and
interpretations. Another highly popular song from the collection is
"Roll On, Columbia." Though Guthrie did not record that song on a
commercial album, it has been recorded by many others. Guthrie's recording
of that song appeared in the Columbia River Collection in 1987.]]
Almanac Singers: "The Sinking of the Reuben James" ("Sing Out", Magnum)
[as the other almanacs remembered this, woody wrote the verses, pete wrote
the chorus. pete, however, says the chorus was a group effort. the reuben
james was the first american vessel sunk in world war ii, even before we
were declared belligerants; on oct. 31, 1941, the ship was sunk by a german
u-boat. 100 sailors were lost. 'what were their names, tell me what were
their names/did you have a friend on the good reuben james']
Arlo Guthrie: "Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)" ("Together", Rising Son)
[from arlo's first in-concert recording with pete seeger, originally on
warner bros. woody saw a tiny story in the paper about a plane that had
crashed in los gatos, california; all aboard were killed, but a spokesman
was quoted to the effect that it wasn't an important event, as the
passengers were all illegal immigrants in the process of deportation. that
caught woody's attention, and he wrote the poem; martin hoffman added the
tune a decade or so later]
Ramblin' Jack Elliott: "1913 Massacre" ("Kerouac's Last Dream", Appleseed)
[tune: 'to hear the nightingale sing'. with the explosion in electrical
technology during the first decades of the 20th century, there was a great
need for copper. in 1913 copper miners in the upper peninsula of michigan
were on strike; they gathered for a christmas ball at an italian social hall
in calumet; company gun thugs barred the doors, then raised a false fire
alarm, and in the ensuing panic 73 children were suffocated. italian hall
was still standing when i visited calumet in 1983, but has since been torn
down]
John McCutcheon & Tom Chapin: "Pastures of Plenty" ("Doing Our Job",
Rounder)
[woody's classic love song to the land and the people who farm it. tune:
'pretty polly']
Woody Guthrie: "Dusty Old Dust (So Long, It's Been Good to Know You)" ("Dust
Bowl Ballads", RCA Victor)
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