Mapping Woody Guthrie

Woody Guthrie was a native of Oklahoma who moved to Pampa, Texas, to escape the Dust Bowl. He joined the Popular Front in California and later moved to New York, where the American folk music renaissance began. Guthrie produced more than 3,000 songs, fiction, journalism, poetry, and visual art that gave voice to the distressed and dispossessed. Will Kaufman examines Guthrie's career through the role of time and place in his artistic evolution, highlighting his travels to California, the Pacific Northwest, New York, and the Florida swamplands of Beluthahatchee.

\n Format: Hardback
\n Length: 178 pages
\n Publication date: 30 January 2019
\n Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
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Woody Guthrie, a native of Oklahoma, left his home and embarked on a journey that would shape his identity and influence his work. At the age of just a teenager, he moved to Pampa, Texas, where he faced the devastating dust storms that would play a significant role in forming his perspective. Seeking a way out of the Dust Bowl, Guthrie joined thousands of Americans who headed to California. In California, he became part of the West Coast stronghold of the Popular Front, whose leftward influence on his thinking continued even after he moved to New York in 1940. It was in New York that Guthrie encountered Pete Seeger and Lead Belly, marking the beginning of the American folk music renaissance.

Throughout his life, Guthrie continued to move, making friends, absorbing influences, and documenting his experiences through his art. He produced over 3,000 songs, as well as fiction, journalism, poetry, and visual art, that gave voice to the distressed and dispossessed. In his book, Will Kaufman explores Guthrie's career through the lens of time and place, highlighting the critical role that these elements played in his artistic evolution.

Guthrie was a boundary-defying artist who refused to be bound by geography, class, race, or religion. He famously declared, "There ain't no such thing as east, west, north, or south," emphasizing his belief in the interconnectedness of the world. Nevertheless, places held a profound significance in Guthrie's life, thought, and creativity. He referred to himself as a "compass-pointer man," and his travels took him from California to the Pacific Northwest, New York, and even across the Atlantic as a merchant marine.

Before his untimely death from Huntington's disease in 1967, Guthrie had one more important journey to take. He returned to the Florida swamplands of Beluthahatchee, in the heart of the South, where he produced some of his most trenchant criticisms of Jim Crow racism. This portion of his work remains a powerful testament to his commitment to social justice and his ability to use his art to challenge oppressive systems.

Woody Guthrie's life and art serve as a reminder of the power of storytelling and the importance of using art to address social and political issues. His journey from Oklahoma to California, his experiences in the Dust Bowl, and his travels across the United States and beyond reflect the complexities of the human experience and the ongoing struggle for equality and justice. Through his music and his words, Guthrie left a lasting legacy that continues to inspire and influence artists and activists today.

\n Weight: 444g\n
Dimension: 162 x 236 x 22 (mm)\n
ISBN-13: 9780806161785\n \n