The Philadelphia Folksong Society, a not-for-profit educational organization best known for presenting the annual Philadelphia Folk Festival each summer since 1962, will premiere “new” Woody Guthrie songs to help celebrate its 50th anniversary and pay tribute to the Guthrie family and the Woody Guthrie Archives for enriching America with the songs and spirit of Woody Guthrie.  Branded as “In Woody’s Words,” the historic four-hour event is set for Sunday, Dec. 16, at Philadelphia’s World Café Live. 

Contemporary folk artists John Gorka, Chris Smither, Jonatha Brooke, Sarah Lee Guthrie & Johnny Irion, Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer, and Tom Paxton will perform original music set to never-before-heard lyrics from the archives.  Tickets priced at $150 include a three-course luncheon, silent auction and all performances and presentations.  Woody’s daughter Nora Guthrie will accept the honors and introduce a musical film featuring Billy Bragg, the Klezmatics, Wilco and other contemporary artists who also have written melodies for Woody’s poems and lyrics from the Archives. VIP private reception tickets with the stars of the event, members of the Guthrie family and other special guests are an additional $50.  Tickets may be reserved by calling the society at (215) 247-1300 or sending an e-mail to its new executive director Lauri Barish at barish@pfs.org. 

“The response to this event has gotten me more excited than I could have imagined,” says Gene Shay, producer of “In Woody’s Words,” founder and emcee of the Philadelphia Folk Festival and longtime host of “The Folk Show” on WXPN.  “The performers’ enthusiasm is as great as I’ve witnessed in my five decades on the folk scene,” he adds.  “What an incredible privilege this has turned out to be.”[woody.bmp]

Widely regarded as the most important American folk music artist of the first half of the 20th century, Woody Guthrie – a chronicler of the 1930s and 1940s, whose classic songs include “This Land Is Your Land,” “Grand Coulee Dam” and “Pastures of Plenty” — also had a major influence on the popular music of the second half of the century and is credited with having helped pave the way for a number of other folk and singer-songwriters, who have penned songs of social conscience and human experience.  Artists of various musical genres have recorded Guthrie-penned compositions over the years.

“The wonderful thing about working with the new lyrics from the archives is that I keep realizing that there is a song for everyone” says Nora Guthrie.  “Somewhere, in the pile of 2500 lyrics, there’s something that strikes a chord for every musician.”  Noting that “the songs on Dec. 16 will be personally selected by each of the performers, she maintains that by “working this way, we keep the connections honest and true.  It also keeps broadening people’s concepts of Woody as a songwriter.”

As Nora Guthrie points out, her father “wrote songs on every topic – from love songs, to union songs, to political songs, to children’s songs, to historical ballads, to bawdy songs, songs about life and death, health and illness.  He was the most uncensored songwriter I ever met!  Everything and everyone on earth was a lyric,” she continues.  “So in that sense, the lyrics that these musicians will be performing say as much about them – their lives and their interests, their loves, their politics, their kids, their neighborhoods, etc. – as anything Woody said about himself.  It’s a moment where they can share a mutual ‘Yea!’”

The Philadelphia Folksong Society is dedicated to preserving the legacy of musical expression through the encouragement, dissemination and enjoyment of folk music and related expressions of folklore, and the sponsorship of research, education, therapeutic programs and related publications.   The volunteer-oriented organization (which hired its first full-time executive director this year) brings music to schools, senior centers, hospitals, concert halls, libraries and other locations — introducing people of all ages to a variety of instruments and styles, while encouraging the exploration of ethnic diversity and musical expression.  The Society also sponsors two weekend music retreats at a camp each year (known as “Spring Thing” and “Fall Fling”), a monthly concert series and more intimate house concerts.

For more information on “In Woody’s Words” and on the Philadelphia Folksong Society, visit www.pfs.org