Woody Guthrie

Woodrow Wilson Guthrie (; July 14, 1912 – October 3, 1967) was an American singer, songwriter, and composer widely considered one of the most significant figures in American folk music. His work focused on themes of American socialism and anti-fascism and has inspired many generations politically and musically with songs such as "This Land Is Your Land" and "Tear the Fascists Down". Guthrie wrote hundreds of country, folk, and children's songs, along with ballads and improvised works. Dust Bowl Ballads, Guthrie's album of songs about the Dust Bowl period, was included on Mojo's list of 100 Records That Changed the World, and many of his recorded songs are archived in the Library of Congress. Songwriters who have acknowledged Guthrie as an influence include Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Lou Reed, Phil Ochs, Bruce Springsteen, Donovan, Robert Hunter, Harry Chapin, John Mellencamp, Andy Irvine, Joe Strummer, Billy Bragg, Dropkick Murphys, Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Jeff Tweedy, Tom Paxton, Country Joe McDonald, Brian Fallon, Sean Bonnette, Sixto Rodríguez, Steve Earle and Jesse Welles. Guthrie frequently performed with the message "This machine kills fascists" displayed on his guitar. Guthrie was brought up by middle-class parents in Okemah, Oklahoma. He left Okemah in 1929, after his mother, suffering from the Huntington’s disease that would later kill him too, was institutionalized. Guthrie followed his wayward father to Pampa, Texas, where he was running a flophouse. Though Guthrie lived there for just eight years, the town's influence on him and his music was undeniable. He married at 20, but with the advent of the dust storms that marked the Dust Bowl period, he left his wife and three children to join the thousands of Texans and Okies who were migrating to California looking for employment. He worked at the Los Angeles radio station KFVD, achieving some fame from playing hillbilly music, befriended Will Geer and John Steinbeck, and wrote a column for the communist newspaper People's World from May 1939 to January 1940. Throughout his life, Guthrie was associated with United States communist groups, although there is no evidence that he was a member of one. With the outbreak of World War II and the Molotov–Ribbentrop non-aggression pact the Soviet Union had signed with Germany in 1939, the anti-Stalin owners of KFVD radio were not comfortable with Guthrie's political leanings after he wrote a song praising the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact and the Soviet invasion of Poland. He left the station and went to New York, where he wrote and recorded his 1940 album Dust Bowl Ballads, based on his experiences during the 1930s, which earned him the nickname the "Dust Bowl Troubadour". In February 1940, he wrote his most famous song, "This Land Is Your Land", a response to what he felt was the overplaying of Irving Berlin's "God Bless America" on the radio. Guthrie married three times and fathered eight children. His son Arlo Guthrie became nationally known as a musician. Guthrie died in 1967 from complications of Huntington's disease, inherited from his mother. His first two daughters also died of the disease.