Story & Photographs by Diane Fleischman
Musikfest Café was packed Sunday night for a very special performance by Arlo Guthrie. New and old fans gathered and enjoyed a portion of Guthrie’s musical career which spans over 55 years.
Back in the 60’s, one of the popular catch phrases that rolled off of just about everybody’s lips was “tell it like it is”. That’s exactly the main goal of any talented folksinger, and for Guthrie, he did exactly that. It’s a standard assumption that when at a folk concert, one learns more about the personal life of the artist and the origin of songs. Guthrie was full of humor as he told the tales of his childhood, his early love for ragtime music, and stories of Woodstock with great humor and affection, and touched many times on his process of aging. “When you think of folk singers today, think of someone singing songs in the key of me,” Guthrie bragged.
Whether the subject matter was politics, socialism, or whimsical little ditties like “The Motorcycle Song”, he dug into his bag full of repetoire and performed favorites such as “In Times Like These”, “When a Soldier Comes Home” “I’m Alabama Bound”, and “City Of New Orleans”. He added a few songs by Bob Dylan, “Gates of Eden”, “When the Ship Comes In”, and the full four verse rendition of “Mr. Tambourine Man”. One of his earliest influences were songs by his father which included “This Land is Your Land”, and in the encore, “My Peace.”
For Guthrie, now 70 years old, his voice hasn’t aged. He still maintains the agility to move between guitar, and keyboards while adding harmonica parts effortlessly. Guthrie continues his tour on the east coast, doing what he loves, telling it like it is.
Arlo Guthrie Links
https://twitter.com/folkslinger
https://www.facebook.com/arloguthrie
https://www.youtube.com/user/jguth3
