Woody gets his day

By Andy Wheeler

Woody Guthrie in 1943

The George Kaiser Family Foundation bought the Woody Guthrie archives from his children and announced plans to build the Woody Guthrie Center in the currently-under-massive-renovation Mathews Warehouse (116 E. Brady Ave.).

The general sentiment expressed by music lovers, Tulsans, historians and media goes something like this: “Well, d’uh!”

It is a no-brainer.

Mr. Guthrie passed in 1967. And it took more than 3,000 years (to all of my math teachers: sorry) for Woody to get the recognition he deserves?

But without GKFF, this would never have happened. (Side query: Where would this city be without GKFF? Discuss.)

Guthrie was one of the most important songwriters in American history. He captured a time with which we can identify now more than perhaps ever before. He basically created an entire genre of music on his own. And he led the way for far more prosperous and successful singer/songwriters to follow: Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Wilco and the list goes on.

I was ignorant of Guthrie’s work besides “This Land is Your Land” until his children discovered a crate of lyrics (1,000-plus songs written between 1939-1967) penned by their father. They contacted a singer they appreciated, British singer/songwriter Billy Bragg. He saw what they had and realized that it was beyond his ability to corral all of that material. He contacted a band he appreciated, Wilco. Bragg and the band put Guthrie’s words to their music in 1998 on the album “Mermaid Avenue” and then took the unreleased material and made another album in 2000, “Mermaid Avenue Vol. II.”

It changed the way I not only looked at Guthrie but also music as a whole. I am still profoundly affected by several songs on those albums, “California Stars” chief among them. One can hear how it changed the songwriting of Wilco (read: Jeff Tweedy), too. Listen to “Being There” (before “Mermaid”) and “Summerteeth” (after). The latter sounds like “Mermaid Avenue Vol. III,” especially “She’s a Jar,” “How to Fight Loneliness” and “A Shot in the Arm.”

There are a million different ways Woody Guthrie changed the music we listen to today. And the very least we could do is acknowledge his gift to us.