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Woody Guthrie
Live Wire: Woody Guthrie in Performance 1949
(Woody Guthrie)
First Appeared in The Music Box, April 2008, Volume 15, #4
Written by Douglas Heselgrave
Thu, April 3, 2008, 06:30 AM CDT
Living in the age of American Idol, it’s hard to remember that there
ever were people like Woody Guthrie. With his wiry, Brillo-pad hair, diminutive
form, and machine-gun guitar style, it’s difficult to imagine him making it past
a first audition for the popular television show. Even in Guthrie’s day,
however, the Simon Cowells of the world had a hard time with the unkempt folk
singer. The music that is captured on the newly discovered Live Wire: Woody
Guthrie in Performance 1949 may be only 60-years-old, but it feels as
ancient as a Dead Sea Scroll.
To call this newly discovered recording invaluable is to diminish its worth.
Live Wire features Guthrie in his prime, doing what he loved best:
telling stories and performing songs in front of a captive audience. Although
his guitar playing was, at best, rudimentary, and although his rough and
unpolished vocals never gave Caruso any sleepless nights, Guthrie was a
performer and agitator without equal. Live Wire represents the first time
that music lovers have been given the opportunity to hear a complete concert
performance from the legendary folk singer, and it is as good as anyone could
have hoped it would be.
Like many archival releases, the issuance of Live Wire involved both
luck and ingenuity. While cleaning out his closet in 2001, Paul Braverman
unearthed two spools that contained a performance by Guthrie, which he had made
years earlier with an old, wire tape recorder. Realizing the historical
importance of his discovery, he sent them to Nora Guthrie, Woody’s daughter and
the President of the Woody Guthrie Foundation. She understood the significance
of what Braverman had sent to her, but it wasn’t until 12 months later that she
finally was able to listen to the recordings because there was only one device
in the world that could play them. Over the subsequent five years, a lot of
time, effort, and technological development went into cleaning and polishing the
music to prepare it for public consumption. The result is the exemplary Live
Wire: Woody Guthrie in Performance 1949, which comes complete with a 72-page
book, featuring rare photographs and background essays. It is a treasure trove
of music and memorabilia that will appeal to both novices and Guthrie’s hardcore
fans.
Perhaps the best news about Live Wire is that it is so wonderful to
hear. Historical importance, in and of itself, is rarely enough to get someone
to spend their hard-earned money on an album, but thankfully Braverman’s
recording captures Guthrie on a good night, when he was at the peak of his
powers. Guthrie’s wife Marjorie was a dance instructor at Newark’s YWCA, and she
had organized the performance featured on Live Wire in order to expose
people to her husband’s music. Telling stories as if his life depended on it,
Guthrie entertained the small gathering with some of the best songs that ever
were written. Oblivious to the size of the crowd, he treated the audience to raw
renditions of Pastures of Plenty, Tom Joad, Dust Bowl Blues,
and many of his other, timeless tunes.
How does one judge Guthrie’s music in 2008? For those with a sense of
history, Guthrie was a giant who broke down social and musical barriers as he
carried his songs of hope, loss, and redemption to working people around the
world. His compositions and concerns are embedded so deeply in 20th
Century American mythology that they now are almost invisible.
Guthrie’s material was not designed simply to entertain; his lyrics echoed
the anxieties of people whose stories had been etched out of blood, sweat, dirt,
and bone. Guthrie’s music has become more than it ever was intended to be, and
time has rendered it no easier to provide a critique of his work than it is to
offer a commentary upon the Northern Lights, a lunar eclipse, or the Bayeux
Tapestry. His songs are the Psalms, Arabian Nights, and Canterbury Tales of the North American working class, and they have become
as inseparable from their experience as earth and water.
Live Wire, then, is an indispensable document from one of the most
important musical figures of the last century. It really belongs in everyone’s
record collection. No matter how many times his songs have been heard, Guthrie
remains an inspiration. It is impossible not to fall under his spell. 
For further information on how this recording was restored,
see our interview with engineer Warren-Russell-Smith.
Live Wire: Woody Guthrie in Performance 1949 is NOT available
from Amazon.com. To order, please visit the Woody Guthrie Store!
50th Annual Grammy Award Winner:
Best Historical Album
Ratings
1 Star: Pitiful
2 Stars: Listenable
3 Stars: Respectable
4 Stars: Excellent
5 Stars: Can't Live Without It!!
Copyright © 2008 The Music Box
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