Holy Folk; There Was More Inside Woody Guthrie's Mind - and Songbook - Than the Plight of Farmers

Forward, December, 2003 by Moskowitz, Jon

Moskowitz, Jon Forward 12-12-2003 Woody Guthrie is an icon of folk music and progressive politics, and in the years since his 1967 death, he has also become something of a cliche. But the simplified view of the Oklahoma-born singer -- the earnest folkie who rode the rails and sang truth to power -- was challenged by the 1998 release of "Mermaid Avenue," through which British protest singer Billy Bragg and alternative rock band Wilco showed that the somber, guitar-strumming voice of the Dust Bowl was a more prolific, open-minded and rowdy songwriter than anyone had suspected.

While roughly 300 of Guthrie's compositions were recorded during his lifetime, he left behind nearly 10 times that number, most of which have still not seen the light of day. And he had a...

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