GODFATHER OF FOLK REVIVAL MOVEMENT DIES
New York City (JFK+50) On October 3, 1967, Woody Guthrie, the godfather of the folk revival movement of the 1950s, died in the Creedmore Psychiatric Center here in New York City at the age of 55. Singer-songwriter Bob Dylan called Woody "the true voice of the American spirit."
Guthrie began writing music after traveling to California with Dust Bowl refugees during the 1930s and recorded an album entitled "Dust Bowl Ballads." His most famous song, "This Land Is Your Land," became very popular during the folk music rebirth of the early 1960s. Guthrie wrote the song in 1940 and it was recorded in 1944.
*Woodrow Wilson "Woodie" Guthrie (1912-1967) was born in Okemah, Oklahoma and was named after Woodrow Wilson. Living in New York City, he became known as "the Oklahoma cowboy." WWG wrote thousands of pages of poems and prose. During WWII, he served in the Merchant Marine.
He once said, "I am out to sing the songs that make you take pride in yourself and in your work."
Woody Guthre NYWTS
Photo by Al Aumuller
New York World Telegram and the Sun
Library of Congress Image
