Image Courtesy : http://www.jazzdimensions.de/interviews/more_views/2006/arlo_guthrie.html
Arlo Guthrie, son of the legendary worker-singer Woody Guthrie, has been "on the road" by now for over 40 years.
Like for his father before him the political song became his second nature..
folk with socio-political characteristics. Recently Arlo Guthrie toured Germany together with Hans-Eckardt Wenzel, the bard of the former GDR. This contact had been established through Arlo Guthrie's sister Nora—at the time Wenzel planned to release an album with germanized Woody Guthrie songs.
When Arlo Guthrie became famous at the end of the sixties with the song "Alice's Restaurant" and the album of the same name, this song stood likewise for the political outcry of a dedicated generation of young people. Folk was a means of political expression, it had power, it was a counter-culture.
The relative importance of folk music in contemporary America and the folk song in contemporary Germany is a recurring question which cannot be clearly answered. Arlo Guthrie, however, has not yet tired of fighting for a better world—on a large as well as a small scale: He is committed to help the victims of the floodings in New Orleans, but also bought the very church which was featured in the film "Alice's Restaurant" in order to turn it into an international meeting point...
To quote Arlo...
There were always great women singers although there were fewer of them. That has changed and now it seems more equal. In the last 40 years we've seen women become great players as well as singers. I think more women have discovered what musicians have always known—sex, drugs and music—: it goes together.
And you know the old saying? What is a folksinger without a girlfriend? "Homeless." It's as true now as it must have been 100 years ago. Not that much changes.
My mother was a modern dancer with the Martha Graham Company. We grew up listening to classical music and well as folk music. I thought it would be interesting to use the other half of my life. There is a recording coming out in about a month of a live concert with me and the University of Kentucky Symphony Orchestra. It's called "In Times Like These".....
My philosophy is simple. If you want to know something that someone else seems to know, wash their dishes and clean their house. Or do whatever they want or need. You will get more that way than taking a course and getting a degree. Feed your teachers and you will not be hungry.
Article Courtesy : Carina Prange
More details on the interview is available at this link
Thought for the day.....
What some men dream of, some men do...
How true....
The converse ..... those who cannot practice.... preach
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