Woody Guthrie

When reading about Woody Guthrie last week, I was fascinated by the interesting, awkward character he was and his relationship with Alan Lomax and others. He is characterized in John Szwed's book as stubborn and proud, put off by city people, and trying to put them off in return, for example when he performed for 'electrified' crowds and then denied he knew what folk music was. However, he's absolutely genuine and straight in his songs and in his autobiography, if a little bit too strident or jaunty for my taste. But what does my taste matter when it's Woody Guthrie? He was doing something unique and I'm grateful to him... just a little puzzled.

This piece is a response partly to the song This Land is Your Land, and partly to the relationship between Alan Lomax and Woody Guthrie as I read in John Szwed's book.

The landscape images come from This Land is Your Land, and they're meant to be very simple, recognizable stock images of something supposedly awesome.

I intentionally took out Woody's head from the picture, but there he is playing the guitar, the force behind all the rest, but maybe denying his own importance.

Alan Lomax is looking on approvingly but perhaps missing the point. Or maybe, as Szwed said in his book on pg 161, 'He sensed that Guthrie was still developing, working out his own creative destiny, and tried to leave him alone to do so.'

I wanted the lamp shining, hands playing, and a symmetry in the storytelling, even if it's not quite telling a story that makes sense. I had hoped to create another layer of dust and fog, but didn't get the chance. Maybe I'll revise this one later.