1A: Woody Guthrie
Woody Guthrie was born in 1912 in Okemah, Oklahoma. (Question — Can you find Okemah, Oklahoma on a map? Hint: It’s on Interstate 40, east of Oklahoma City.) He often jumped on trains to go from town to town. Woody wrote more than 1,000 songs.
This painting hangs in the Oklahoma State Capital.
He also wrote books, plays and poems, and was an artist. Here are links to some of Woody’s drawings, many of which are housed at the Woody Guthrie Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Many of Woody’s songs were in support of people who were overlooked – immigrants, poor people, minorities, working class people.
Woody’s most famous song is “This Land is Your Land.” (Here are some questions as you listen to this song: (1) On a map, can you find each of the states Woody mentions? (2) What are some of the rhyming words? (3) What is the main idea in this song?)
One of Woody’s bet friends was another singer-songwriter named Pete Seeger. Here, in the first two minutes, is Pete talking about “This Land Is Your Land.”
Here’s Woody singing his song “Jesus Christ.” We’ll listen to another artist singing this song in the next lesson.
Woody wasn’t able to write music to all the lyrics he created. In 1998, thirty years after Woody died, his daughter contacted two other artists — Wilco and Billy Bragg — and asked if they would like to write and record music for some of Woody’s songs that had never been published. The result was a series of albums called Mermaid Avenue. Here’s one of those songs.