ThreeTuneTuesday - Some Lesser Known Woody Guthrie

Last week I got to see the new Bob Dylan movie. I quite enjoyed it actually, and I don't think it was nowhere as bad as some of the opinions of other folks I saw floating around. At some point I may even write I just posted a proper review about it. Here I want to share some tunes, none of which are going to be by Bob Dylan either. Instead, it's a the musician who's frequently cited as being one of his great influences, Woody Guthrie.

Woody Who?

Not many people are familiar with Woody Guthrie today. Honestly, if it hadn't been for Bob Dylan, I probably never would have heard of him either. He was from a generation (or two) before Dylan, but had slowly faded into obscurity by the time Bob appeared on the scene. However, I soon realized that although the popular world of music considered Woody Guthrie a relic of forgotten times, his music was surprisingly alive. Not just to Bob Dylan in the 60's, but even to me growing up in the 80's. So I would bet that you'll recognize some of his most famous tunes, even if you've never heard Woody's name.

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So Long, It's Been Good to Know You is something I remember from childhood days (don't ask me why). Also Blowin' Down This Old Dusty Road is a tune I recognize from many other folk and blues renditions. But the most typical Woody Guthrie is definitely This Land Is Your Land. It should ring a bell for anyone who up to this point had not recognized the first thing mentioned here. But these are actually not the songs I wanted to share here... And you might argue that these links already exhausted my limit for #ThreeTuneTuesday. So let me move on to my secret Woody faves I really want to share with you.

A Kid From the American Heartland

Retrospectively Woody Guthrie is seen as one of the most important contributors to American folk music. His recordings have been collected in the Library of Congress, and numerous musicians from Lou Reed to Bruce Springsteen considered him to be a major influence. But back in his day he was simply another okie playing "hillbilly music". Born and raised in Oklahoma in the first decades of the 20th century, he was personally affected by the ecological disaster that became known as the Dust-Bowl, accompanying the economical hard times of the Great Depression. Even after moving to California, and later to New York, he maintained his country folk style in his writing and especially in his music.

This piece titled Go Tell Aunt Rhody is a beautiful example of a hopping, energetic, but ultimately crude and raw song, that I could easily see fueling a dance frenzy at an improvised barn stomp. The subject matter is the death of a goose, something straight from a barn yard setting, where it was most likely conceived, and put into action right away.

Fun Tunes For Kids

While Woody Guthrie became most known for his songs describing the Great Depression from the common working man's point of view, his songs actually dealt with a wide range of topics. One being simple themes geared for children, especially on his album Songs to Grow on for Mother and Child. Though the one I picked for #TTT is not on that album, it fits in perfectly with its theme. You can virtually see a fun loving father or uncle taking the kids on a joy ride, most probably in a Model T or a similar old jalopy from the 20's or 30's. More than that, the Car Song animates you to sing along, and add any goofy sound effects that may come to mind. Woody certainly offers a few good ones that are bound to make you laugh, even if you were born a century later.

An Instrumental Made to Get Stuck in your Ears

American folklore is filled with a great array of iconic figures, from freight train riders to farmers, and from prospectors to cowboys. Given the cultural background, thanks to movies, books, and oral tradition, a piece of music doesn't even need any words to be put into context. Cowboy Waltz is a great example of a melody that is so poignant that it's easy to imagine how it would get stuck in your ear... and likewise in that of a cattle hand, riding for days on the open range, humming this tune while driving the herd, after hearing it on one of those rare evenings in a ballroom of the last town he passed through.

If I got you interested in Woody Guthrie, it's easy to find more of his music. The Ash Recordings are his most comprehensive list of songs, arranged in four albums. They range in topics from the dust-bowl to outlaws, railroads, cowboys, factory workers, always with a strong emphasis on social justice. In his later work he rallies support for the war effort in WWII. Just remember, when getting immersed in Woody's music, it can easily happen that several songs will end up sounding the same. That's because they are! Old tunes with new lyrics, which is all too common in folk music.

Is #TTT Still a Thing?

Though I have not seen a prompt for #ThreeTuneTuesday recently, which @ablaze used to post regularly, I will continue to put this post according to its guidelines. There may be another one of these challenges coming up. But even if not, please enjoy the music, and visit my collection of music related posts in my Monday Music series.