Woody Guthrie Goes to Germany

In one of the last hurrahs of the Woody Guthrie centennial, a festival in Germany honored him today. The festival description points up his influence and his mythic stature internationally, and draws links from his Dust Bowl ballads to the Occupy Movement, and from Alan Lomax to Bob Dylan.

    For me it was fascinating to study Guthrie as a key figure in Worlds of Sound: The Ballad of Folkways, and to see how the Folkways label was a key player in his own rise and influence. (You can watch the whole film on iTunes.) I still find parts of Woody Guthrie: A Life haunting. Happy Hundred, Woody. Or rather, Glückliche Hundert.