Send "Various Artists " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Popmatters |
 My earliest memory of Woody Guthrie is not one that fits so easily with the image of a man who was a tireless activist for the rights of the underprivileged, a man who sang for those who were taken advantage of, a self-identified communist at the height of the red scare, the man who is at least partially responsible for inspiring a young Robert Zimmerman to start writing songs of his own (which in turn inspired countless others who also went on to inspire countless others). No, my quaint first memory of Woody Guthrie is of singing ‘This Land Is Your Land’ in elementary school music class. At the time I knew nothing of the radicalism inherent in Guthrie’s work, and it wouldn’t be for years that I would discover it.The point I’m trying to illustrate here is that Woody Guthrie, the songwriter, has become an integral part of our American culture, and the hard edges of his messages more or less urging a full-on socialist revolt have been softened. If you really think you know America, you have to know Woody Guthrie. A nagging thought in the back of my mind while listening to this album; where are the Woody Guthries of today? The music here was in parts largely contemporary despite the fact that it was built upon words that were written about six decades ago. So where are today’s words to fight the injustice of greed, of class warfare, of neglect, issues that are even more prevalent now than they were in Guthrie’s time or any other time in American history since the abolishment of slavery? We need more people like him who are willing to say what needs to be said, and someone who can express it in a way that those without a voice of their own cannot....full text |
| Seattlepi |
| July 14, 2012 marks the centenary of the birth of one Woodrow Wilson Guthrie, better known to most people simply as Woody Guthrie. September 27, 2011 might seem a little early to begin celebrating that event. However, when you stop and consider how much one man from Okemah, Oklahoma impacted popular culture, specifically popular music, you'll realize even if we spent every day from now until December 31, 2012 looking through his entire work, we'd only begin to scratch the surface of its significance. Just to begin with, there are the musicians around the world who he influenced. Everyone from folk music icons like Bob Dylan, mega stars of rock and roll like Bono of U2, and punk rockers like the late Joe Srummer of the Clash have cited Guthrie as one of their inspirations. Guthrie had the unique talent of being able to look at huge impersonal events like the Depression and find a way of expressing how it affected people on a personal level. Not just the farmers suffering through the dust bowl, either--he could write with equal empathy about miners, textile workers, field hands, bus drivers, and soldiers. Not only could he give voice to their stories, he did so in words they understood and in a voice that sounded like their own. However he didn't just write about the poor and oppressed; he wrote about everything. Guthrie wrote what is perhaps the most stirring song ever written celebrating his own country, "This Land Is Your Land," a celebration of the hope for the potential it represented. When he died in 1967, after spending nearly the last 13 years of his life hospitalized by the Huntington's Disease which killed him, Guthrie left behind a massive legacy of unpublished writings, including song lyrics, poems, manuscripts for books, plays and notebooks. Guthrie's son Arlo once said that it was always dangerous to have his father as a houseguest, because he was constantly writing song lyrics. If he couldn't find any scraps of paper to write stuff on, one could wake up in the morning and find the walls covered, as his inspiration wasn't something that was going to be denied. It's only recently that his family has begun the labor of love of bringing those unpublished works to life. In 1998 British folk/punk singer Billy Bragg joined with American band Wilco to release Mermaid Avenue, a collection of previously unreleased Guthrie songs, which was followed a couple of years later by Mermaid Avenue Volume 2. To kick off the celebrations of the centenary of Guthrie's birth, 429 Records is releasing Note Of Hope: A Celebration Of Woody Guthrie, featuring 12 songs inspired by Guthrie by a collection of performers spanning five generations of American popular culture--from his contemporaries, Pete Seeger and the late author Studs Terkel; to those who have picked up Woody's torch to become voices of protest today (Ani DiFranco, Michael Franti and Jackson Browne); to a real surprise, Lou Reed. They and the six others involved have either covered previously unrecorded songs by Guthrie or, like Browne, were inspired by entries in Guthrie's journals....full text |
Various Artists lyrics
