Guthrie was born July 14, 1912, in Okemah, a small town in Okfuskee County, Oklahoma, and became one of the most significant figures in early American folk music. Many of his original songs, like "This Land is Your Land," "So
Long, It's Been Good to Know You," and "This Train Is Bound for Glory," have become American folk song standards, his lyrics set to older traditional melodies. In 1943, he published a memoir, Bound for Glory, which described his life on the road, with everyone from Depression-era families seeking a better life to vagrants on the rails and roads of America. His uncanny way of capturing the feel of America at the roots led to his veneration as a mighty folk singer. During his life, he drifted from job to job, but as he lay dying from the detrimental effects of a long-term illness, younger singers approached him in the 50s and 60s to ask him how he made it.
Even today, his work is felt. Scientists open up dialogue with farmers and ranchers, instead of bullying them into new methods or techniques, by actively listening to (instead of talking at) their concerns on the changing landscape of the Great Plains that Guthrie roamed. The Woody Sez columns showcased his ideas on political thought combining elements of Christian socialism, social banditry, populism, Jeffersonianism, collectivism, "commonism," and the ideology of the Communist Party. Such political ideology is used years later in looking at the American populism from the perspective of the oppressed joining forces: "This country won’t ever git much better as long as it’s dog eat dog, ever’ man fer his own self, an’ ta hell with th’ rest of th’ world. We gotta all git together, dam it all."
ISBN: 9780275993870
From Ani DiFranco to Bob Dylan to Woody Guthrie, American folk music comprises a truly diverse and rich tradition--one that's almost impossible to define in broad terms. This book explains why folk music is still highly relevant in the digital age. From indigenous music to Pete Seeger and Bruce Springsteen singing "This Land Is Your Land" side-by-side at the pre-inaugural concert for our first African American president, folk music has been at the center of America's history. Thomas Jefferson wooed his bride-to-be with fiddle playing. Stephen Foster captured the mood of our country in transition. The Carter Family adapted music from across the pond to Appalachia. Paul Robeson carried folk music of many lands to the world stage. Woody Guthrie's dust bowl ballads spoke to the common man, while Sixties protest music put folk on the map, following the Kingston Trio's hit, "Tom Dooley." Folk music has evolved with America's changing landscape, celebrating its multi-cultural traditions. From Irish step dancers to rap, parlor songs to Dixieland, blues to classical, Discovering Folk Music presents the genre as surprisingly diverse, every bit the product of our national melting pot.
The Folk Singers and the Bureau by
ISBN: 9781913462000
The first book to document the efforts of the FBI against the most famous American folk singers of the mid-twentieth century, including Woody Guthrie, 'Sis Cunningham, Pete Seeger, Lee Hays and Burl Ives. Some of the most prominent folk singers of the twentieth century, including Woody Guthrie, 'Sis Cunningham, Pete Seeger, Lee Hays, Burl Ives, etc., were also political activists with various associations with the American Communist Party. As a consequence, the FBI, along with other governmental and right-wing organizations, were monitoring them, keeping meticulous files running many thousands of pages, and making (and carrying out) plans to purge them from the cultural realm.
ISBN: 9780813134062
Why do humans hold onto traditions? Many pundits predicted that modernization and the rise of a mass culture would displace traditions, especially in America, but cultural practices still bear out the importance of rituals and customs in the development of identity, heritage, and community. In Explaining Traditions: Folk Behavior in Modern Culture, Simon J. Bronner discusses the underlying reasons for the continuing significance of traditions, delving into their social and psychological roles in everyday life, from old-time crafts to folk creativity on the Internet. Challenging prevailing notions of tradition as a relic of the past, Explaining Traditions provides deep insight into the nuances and purposes of living traditions in relation to modernity. Bronner's work forces readers to examine their own traditions and imparts a better understanding of raging controversies over the sustainability of traditions in the modern world.