Introduction A few weeks back I assembled a list of my âessential elevenâ traditional murder ballads. Â While we here at Murder Ballad Monday usually delve deeply into one ballad or theme, we saw some possible value in a lighter âlist-basedâ … Continue reading →
What once stood as a two-story, six-room house that belonged to Woody Guthrie is now just a mass of overgrown weeds and a sandstone foundation. However, this abandoned lot will not remain vacant for much longer. On Sunday, October 13, … Continue reading →
    VARIOUS Woody Guthrie @ 100! Live At the Kennedy Center Legacy Recordings www.legacyrecordings.com  Regardless of Eleanor Rooseveltâs attention to leftist music, Woodrow Wilson Guthrie (1912-67) might have been surprised to find Washington, DCâs Kennedy Center … Continue reading →
Throughout the month of June, PBS stations around the country will be airing Woody Guthrie at 100! Live at the Kennedy Center. The concert was the culmination of the Woody Guthrie Foundationâs year-long centennial celebration that traveled from âCalifornia to … Continue reading →
In our centennial celebration of Woody Guthrieâs murder ballads, weâve seen that murder and death in his songs are tools to illustrate his fundamental concept of justice. Â Sometimes itâs personal, as with âThe Philadelphia Lawyerâ and âEast Texas Redâ. Â More … Continue reading →
So far in our week-long centennial celebration of Woody Guthrie and his murder ballads, weâve listened to the classic and amusing âPhiladelphia Lawyerâ and two hard hitting ballads, âLudlow Massacreâ and â1913 Massacreâ, which both tell different stories of the … Continue reading →
We started our centennial celebration week with Woody Guthrie by listening to his âPhiladelphia Lawyerâ, a classic Country and Western song that he set to the tune of an older murder ballad. Â But, despite (or more accurately because of) the … Continue reading →
Woody Guthrie would have been one hundred years old this Saturday, July 14, 2012. Â Certainly there will be a great deal of writing, speaking, and (as no doubt Woody would have wanted it) singing to celebrate his centennial. Â Thatâs as … Continue reading →
Woody Guthrie Working Class Hero Less graphically than âOn a Hill Lone and Gray,â Woody Guthrie provides his own rendering of the Jesus story. Â In this one, the multitude is still implicated, but in a slightly different way; and, the … Continue reading →
In the early 1940âs, Herbert Harris, owner of NYC store called Stinson Trading Company, partnered with an entrepenuer named Moe Asch to create a record label that was known as Asch Stinson Company. In their few years of existence, they … Continue reading →
