Thousands of people won’t be descending on Okemah, Oklahoma, Woody Guthrie’s hometown, this month due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. However, the nonprofit Woody Guthrie Coalition hosts a virtual festival the week of the iconic songwriter, singer, poet and activist’s birthday, July 14-19, 2020 – in place of the annual Woody Guthrie Folk Festival. The free virtual WoodyFest may be streamed via Facebook, YouTube and Twitch, as well as Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Google Play, Roku, and Folk Music Notebook’s website and Facebook page.
The musical festivities get underway on Tuesday night, July 14 (Woody’s birthday), when his granddaughter, Sarah Lee Guthrie performs and hosts a musical celebration from 7-9:30 p.m. CDT featuring her dad, Arlo Guthrie, and several other Guthrie family members, long with David Amram, Sam Baker, The Burns Sisters, Cole Quest & the City Pickers, Folk Uke, John Fullbright, Butch Hancock, Radoslav Lorkovic, Miss Brown to You, Ellis Paul, Joel Rafael, and the Red Dirt Rangers, among others. Arlo Guthrie, Paul, Rafael, and The Red Dirt Rangers were also among the artists who performed at the inaugural festival in 1998.
Singer-Songwriter Jaimee Harris performs and hosts the musical festivities on Saturday night, July 18, from 7-11 p.m. CDT. Among the artists joining her will be BettySoo, Tom Breiding, Tim Easton, Emma’s Revolution, Mary Gauthier (whom Harris frequently accompanies), John Fullbright, Seth Glier, Glen Hansard, Matt Harlan, Jason Mraz, Graham Nash, Jacob Tovar, and Raye Zaragoza.
Harris, BettySoo, Hancock, Rafael, the Red Dirt Rangers, and Tovar are also among the artists slated to be featured on Sunday afternoon, July 19, from 2-4:30 p.m. CDT, along with K.C, Clifford, Annie Guthrie, Ali Harter, Susan Herndon, and others. Terry ‘Buffalo’ Ware hosts.
Online Panel Discussions and Workshops Slated on Saturday, July 18
A number of panel discussions and workshops are set for Saturday, July 18, from 12 noon -7 p.m. CDT.
Breiding, a former Music Row staff writer who has spent the past decade as a musician in residence for the United Mine Workers of America, kicks things off at noon with Appalachia: This Land is Home to Me. This will be followed at 1 p.m. by a slide show, reading & q & a with Easton, a Nashville-based traveling troubadour who toured Russia last fall as part of the U.S. Department of State’s Forum for Cultural Engagement program and assembled a book and field recordings in a collection called Folk Collusion based on his experiences.
Deana McCloud and Rik Palieri will be part of Saturday’s program during the virtual WoodyFest.
Beginning at 3 p.m. CDT, Deana McCloud, executive director of the Woody Guthrie Center in Tulsa, hosts an hour-long This Land is Your Land: A Celebration of 80 Years featuring video captured during a Feb. 23 concert at The Town Hall in New York City celebrating the 80th anniversary of Guthrie’s penning the a song, a chat with participating artists Branjae & Gangstagrass, and a virtual tour of the Center’s exhibit about the song.
“”This Land is Your Land” is a living message, and the new perspective that Gangstagrass and Branjae took on the song makes is even more significant in light of today’s social justice issues,” McCloud told AcousticMusicScene.com. “That’s the beauty of the song and creativity in general — it lives and grows to speak for those who need to use the message to point out issues in our society and the need to ensure that America keeps her promises to all who live on This Land.”
The Oklahoma Film + Music Office presents a panel on Native Music of Oklahoma at 4 p.m. CDT. Winners of this year’s Woody Guthrie Folk Festival Songwriting Competition will perform at 5:15 p.m. Ollman moderates a panel discussion entitled Something to Say: Making Music That Matters, presented by Oklahoma Humanities and featuring Gauthier, a Grammy-nominated songwriter, whose songs have been covered and recorded by dozens of artists; and Louie Perez, primary lyricist for the multiple Grammy Award-winning band, Los Lobos.
Although there is no charge to stream the festival, viewers may show their appreciation by making donations via a virtual tip jar – a portion of which will be given to the Red Dirt Relief Fund and Huntington’s Disease Society of America.
More information on the virtual Woody Guthrie Folk Festival can be found online at https://woodyfest.com.
Like/Follow Us!