Arlo Guthrie

Arlo Guthrie
Guthrie performs during his Alice's Restaurant Massacree 40th Anniversary Tour (2005).
Guthrie performs during his Alice's Restaurant Massacree 40th Anniversary Tour (2005).
Background information
Born July 10, 1947 (1947-07-10) (age 62)
Coney Island, New York, U.S.
Genre(s) Folk
Occupation(s) Singer-songwriter
Instrument(s) guitar
harmonica
piano
Years active 1967 – present
Label(s) Rising Son Records
Associated acts Shenandoah
Pete Seeger
Website Official Website

Arlo Davy Guthrie (born July 10, 1947) is an American folk singer. Like his father, Woody Guthrie, Arlo often sings songs of protest against social injustice. One of Guthrie's works is "Alice's Restaurant Massacree", a talking blues song that lasts for 18 minutes.

Contents

Early life

Guthrie was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of folk singer and composer Woody Guthrie and his wife Marjorie Mazia Guthrie, who was a one-time professional dancer with the Martha Graham Company and founder of the Committee to Combat Huntington's Disease, the disease that took Woody's life in 1967. He graduated from the Stockbridge School of Agriculture of Massachusetts in 1965, and briefly attended Rocky Mountain College.

As a singer, songwriter and lifelong political activist, Arlo carries on the legacy of his legendary father. He was awarded the Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience award on September 26, 1992. [1]

"Alice's Restaurant"

His most famous work is "Alice's Restaurant Massacree", a talking blues song that lasts 18 minutes and 34 seconds in its original recorded version (Guthrie has been known to spin the story out to forty-five minutes in concert). Guthrie has pointed out that this was also the exact length of one of the famous gaps in Richard Nixon's Watergate tapes. The Alice in the song is Alice Brock, who now runs an art gallery[2] in Provincetown, Massachusetts.

The song, a bitingly satirical protest against the Vietnam War draft, is based on a true incident. In the song, Guthrie is called up for a draft examination, and rejected as unfit for military service as a result of a criminal record — consisting in its entirety of a single arrest, court appearance, fine and clean-up order for littering and creating a public nuisance on Thanksgiving Day in 1965, when Arlo was eighteen years old. On the DVD commentary for the film, Guthrie states that the events as presented in the song are true to real-life occurrences.

For a short period of time after its release in 1967, "Alice's Restaurant" was in frequent rotation on nearly every college and counter-culture radio station in the country. Indeed, it became a symbol of the late '60s and for many it defined an attitude and lifestyle that were lived out across the country in the ensuing years. Many stations across the States have made playing "Alice's Restaurant" a Thanksgiving Day tradition.

A 1969 film, directed and co-written by Arthur Penn, was based on the story. In addition to acting in this film, also called Alice's Restaurant, Guthrie has had minor roles in several movies and television series. Guthrie's memorable appearance at the 1969 Woodstock Festival was documented in the Michael Wadleigh film Woodstock.

From The Guthrie Family Legacy Tour 2007

Popular and critical reception

In 1972 Guthrie made famous Steve Goodman's song "City of New Orleans," a paean to long-distance rail travel. Guthrie's first trip on that train was in December 2005 (when his family joined other musicians on a train trip across the country to raise money for musicians financially devastated by Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita, in the South of the United States). He also had a minor hit with his song "Coming into Los Angeles," which was played at the 1969 Woodstock Festival, and success with "The Motorcycle Song." Guthrie's 1976 album Amigo received a 5-star (highest rating) from Rolling Stone, and may be his best-received work; unfortunately that milestone album is as rarely heard today as are Guthrie's earlier Warner Brothers albums — although each boasts compelling folk music accompanied by top-notch musicians including Ry Cooder.

Shenandoah

In the fall of 1975 during a benefit concert in Massachusetts, Arlo Guthrie performed with his band Shenandoah in public for the first time. They continued to tour and record throughout the 1970s until the early 1990s. Although the band received good reviews, it never gained the popularity that Guthrie did while playing solo. They did play many of Guthrie's most famous songs, which were most requested. By this time, Guthrie had developed his own sound in versions of "talking blues" songs. A number of musicians from a variety of genres have joined Guthrie on stage, including Pete Seeger, David Bromberg, Cyril Neville, Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson, Judy Collins, Wesley Gray, and others.

Acting

Though Arlo Guthrie is best known for being a musician, singer, and composer, throughout the years he has also appeared as an actor in films and on television. The film Alice's Restaurant (1969) is his best known role, but he has had small parts in several films and even co-starred in a television drama, Byrds of Paradise.

Politics

Guthrie endorsed Texas Congressman Ron Paul for the 2008 Republican Party nomination. He said, "I love this guy. Dr. Paul is the only candidate I know of who would have signed the Constitution of the United States had he been there. I'm with him, because he seems to be the only candidate who actually believes it has as much relevance today as it did a couple of hundred years ago. I look forward to the day when we can work out the differences we have with the same revolutionary vision and enthusiasm that is our American legacy." [3]

Legacy

Like his father, Woody Guthrie, Guthrie often sings songs of protest against social injustice. He collaborated with poet Adrian Mitchell to tell the story of Chilean folk singer and activist Víctor Jara in song. He regularly performed with folk legend Pete Seeger - one of his father's longtime partners whom he admires, followed, and learns from in many ways, musically and intellectually.

In 1991, Guthrie bought the church that had served as Alice and Ray Brock's former home in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, and converted it to the Guthrie Center, an interfaith meeting place that serves people of all religions.

Family

Guthrie and his wife Jackie reside in the Town of Washington, Massachusetts. Guthrie's son Abe Guthrie and his daughters Sarah Lee Guthrie and Cathy Guthrie have also become musicians, while Annie Guthrie takes care of family touring details. Sarah Lee performs and records with her husband Johnny Irion. Cathy plays ukulele in Folk Uke, a group she formed with Amy Nelson, the daughter of Willie Nelson. Abe Guthrie was formerly in a Folk-Rock band called Xavier, and now tours with his father. Abe Guthrie's son, Krishna, is a drummer and toured with Arlo Guthrie on his European tour in 2006[4]. Arlo Guthrie is a grandfather of Krishna, Annie's daughter Jacklyn, and Sarah Lee's daughter Olivia Nora Irion.

He is third cousin to Canadian composer and musician Jan Randall.

Discography

Select filmography

Notable television guest appearances

Film and television composer

Producer

Writer

Appearances as himself

References

Footnotes

  1. ↑ The Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience Recipients List
  2. ↑ Alice Brock
  3. ↑ http://www.centredaily.com/business/story/365339.html
  4. ↑ http://visions-of-dylan.blogspot.com/2006/08/arlo-at-vicar-st.html
  5. ↑ Chronicle Books Link

External links