Congratulations for winning the Best Historical Grammy for The Live Wire - Woody Guthrie 1949 Performance to Nora Guthrie and all the folks who worked on this wonderful project!
Well I made about 25 Grammy picks here the other night, and it looks like I got 9 right, and three of those (Alicia, Chaka, and Prince were purely guesses having not heard the material)...here are my winning picks:
Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals - Gone Gone Gone (Done Moved On) - Robert Plant & Alison Krauss
Best Pop Instrumental Performance - One Week Last Summer - Joni Mitchell
Best Female R&B Vocal Performance - No One - Alicia Keys
Best Male R&B Vocal Performance - Future Baby Mama - Prince
Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals - Disrespectful - Chaka Khan Featuring Mary J. Blige Best Traditional Folk Album - Dirt Farmer - Levon Helm
Best Compilation Soundtrack Album For Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media
- Love - (George Martin/The Beatles)
Best Historical Album - The Live Wire - Woody Guthrie In Performance 1949
...of all of these, the Woody Guthrie pick was the one I was the most excited about! Last year I had the pleasure of interviewing members of the Guthrie Family - Arlo, Nora (producer of this disc), and Sarah Lee (Arlo's daughter, and fine folk artist in her own right). I also chatted with Woody's cohort Pete Seeger (soon to be 89 yrs old!). We all discussed lots of things over the course of four hours, but the thing that captivated me the most was the announcement of this newly found wire recording from 1949 (the only known live performance of Woody in existence), and a tour by Arlo and Family to back it up.
From the Woody Guthrie website: It all began in 2001, when a man named Paul Braverman sent a small package containing 2 spools of wire recordings to the Woody Guthrie Archives in New York City. He had discovered them while cleaning out his closet. He had made the recordings while a student at Rutgers University, using a small wire recorder which was briefly used in the late 1940's. He was a recording hobbyist and often recorded events and programs held by the Y in the late 40's and early 50's....read moreAfter the interviews, Arlo invited my wife and I down to West Palm Beach for the February 9th stop of THE GUTHRIE FAMILY LEGACY TOUR...Whew! What a night. Arlo was awesome as always, but what a treat to see him joined on stage by his family - daughter Sarah Lee (and her husband Johny Irion), son Abe, and granddaughter Olivia (Sarah and Johnny's girl). To close out the show, the first generation joined them when they debuted a clip from Woody's LIVE WIRE performance...I don't think there was a dry eye in the house! Though he had never heard his daddy perform in concert, the two of them have almost exactly the same humorous, rambling, happy go lucky vibe on stage!
One of the highlights of the night for me, was Sarah Lee and Johnny. I'd seen Arlo about four times before, but never Sarah. We had had her booked in our coffeehouse six years earlier, but she had to cancel after learning she was pregnant with Olivia. They were perfect this particular night.
my woody portraitHere are a few snips of the Interviews I did with Arlo & Nora Guthrie, and Pete Seeger on January 30th, 2007. And a track off of the The Wire: Woody Guthrie CD.
WOODY GUTHRIE
ARLO GUTHRIE
SARAH LEE GUTHRIE and JOHNNY IRION
PETE SEEGER
GRAMMYS
1 comment:
Thanks for posting these.. Happy Valentines Day!
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