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 info@www.bearfamilyproductions.com 3
PO & C O 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
(OPPOSITE PAGE) Woody Guthrie, circa 1945. (ABOVE) Bob Dylan album cover, with Dylan's handwritten Song To Woody lyric excerpt, 1962. C O N T E N T S 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 Acknowledgements..................... 158 Credits............................ 159 5
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TROUBADOUR, POET, TOPICAL SONGWRITER "All you can write is what you see" by Jorge Arévalo Mateus and Michael Kleff As a folk musician and chronicler, Woody Guthrie is one of the greatest ballad writers in America. The essential features of his life are mainly known by Joe Klein's biography 'Woody Guthrie A Life.' However, Woody described the first stations himself in his songs and his autobiography 'Bound For Glory,' published in 1943. Here he describes, according to the 'Rock Lexikon,' "his traveling years through poor America with the same uncontrolled literary spontaneity" as fourteen years later the Beat poet Jack Kerouac, in his book 'On the Road.' In 1940, Woody wrote in a letter to Alan Lomax, "The best stuff you can sing about is what you saw and if you look hard enough you can see plenty to sing about it." In his lifetime, Woody Guthrie wrote nearly 3,000 song lyrics, published two novels, created artworks, authored numerous published and unpublished manuscripts, poems, prose, and plays and hundreds of letters and news articles. Having lived through some of the most significant historic movements and events of the Twentieth Century the Great Depression, the Great Dust Storm, World War II, the social and the political upheavals resulting from Unionism, the Communist Party and the Cold War Woody absorbed it all to become a prolific writer whose songs, ballads, prose and poetry captured the plight of everyman. While traveling throughout the American landscape during the 1930s, '40s, and '50s, Woody's observations of what he saw and experienced has left for us a lasting and sometimes haunting legacy of images, sounds, and voices of the marginalized, disenfranchised, and oppressed people with whom he struggled to survive despite all odds. Although the corpus of original Woody Guthrie songs, or as Woody preferred, "people's songs" are perhaps his most recognized contribution to American culture, the stinging honesty, humor, and wit found even in his most vernacular prose writings exhibit Woody's fervent belief in social, political, and spiritual justice. This Land Is Your Land, Woody's most famous song, is regarded by many as America's "alternative" national anthem. The words for this song actually began brewing in his mind during the month he spent hitchhiking from Los Angeles to New York in early 1940. Everywhere he went he heard Kate Smith's #1 hit God Bless America, composed by Irving Berlin, blaring out of jukeboxes and radios, at truckstops and diners. This Land Is Yor Land described the beauties of the country he had traveled through on his journey east, and the hard times of the people he'd met along the way. He questioned the idea that 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 together 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. During his early years in Oklahoma, Woody experienced the first of a series 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 devastated. (ABOVE) Woody s parents Charley and Nora Belle Guthrie, 1917. (BELOW, FROM LEFT) Woody, Nora Belle, Charley, and George Guthrie, Okemah, Oklahoma, 1926. In 1920, oil was discovered nearby and Okemah was transformed overnight into an "oil boom" town, bringing thousands of workers, gamblers and hustlers 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 16
Troubadour, Poet, Topical Songwriter 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 onslaught 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 California 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. (ABOVE) 19-year-old Woody in Pampa, Texas, 1931. In Los Angeles Woody landed a job on KFVD radio, singing "old-time" traditional 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 migrant camps. Living in makeshift cardboard and tin shelters, Woody's program 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 commentary 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 communities, 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
34 (FROM LEFT) Robert Ryan, Pete Seeger, Millard Lampell, Bob Dylan, Judy Collins, Arlo Guthrie, Mary Jo (Guthrie) Edgmon, Gwen Guthrie, and Marjorie Guthrie.
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
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HOLLYWOOD BOWL A TRIBUTE TO WOODY GUTHRIE Hollywood, September 12, 1970 (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 Guthrie, Woody: Bound For Glory E.P. Dutton & Co., 1943 (reprint 1995) Guthrie, Woody: Born To Win (Edit. by Robert Shelton) MacMillan Company, 1965 Guthrie, Woody: Every 100 Years Songbook New York, TRO/The Richmond Organization, 2012 Guthrie, Woody: Pastures Of Plenty (Edit. by Dave Marsh und Harold Leventhal) Harper Collins, 1990 Guthrie, Woody: Woody Sez (Edit. by Marjorie Guthrie and Harold Leventhal) Grosset & Dunlap, 1975 Guthrie, Woody: Seeds Of Man, An Experience Lived And Dreamed Dutton, 1976 (reprint 1995) Guthrie, Woody: Woody Guthrie Songbook The Classics TRO, 1994 (reprint 2011) Guthrie, Woody: Riding In My Car Little Brown & Co, 2012 (illustrated children's book) Guthrie, Woody: Roll On, Columbia: The Columbia River Songs 75th Anniversary Songbook TRO, 2016 Guthrie, Woody: Woody Guthrie For Ukulele Songbook TRO, 2016 Guthrie, Woody & Kathy Jakobsen: This Land Is Your Land Little, Brown & Co., 1998 (reprint 2008, illustrated children's book) Guthrie, Woody & Marjorie Mazia Guthrie, Woody's 20 Grow Big Songs Harper Collins, 1992 (illustrated children's book) Guthrie, Woody & Marla Frazee: New Baby Train Megan Tingley Books, 2004 (illustrated children's book) Guthrie, Woody & Dave Horowitz: Honeyky Hanukah Doubleday Books for Young Readers, 2015 (illustrated children's book; CD included) Guthrie, Woody & Vladimir Radunsky: Howdi Do Candlewick Press, 2000 (illustrated children's book) Guthrie, Woody & Vladimir Radunsky: Bling Blang Candlewick Press, 2000 (illustrated children's book) Guthrie, Woody & Vladimir Radunsky: My Dolly Candlewick Press, 2001 (illustrated children's book) Guthrie, Woody/Seeger, Pete/Lomax, Alan: Hard Hitting Songs For Hard Hit People University Of Nebraska, 2012 (Songbook) Guthrie, Woody: House Of Earth Infinitum Nihil/Harper Collins, 2013 Books about Woody Guthrie Bray, Thelma: Reflections The Life And Times Of Woody Guthrie Bray, 2001 Brower, Steven & Nora Guthrie: Woody Guthrie Art Works Rizzoli, 2005 Buehler, Phillip: Woody Guthrie's Wardy Forty Grey Stone Park State Hospital Revisited Woody Guthrie Publications, 2012 Butler, Martin: Voices Of The Down And Out The Dust Bowl Migration And The Great Depression In The Songs Of Woody Guthrie Heidelberg, 2008 Carman, Bryan K.: A Race Of Singers The University of North Carolina Press, 2000 Christensen, Bonnie: Woody Guthrie Poet Of The People Alfred A Knopf, 2001 Cohen, Ron: Woody Guthrie Writing America's Songs Routledge, 2012 Coombs, Karen Mueller: Woody Guthrie America's Folksinger Lerner, 2002 Cray, Ed: Ramblin' Man The Life And Times Of Woody Guthrie W.W. Norton, 2004 Edgmon, Mary Jo & Guy Logsdon: Woody's Road Routledge Books, 2012 Guthrie, Nora: My Name Is New York Powerhouse Books, 2012 Hernandez, Tim: All They Will Call You University of Arizona Press, 2017 Holter, Darry & William Deverell: Woody Guthrie L.A. 1937-1941 Angel Press, 2016 Jackson, Mark Allan: Prophet Singer The Voice And Vision Of Woody Guthrie The University Press of Mississippi, 2007 Kaufman, Will: Woody Guthrie American Radical University of Illinois Press, 2011 Kaufman, Will: Woody Guthrie's Modern World Blues University of Oklahoma Press, 2017 Kaufman, Will: Woody Guthrie: Down, Up Or Anywhere University of Oklahoma Press, 2018 (tbc) Klein, Joe: Woody Guthrie, A Life New York, Alfred Knopf, 1980 (reprint 1999) Longhi, Jim: Woody, Cisco And Me Seamen Three In The Merchant Marine University Of Illinois Press, 1997 Nowlin, Bill: Woody Guthrie American Radical Patriot Rounder/Woody Guthrie Legacy, 2013 Partington, John S. (Editor): The Life, Music And Thought Of Woody Guthrie A Critical Appraisal Ashgate, 2011 Partridge, Elizabeth: This Land Was Made For You And Me The Life And Songs Of Woody Guthrie New York, Viking/Penguin, 2002 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 A Musical Tribute to Woody Guthrie Concerts at Carnegie Hall and at the Hollywood Bowl produced by Harold Leventhal Assistant to Producer: Terry Sullivan Hollywood Bowl concert recorded by Warner Bros. Records Engineer: Lee Herschberg Executive Producer: Lenny Waronker Carnegie Hall concert recorded off the house sound system (no further information available) THE ALBUMS A Tribute to Woody Guthrie Highlights from concerts at Carnegie Hall, 1968 / at Hollywood Bowl, 1970 Record produced by Harold Leventhal and Millard Lampell A Tribute to Woody Guthrie, Part 1 1972, Columbia Records, KC 31171 A Tribute to Woody Guthrie, Part 2 1972, Warner Bros. Records, BS 2586 A Tribute to Woody Guthrie, Part 1 and Part 2 1972, Warner Bros. Records, 2W 3007 THE TRO WOODY GUTHRIE CONCERT BOOK A Tribute to Woody Guthrie As Performed at Carnegie Hall 1968 / Hollywood Bowl 1970 TRO Copyright 1972 Ludlow Music, Inc., in association with Woody Guthrie Publications, Inc. Production editor and photo research: Judy Bell Cover design: John Berg and Ron Coro Graphics: Faculty Press Inc. There have been copyright changes to the songs in this 1972 facsimile copy of the Carnegie Hall and Hollywood Bowl tribute songbook (Book II in this set). The copyrights have been renewed: All TRO Ludlow Music, Inc., TRO Folkways Music Publishers, Inc. and TRO Hollis Music, Inc. songs included in this book are now jointly published by Woody Guthrie Publications, Inc. and administered by TRO. Pretty Boy Floyd and 1913 Massacre are now published by Woody Guthrie Publications, Inc. The Sinking of the Reuben James is published by Universal Music Corp. Hobo s Lullaby is now published by Bicycle Music. The lyrics of Woman at Home printed in the book are Woody Guthrie s original song, not what Country Joe McDonald performed 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 Hollywood Bowl show mixed by Kabir Hermon and Steve Rosenthal at Magic Shop NYC All analog to digital transfers and editing: Kabir Hermon Mastering: Matt Boynton at Vacation Island Recording Assistant mastering engineer: Alex Slohm Audio restoration: Matt Boynton, Kabir Hermon, Steve Rosenthal, Alex Slohm Interviews: Judy Collins, Jack Elliott, Arlo Guthrie, Tom Paxton, Rick Robbins: Michael Kleff Country Joe McDonald: Sandy Miranda Phil Ochs: 'Broadside Ballads, Vol. 11: Interviews With Phil Ochs', Smithsonian Folkways FW05321 Pete Seeger: 'Pete Remembers Woody', Appleseed APR CD 1131 Executive Producer: Richard Weize/AND MORE BEARS for BEAR FAMILY RECORDS Editors: Nora Guthrie and Michael Kleff Interview transcriptions: Phillip Wells English translation (Wenzel essay): Evelyne Gerstenberger Photo research and reproductions: Anna Canoni and Tiffany Colannino Picture Restoration: Sam Malbuch Design: Mychael Gerstenberger Special Thanks: Judy Bell/TRO Essex Music Group David Bernz Kate Blalack/ Woody Guthrie Center Mitch Blank Jim Brown Anna Canoni/Woody Guthrie Publications Steven Finger/Los Angeles Free Press Arlo Guthrie Bill Inglot/ Rhino Records J.R. Jones Glenn Korman/Studio Archives LLC Steve Lang/WEA Studios Judy Leventhal Deana McCloud/Woody Guthrie Center Jim Musselman/Appleseed Recordings Sonny Ochs Jeff Place/Smithsonian Folkways David Ponak/WMG Domestic and International Licensing Larry Richmond/TRO Essex Music Group Wayne Rooks Jeff Rosen John Schlau/ Warner Brothers Theresa Tellis/Warner Brothers Frederic Underhill 159
Woody s original illustration for 'Bound For Glory', 1942.