The Woody Guthrie Foundation, founded in 1972, is a non-profit organization that serves as administrator and caretaker of the Woody Guthrie Archives. Dedicated to the preservation and dissemination of information about Guthrie's vast cultural legacy, the Woody Guthrie Archives, which opened to the public in 1996 at West 57th St, New York City, houses the largest collection of Woody Guthrie material in the world.[1]
Guthrie's unrecorded written lyrics housed at the archives have been the starting point of several albums. Foundation Director Nora Guthrie began inviting individual singer-songwriters to visit the Foundation and Archives in New York City where hundreds of lyrics which had never been put to music are kept. At Nora Guthrie's invitation, musicians Jeff Tweedy of Wilco and Billy Bragg released Mermaid Avenue (1998) and Mermaid Avenue Vol. II (2000) – both Woody Guthrie lyrical collaborations. The making of Mermaid Avenue, including Bragg's visit to Guthrie's hometown of Okemah, Oklahoma was chronicled in the film documentary Man in the Sand.[2] Gradually other singer-songwriters have posthumously collaborated with Woody Guthrie, writing and recording music with Guthrie's lyrics. Some of these song collaborations include "God's Promise" (Ellis Paul), "Dance a Little Longer" (Joel Rafael) and "This Morning I Am Born Again" (Slaid Cleaves).[3] In 2001, Frankie Fuchs produced Daddy-O Daddy, rare family songs from lyrics written by Woody, set to music from musicians including Joe Ely and Taj Mahal. In 2003, Hans-Eckardt Wenzel released English and German versions of the album, Ticky Tock featuring lyrics adapted from the archive.[4] In 2003 and 2005 respectively, Joel Rafael released, Woodeye: Songs of Woody Guthrie, and Woodyboye: Songs Of Woody Guthrie And Tales Worth Telling, Vol. 2, which include a mix of Woody Guthrie songs, songs created from the lyric archive and Rafael's own stories and songs.[5] In 2004, Janis Ian released "I Hear You Sing Again." based on unreleased Guthrie lyrics.[6] In 2006, the Klezmatics released Wonder Wheel, which melds their unique take on klezmer with the Guthrie's lyrics.[7] The Klezmatics also released another album of Guthrie material, entitled Woody Guthrie's Happy Joyous Hanukkah.[8] The band Anti-Flag recorded "Post-War Breakout", a song featuring archive lyrics penned by Woody Guthrie. Eliza Gilkyson arranged music to the lyrics for the song "Peace Call" from the archive, it appears on her album Land of Milk and Honey.[9]
On September 6, 2007, Woody Guthrie Publications, Inc., in cooperation with the Woody Guthrie Foundation released The Live Wire: Woody Guthrie in Performance 1949, accompanied by a 72-page book describing the performance and the project. Paul Braverman, a student at Rutgers University in 1949, made the recordings himself using a small wire recorder at a Guthrie concert in Newark, New Jersey.[10] On February 10, 2008, the release was the recipient of a Grammy Award in the category Best Historical Album.[11] In August 2008, Jonatha Brooke released The Works, an album of unpublished Guthrie lyrics from the Archives. It is the first album of Woody Guthrie songs composed, arranged, produced and performed by a female singer-songwriter.[12]
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