Description

Woody Guthrie’s Roll On Columbia

The Columbia River Collection

Collected and Edited by Bill Murlin

Foreword by Pete Seeger – Introduction by Alan Lomax

In 1941, Woody Guthrie was a little-known songwriter from Oklahoma already gaining a reputation for his powerful songs about working people’s lives and struggles. The Bonneville Power administration, a U.S. government agency, was looking for someone to write songs for a documentary movie they wanted to make to promote their work bringing cheap public power to the people of the Northwest. They ended up hiring Woody – and one of the most extraordinary and unusual examples of public patronage of the arts in music history unfolded.

In one short month (May 1941), Woody turned out many of the greatest folk ballads for which he is justly renowned: classics like “Pastures of Plenty,” “The Biggest Thing That Man Has Ever Done,” “Hard Travelin'” and “Ramblin’ Round.”

All 26 songs from the Columbia River song cycle are included in this one book, collected and edited by Bill Murlin. The story of this remarkable creative explosion frames the songs, as told by Pete Seeger, Alan Lomax, Hobe Kytr, Arlo Guthrie, Mary Guthrie Boyle … and Woody himself.

26 songs plus facsimiles of historic documents, fully indexed, 8.5 x 11, 96 pages.

Perfect Bound (ROC-1) just $14.95