Show #39: Woody Guthrie (Mini)

January 9th, 2006

This week I’ve decided to try something a bit different. Rather than post one show this week that was in the usual range of 45 mins to an hour, I’m going to put up a smaller (mini) show everyday this week. I was originally going to post some Rush as I’ve been listening to them quite a bit but ran into the problem of creating a show that I liked. I failed miserably at making one that flowed well and had the songs that I wanted to hear so I started on a different tact. And so this week’s theme is American folk music.

Today’s show features American folk legend and icon, Woody Guthrie. Guthrie was young Bob Dylan’s hero, he chronicled The Great Depression in song, and, well, if you’re an American and don’t know who he is – shame on you! What we have here was recorded on 7 July 1944. From Guy Logsdon’s Discography:

7 JULY 1944. Woody was a Merchant Marine, “washing dishes on a Liberty Ship,” the troop ship Sea Porpoise which carried troops to the Normandy beach in early July 1944. After the troops were sent ashore, the ship hit a mine but made its way back to England; Woody was routed through London toward Glasgow, Scotland, toward the United States. On a song manuscript dated “July 13th, 1944″, Woody wrote, “this train is carrying me outside from London now; on up towards Belfast, and Glasgow.” While in London, he went to the offices of the BBC where he introduced himself as a member of The Martins and the Coys [produced by Alan Lomax for the BBC in late March 1944, broadcast by the BBC on 26 June 1944] and was given the opportunity to sing on the Children’s Hour. After an autobiographical statement, he was recorded singing with his guitar accompaniment two railroad songs:

“Wabash Cannonball”
“900 Miles” (this is the minor-key melody that Cisco made popular).

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Woody Guthrie

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2. Show #15: The Show No One Has Been Waiting For
3. Show #29: Rhythm'n'Jews – "Between Heaven and Earth" (Part 1)