Mapping Woody Guthrie

177 Pages·2019·6.42 MB·English

by  Guthrie, Woody, Kaufman, Will

MAPPING WOODY GUTHRIE
AMERICAN POPULAR MUSIC SERIES
Advisory Board
Bob L. Blackburn, Executive Director,
Oklahoma Historical Society
Erika Brady, Professor of Folk Studies,
Western Kentucky University
Ronald D. Cohen, Professor of History Emeritus,
Indiana University Northwest
Charles L. Hughes, Director of the Memphis Center,
Rhodes College
Bill C. Malone, Professor of History Emeritus,
Tulane University
Andy Wilkinson, Artist-in-Residence,
Crossroads Music Archive, Texas Tech University
M a p p i ng
WOODY GUTHRIE
WILL KAUFMAN
University of Oklahoma Press : Norman
This book is published with the generous assistance
of the Wallace C. Thompson Endowment Fund,
University of Oklahoma Foundation.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Kaufman, Will, author.
Title: Mapping Woody Guthrie / Will Kaufman.
Description: Norman : University of Oklahoma Press, [2018] | Series: American
popular music series ; Volume 4 | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018024136 | ISBN 978-0-8061-6178-5 (hardcover : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Guthrie, Woody, 1912–1967. | Folk singers—United States—
Biography.
Classification: LCC ML410.G978 K37 2018 | DDC 782.42162/130092 [B] —dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018024136
Mapping Woody Guthrie is Volume 4 in the American Popular Music Series.
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the
Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library
Resources, Inc. ∞
Copyright © 2019 by the University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, Publishing Divi-
sion of the University. Manufactured in the U.S.A.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechani-
cal, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—except as permitted under Section 107
or 108 of the United States Copyright Act—without the prior written permission of
the University of Oklahoma Press. To request permission to reproduce selections
from this book, write to Permissions, University of Oklahoma Press, 2800 Venture
Drive, Norman OK 73069, or email [email protected].
For Ron Cohen

CONTENTS
List of Illustrations ix
Preface xi
INTRODUCTION: Einstein’s Light Rays 3
1 DUST BOWL BLUES 15
2 I AIN’T GOT NO HOME 29
3 CALIFORNIA, CALIFORNIA 44
4 PASTURES OF PLENTY 58
5 SOMEWHERE AT SEA 72
6 NEW YORK TOWN 85
7 BELUTHAHATCHEE 97
CONCLUSION: Down or Up or Anywhere 112
Chronology 115
Notes 127
Sources 143
Acknowledgments and Permissions 151
Index 153

ILLUSTRATIONS
FIGURES
Guthrie’s birthplace in Okemah, Oklahoma 16
Farmer’s son in Dust Bowl, Cimarron County,
Oklahoma 23
Dorothea Lange photograph of families along the highway
near Bakersfield, California 31
Sign for Guthrie performance at Towne Forum
in Los Angeles, 1941 51
Guthrie in Oregon, c. 1941 59
Riggers at Grand Coulee Dam 63
US Maritime Service recruitment poster, c. 1942 78
Woody Guthrie in New York, 1943 90
Stetson Kennedy, 1946 103
Woody Guthrie at Beluthahatchee, c. 1953 109
MAPS
Guthrie’s formative US travels 2
Guthrie’s merchant marine voyages 4
ix