October 3 - Remembering Woody Guthrie

On this day in Labor History the year was 1967. 

That was the day that the “Dust-bowl Troubadour,” Woody Guthrie, died. 

Over the course of his life, Woody Guthrie wrote almost 3,000 songs. 

He was one of the thousands of people who took the road during the Great Depression, swept into wandering by the winds that churned the Dust Bowl.

In an interview with NPR, fellow folk music legend Pete Seeger described Guthrie’s influence, “We all read about music being part of people’s lives, but I hadn’t seen it in action until I met him.  The words that came out of his mouth and the music he made all flowed together with the life that he had led and I was greatly attracted to it and kind of tagged along with him for several months.  Woody showed me how to hitchhike and how to ride freight trains, how to sing in saloons.”

A 2013 article in Paste magazine summarized Guthrie’s legacy writing, “No artist…has ever expressed a deeper will to fight against oppression and the rights of “the little guy” than Woody Guthrie.”

Iconic author John Steinbeck wrote this vivid description, “Harsh-voiced and nasal, his guitar hanging like a tire on a rusty rim, there is nothing sweet about Woody, and there is nothing sweet about the songs he sings.  But there is something more important for those who will listen.  There is the will of a people to endure and fight against oppression.  I think we call this the American spirit.”