Woody Guthrie - Songs Of The People

What else does a people have that holds them together like song?  And who holds on to that song like a folk singer?  Folk singers, like Woody Guthrie, keep the soul of a people or a nation bright and shiny, ready to face its past, present, and future with bravery and optimism.

Guthrie's life began appropriately for a folk hero - in a poor, rural family in a "less respectable" part of the country.  Tragedy left its mark, with a sister dying in a house fire, a mother whose illness led her to an institution before her death, and a father whose financial dreams ended in failure.  Both parents were musical - Guthrie learned a variety of traditional songs from both of them.  The oil boom in his Oklahoma town ended in the 1920s, leaving Guthrie amidst a population of disappointed inhabitants, all with motivation for mobility.  The tragedies of his early life forged Woody Guthrie's humor and wandering personality, his need for the freedom of the road.  For the rest of his life, he would change homes and coasts a number of times, often leaving his family behind.  As he moved, he composed songs about the work programs of the Depression, patriotism and duty to country during World War II, and always about the regular people who were the basis of that country.  His friends and musical collaborators also made names for themselves: Pete Seeger; Lead Belly; Sonny Terry; and many more besides.  Their group of performers preserved traditional songs, and wrote new ones about the issues affecting the people of the day, including unions, peace, politics, and human rights.  Guthrie began to show erratic behavior on his last road trips in the early '50s, eventually being diagnosed with Huntington's Disease, the same disorder that had killed his mother.  Another generation of musicians was being inspired by Guthrie's work in the '50s and.  '60s, and some of them visited him in the hospital.  Bob Dylan in particular was enthralled with Guthrie's music and played Guthrie's own songs for him in his hospital bed.  Woody Guthrie died in 1967, leaving pages of words, published or not, hours of recordings, and a love of life carried on by his friends.

What does folk music mean today?  Is it just a relic of a past, where people spent time together, paying attention to each other and carrying out common activities?  The views of Woody Guthrie and his contemporaries seem to indicate that folk music cannot become a fossil from a past time if the people still make music for themselves.  We do not have to sing about nobles or ladies lost, but songs of our own pain and joy tap into the same need.  Professional music might be more available today than it was in the past, but the songs that we sing to ourselves, in the shower, in the car, at the bar, are our new folk music.  Folk songs do not need to come from unknown or anonymous sources, they only need to reflect the feelings of the folk and be simple enough for amateur performance.  Guthrie was, in fact, a great supporter of "sharing culture" before that was a thing, encouraging people to freely share and perform his music.

The folk musician and folk music itself must connect on some deep level with the listeners, giving them a story they identify with in a way that stays in their heads.  A way they can relive any time they like.  Woody Guthrie and artists like him tell us what is in our hearts and souls when we cannot see it ourselves.  We might think that folk songs are simply laments from the powerless, or at most a call to action that only the most irritated will heed.  However, folk music describes the human condition in all its glory and its filth, insisting that we look upon our mistakes and our excesses as well as our problems and joys.  Guthrie was a fervent anti-fascist and had a keen eye for social injustice of all kinds.   His songs celebrate outlaws, not as criminals, but as vigilantes fighting a cruel and corrupt system.  How many heroes of traditional songs fought an unjust king or lord?  How many highwaymen took from a wealthy traveler to feed a poor peasant family a la Pretty Boy Floyd?  Guthrie's vision reflects a universal human reality, a desire for justice and righteousness, a good world for all of us.  For this reason, his work can only be called true "folk".