In The News Archives

• NPR: Woody Guthrie's Fertile Month on the Columbia River
  All Things Considered- "In May 1941, folk singer Woody Guthrie spent one month working for the federal government. His job was to travel to the Pacific Northwest and write songs promoting huge hydroelectric dams on the Columbia River."
  Click here to read the complete story.

• LABOR DAY 2007
  "1913 Massacre" Film Update
  This Labor Day, check in with filmmakers Ken Ross and Louis Galdieri on the progress of their extraordinarily moving film now in post-production. The documentary investigates the true story behind Woody's ballad.
  More Information

• I'm Shipping Up to Boston
  As said in Vanity Fair,"This year's most exciting movie song? Boston-based punk band Dropkick Murphys' "I'm Shipping Up to Boston," from the Martin Scorsese masterpiece The Departed."
  With lyrics by Woody Guthrie!
  Click here to read the complete story.

• Tulsa County Library Celebrates Guthrie!
  Librarian Lana Voss created a Woody Guthrie marionette as part of a show to celebrate Oklahoma's centennial.

  
  Picture of Woody Guthrie by John Fancher,
  Tulsa City-County Library photographer.

• Song of America is a 50-song CD collection that tells the story of America through song.
  The 3 disc collection features 3 Woody Guthrie lyrics, Deportee by Old Crow Medicine Show, Reuben James by Folk Family Robinson, and This Land Is Your Land by John Mellencamp and is due in stores on September 18, 2007.
  

• This Land Is Your Land - 10th Annual Children's Poetry-Writing Contest
  In honor of National Poetry Month in April, independent bookseller Baker Books (Dartmouth, MA) hosted their 10th Annual Children's Poetry-Writing Contest for Children. In collaboration with the Zeiterion Theatre's America Project, the theme for this year's contest was This Land Is Your Land inspired from a children's book This Land Is Your Land, richly illustrated by Kathy Jakobsen.
  Click here to read the complete story.
  

• Woody's Ghost by Ken Vigil
  The CD of original compositions on this recording were inspired, in part, by Woody Guthrie and the time he spent living in Portland, Oregon in May of 1941. Most of the songs on the CD were recorded in the 100-year old house where Woody lived (and likely where he wrote and worked on some of his classic songs of this period) back in 1941.
  More Information
  

• Woody's I'm Shipping Up To Boston lyric in Scorsese's Oscar Winning "The Departed"
  When punk group Dropkick Murphys composed music for Woody's lyric "I'm Shipping Up To Boston," for their 2005 album "The Warrior's Code," they had no idea it would end up being
  featured in Martin Scorsese's newest film "The Departed," featuring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jack Nicholson, Matt Damon & Mark Wahlberg.
  Dropkick Murphy's Official Site
  "The Departed" Offical Film Site
  

• "Woody Guthrie's American Song" shows us how Guthrie came to understand what a wondrous land we live in, with all its troubles and joys, all of its heartache and salvation. Read the complete article
  

• Woody in Audioslave Video
  Find Woody in the new Audioslave music video, "Original Fire". Audioslave's Official Site
  

• I Love NY - "This Land Is Your Land"
  Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings deliver a hot version of "This Land Is Your Land" for the "I Love New York" campaign. "Made For You" I Love NY Video
  

• The Klezmatics & Nora Guthrie on World Cafe, with David Dye. "[Woody] Guthrie expressed a desire to keep his music alive, and as director of the Woody Guthrie Archives, [Nora Guthrie's] done just that." Read and listen to the interview
  

• "Ribbon of Highway” download available
  The performance at the Woody Guthrie tribute at the 2006 MerleFest. FestivaLink’s recording, which includes Pete Seeger and Nora Guthrie, is the only recording of this material available anywhere. Sampler of the Tribute to Woody Guthrie at the 2006 MerleFest Festival.
  

• Sophie Maslow (1911 - 2006) and Woody - Nora Guthrie shares the story of Sophie Maslow's relationship with the Guthrie family.
  

• The Paris Review: Woody Guthrie’s art is featured on the cover of the Summer 2006 Issue. The article,“Woody Guthrie, Rattle My Rattle”, focuses on Woody’s use of art to illustrate his various texts.

  
  Summer 2006 issue
  

• The Sound of History: Music, Culture, and the Labor Movement, an article by Dave Elsila that tells how Woody's 1913 Massacre inspired a new musical documentary of the infamous Calumet miner's strike, was published in Allegro, the newsletter of the Associated Musicians of Greater New York Local 802.
  

• Nora Guthrie talks about Woody Guthrie ArtWorks on the Leonard Lopate Show on WNYC Radio.
  Listen to the Show.
  

• 600 SHOWS IN VIENNA!
  THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND, a new musical created for children, is being performed in 600 schools throughout Vienna, Austria. Created by musician/actor, David Lutkin, the show was selected by Vienna's English Theater as part of their English language program. New York City actress/singer, Helen Russel, will be appearing in the performances as well. Both David & Helen first appeared in the off-Broadway production of WOODY GUTHRIE'S AMERICAN SONG.

HAROLD LEVENTHAL 1919-2005

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our dear friend and mentor HAROLD LEVENTHAL

• CLAUDIA MARSHALL (WFUV Radio) received a Front Page Award for A Woody Guthrie Hanukah her interview with Nora Guthrie, music by The Klezmatics. Congratulations Claudia!
  Click hear to see Award Winners
  
  
• RAMBLIN' MAN: The Life & Times of Woody Guthrie was chosen as the winner of ASCAP's Deems Taylor Award for the best book on popular music published in 2004. The award ceremony will be held on Thursday, December 15, 2005. Congratulations Ed Cray
  
  
• DAVID AMRAM performs at Okemah's 2005 Free Folk Festival. Read David's Report from Okemah.
  
  
• JOHN HERALD (1939 - 2005) - Hark! My HERALD angel sang, written by Nora Guthrie.
  
  
• Happy Birthday, Woody!
  WOODY GUTHRIE SUBSTATION DEDICATION SIGN EXHIBITED by the Bonneville Power Administration in Vancouver, Washington.
  
  Bill Murlin here,
  Today (July 13, 2005) we have framed the Woody Guthrie Substation sign and placed it in the flag plaza in front of our Transmission Business Headquarters building in Vancouver, Washington. Nice gift to you all for Woody's birthday!
  
  
  We looked for an appropriate way to display the sign, which is 13 feet long and 2 feet wide. Our shop craftsmen made a frame for the sign out of electrical substation materials. We also framed a picture of the original substation and a dedication plaque to explain why the sign is exhibited.
  
  Yet another honor here in the Northwest dedicated to Woody.
  -Bill Murlin, BPA, Portland, Oregon
  
  
• NORA GUTHRIE has been invited to speak July 1 & 2 in Germany at the Tanz & Folk Fest TFF.Rudolstadt 2005. Click here for Event Information
  
  
  
• NORA GUTHRIE appearing with Wenzel in Berlin on July 30. Hans-Eckardt Wenzel who released the 2003 Ticky Tock CD has invited Nora to be one of his special guests for a performance in Berlin, Germany. Click here for Concert Information (in German language)
  
  
  
• SCENES FROM HISTORY DAY: Winning 3rd Place in the Junior Individual Performance catagory, Forrest Wentzel of Knoxville, TN recreates the Woody Guthrie era, complete with slogan affixed to guitar. Memphis Flyer
  
  
  
• RAMBLIN MAN Review: 2/12/05 by Mike Marqusee, " Had Woody Guthrie not been cremated, his spirit surely would have erupted from the grave in the early hours of November 3, 2004...Review
  
  
  
• Pre-punk Strummer tape is found. Richard Frame, a college friend of the late Clash frontman Joe Strummer has re-discovered a recording made by the punk legend before he was famous. Strummer called himself Woody in tribute to his folk hero, Woody Guthrie. BBC News Article
  
  
  
• SMITHSONIAN FOLKWAYS RECORDINGS now available Online at Microsoft's MSN Music Store. 30,000 songs including Woody, Leadbelly, Pete Seeger, and Harry Smith tracks are now available. Single songs - 99 cents, Complete Album - $8.91. Available thru September.
  
  

• Aerosmith's Joe Perry has recorded Woody's Vigilante Man on his upcoming solo self-titled album, Joe Perry. Release date May 3, 2005. View Columbia Records Article
  
  

• Listen to filmmakers Ken Ross and Louis Galdieri discuss upcoming documentary 1913 Massacre on "The Illinois Labor Hour" WEFT. Visit 1913massacre.com.
  
  
  
• The Oregon Cultural Heritage Commission rated Woody's Roll On Columbia Songbook in the Top 100 Best Books About Oregon.

Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski, Bill Murlin, book editor and
David Milholland, Director, Oregon Cultural Heritage Commission

• Oklahoma Center for the Book announcement: Woody receives Ralph Ellison Award. Award Details
  
  
  
• Lyle Lovett, John Hiatt, Joe Ely and Guy Clark sing This Land Is Your Land. View the Article
  
  
• Guthrie Castle opens to the Public - A castle in Angus, whish is owned by an American businessman, is to open to the public for the first time. 535-year-old Guthrie Castle has been owned by Daniel Pena for 20 years and he says he had always planned to allow some of the public in to view the hidden gem of the castle and its large estate. But it is not being opened to all members of the public, only selected groups and for functions such as weddings. The Guthrie name is thought to derive from "Guthrun", a Scandinavian prince who settled in Scotland at the dawn of history. In 1299, Squire Guthrie was sent by the Northern Lords of Scotland to France at ask William Wallace to return to Scotland to resume the fight against the English. The castle was built under a warrant from King James III in 1468 and remained the Guthrie family residence until 1984.