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Woody Guthrie: A Life ::
In one of the photograph collections in Woody Guthrie: A Life, there’s a photograph of Woody, standing up for an ovation at a folk music concert. By the time of this photograph Huntington’s Chorea had begun to have a significant effect on him, and he looked old and tired. Joe Klein describes the concert as an instance in which the greater community of folk musicians were beginning to canonize Woody. It’s a significant picture, and I found it symbolic of folk music generally.
The type of music written by people like Woody Guthrie, Leadbelly, and Pete Seeger, though it is not nearly as prominent in American culture as it once was, continues to have an effect on people. Most people know who Woody Guthrie was, and almost everyone knows the lyrics to at least one of his songs (even if they don’t realize it). It also has an effect on the music being written today. Whether it be the sound of bands like Uncle Tupelo or the politics of independent record labels, most of today’s counter-culture musicians (and even some of the mainstream ones) were influenced by what happened with the folk musicians of 60 years ago. However, folk music and its politics are not nearly as prominent in American culture as they once were. Most people learn about music from the media, not from their families and friends, and most people treat it as something you buy, as opposed to something you do. Also, it is hard to find new music that has the immediate political effect that folk music has today. When viewed from this standpoint, it seems that it is nearly dead, that the situation is hopeless, and that the folk era is over. Folk music itself seems like Woody Guthrie standing up in the balcony of the theater. It is very much appreciated, but it is tired, at it is hard to say what will happen with it next.
It is heartening, however, to read Joe Klein’s epic telling of Woody Guthrie’s life. Guthrie was central to that musical movement, and his work (if not his life) is important to remember. After reading this book, my secret hope is that one day that the political situation will be right, that our culture will be looking for something new, something simple, something we can all play and sing along with. And then we might see a rebirth of this important genre. Which is pretty impressive, considering how little I knew of him before I started.
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