Woody Guthrie
Woody Guthrie (1912–1967) was an American folk singer and songwriter whose songs about workers, migrants, and social justice made him a towering figure in American music.
His "This Land Is Your Land" became an unofficial national anthem.
Guthrie's guitar bore the slogan "This machine kills fascists." His influence shaped Bob Dylan and generations of protest singers.
Traditional music movement resurgence
- acoustic guitarUnplugged stringed instrument
- folk musicCommunity-born acoustic songs
- balladNarrative poem or song
- traditionalFollowing long-held customs
Pete Seeger · roots music · hootenanny · hillbilly · country · old-timey · fiddle · harmonica
- influencePower to affect others
- Huntington's diseaseInherited fatal neurodegenerative condition
- tributeOffering of respect
- iconPictorial screen symbol
Wilco · archives · songwriting · lyrics · poetry · authenticity · voice of the people · legend
Joining into one
- labor movementOrganized effort for worker rights
- solidarityUnity among allies
- working classManual laborers collectively
- injusticeDenial of fair treatment
activism · picket line · strike · organizing · anti-fascist · social justice · Tom Joad · underdog
South Central U.S. state
- Dust BowlThirties prairie ecological collapse
- frontierEdge of settlement
- ramblerLeisurely rural hiker
- hoboItinerant without fixed address
freight train · wanderer · highway · drifter · heartland · prairie · small town · rural America
Dust Bowl refugees, informally
- Great Depression1930s global economic crisis
- migrationMovement to new territory
- droughtProlonged water scarcity
- 1930sFourth decade, twentieth century
hardship · displacement · Black Sunday · Grapes of Wrath · John Steinbeck · soil erosion · New Deal · Route 66
folk revival
Traditional music movement resurgence
- acoustic guitarUnplugged stringed instrument
- folk musicCommunity-born acoustic songs
- balladNarrative poem or song
Pete Seeger · traditional · roots music · hootenanny · hillbilly · country · old-timey · fiddle · harmonica · singalong
Bob Dylan
- influencePower to affect others
- Huntington's diseaseInherited fatal neurodegenerative condition
- tributeOffering of respect
icon · Wilco · archives · songwriting · lyrics · poetry · authenticity · voice of the people · legend · posthumous
union
Joining into one
- labor movementOrganized effort for worker rights
- solidarityUnity among allies
- working classManual laborers collectively
injustice · activism · picket line · strike · organizing · anti-fascist · social justice · Tom Joad · underdog · common people
Oklahoma
South Central U.S. state
hobo · freight train · wanderer · highway · drifter · heartland · prairie · small town · rural America · common folk
Okies
Dust Bowl refugees, informally
- Great Depression1930s global economic crisis
- migrationMovement to new territory
- droughtProlonged water scarcity
1930s · hardship · displacement · Black Sunday · Grapes of Wrath · John Steinbeck · soil erosion · New Deal · Route 66 · California
- folk musicfolk, folk music, folk songs, folk ballads, folk ballad
- songwritersBob Dylan, songwriter, lyricists, composer, lyricist
- Folk RevivalPete Seeger, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, The Weavers, Greenwich Village
- protest songsOhio, Bella Ciao, protest songs, protest song, protest anthem
- Folk Collectors
- labor songslabor songs, which side are you on, hold the fort, bread and roses, pie in the sky
Woody GuthrieIrving Berlin