5th Annual Woody Guthrie Free Folk Festival

July 1--14, 2002

Okemah, Oklahoma

by Bonny Holder

This song is Copyrighted in U.S., under Seal of Copyright # 154085, for a period of 28 years, and anybody caught singin it without our permission, will be mighty good friends of ourn, cause we don't give a dern. Publish it. Write it. Sing it. Swing to it. Yodel it. We wrote it, that's all we wanted to do." -- Woody Guthrie

Caroline Herring's eyes scan the purple horizon, up to the lights and to both sides of the stage. "We can hear our music go all the way up to the clouds and flow back around us," she comments. Of course, the clouds are pretty low-to-the-ground; this is Okemah, OK in mid-July. "All this energy," she muses, tuning her guitar in a minor key.

"Energy" is the keyword for the 5th annual Woody Guthrie Free Folk Festival, held each year over Woody's birthday, July 14th. This year, the legendary American singer-songwriter would have turned 90.

Woody isn't here physically, having died in 1967 of Huntington's Disease, a hereditary disease of the nerves that also claimed his mother Nora Belle Guthrie, to whom this year's music fest is dedicated. But his baby sister, Mary Jo Edgmon, 80, is here to represent him. Mary Jo is the star of the event, with seeming boundless energy and goodwill. In her perky white hat (adorned with an "I Heart Woody Guthrie" button) and sparkly rhinestone earrings, she is a sight to behold, and omni-present, there at every turn.

I approach her at the Saturday pancake breakfast, held at the Historical Center on the town's brick main street.

"I'm sure you don't remember me from last year," I say. "I'm Bonny Holder..." I bought a poster from her last July, and we had chatted while she signed it.

"Of course I remember you," she chirps, though I know she couldn't have. But later that evening, she waves at me from the Guthrie family booth on the festival grounds. She almost hops up and down. "Hi, Bonny," she yells. I swoon.

It's exactly this that makes GuthrieFest sooooo sweeeeeet.

We are all Guthries here.

Cousin Arlo couldn't come this year, because he got a paying gig with Judy Collins. And cousin Abe's band, Xavier, is laid low by a sick guitarist. Isn't this how family reunions are? Some years, you just don't make it. We're hoping to see those boys next year though, same time, same place.

Woody, he's our father, or something like that. We do not necessarily want to emulate him, or to adore him. What we want is to hear his songs and stories, listen to his words, reflect and acknowledge his place in our lives. If you're thinking, "I've never been very influenced by Woody Guthrie," I can tell you from experience that you will be amazed at the number of songs everyone "our age" knows that were written by him. "So Long, It's Been Good to Know You" is one. "This Land Is Your Land" is another, along with "You've Got To Walk That Lonesome Valley" and "How'd Ya Do?"

At the same time, there are new Guthrie songs coming to the forefront. Woody left a lot of written lyrics without melodies, and these are being distributed frugally by his daughter Nora in NYC.

Ellis Paul, so much more confident this year than previously, put tune to Guthrie's "God's Promise." Jimmy LaFave, Mr. Congeniality, sang a song at the Pancake Breakfast lectern called "Five Civilized Tribes" Guthrie had written regarding his Okie roots. And Slaid Cleaves sang his "collaboration" with Woody, "This Morning, I Was Born Again," which refers not to fundamentalism, but from the joyous lack thereof.

This is what Woody Guthrie has done for me lately. His music and his memory have inspired hard-working people (Woody Guthrie Coalition, Inc., a 501 C nonprofit organization) to produce an Americana music festival so rich, so of-the-heart, so perfect in every way that the word "transcendent" is on more than one pair of lips.

In the wake of 9/11, it seems that nice is more important than ever. The myriad of performers, and the larger-than-ever main stage audiences (in the hundreds) are the nicest people you'll ever want to meet. The makeup of the audience seems more diverse than in previous years, with a surprising number of youngish 20-somethings present (in all respects) at the festival. There are people of all colors, all ages, all shapes and sizes, and all of them seem like good people. I hear nothing threatening or argumentative or mean during the entire event. Waitresses smile, clerks in stores are helpful; imagine, a thousand nice people at a FREE music festival (there is a small charge for parking). Peace, brothers and sisters.

And the music, the music is great. This is my golden-retrieverish reaction to the shows, for example, to Saturday night's main stage show, under sparkling stars:
Caroline Herring She's my favorite.
Bill Miller My favorite
Don Con(oscenti) My favorite
Slaid Cleaves My favorite
Jimmy LaFave My really favorite

For a review of Friday's show at the Pastures of Plenty, just substitute these names: Kat Eggleston, Vance Gilbert, Red Dirt Rangers, Joel Rafael and Kevin Welch, who presented acoustic versions of songs off his new CD, "Millionaire," just out in the U.S.A.

Thursday's show? Darcie Deaville, the All-Star Band, Irene Kelley, Michael Fracasso and Ellis Paul.

Most of the performers play with other performers. These people are unselfish in their talent and in what they can bring to the listening table. Darcie Deaville, Greg Jacobs, Bob Childers, Don Con, J. La, Slaid Cleaves, Susan Shore, Melissa Kirper, Vance Gilbert, The Farm Couple (the luminous Monica Taylor and Patrick Williams), Mary Reynolds and her angel-voiced chorus, and, I'm told, Leon Russell have been seen on more than one stage at the festival.

Prior to the night show, which is in the great prairie outdoors, there is free music both in the Brick Street Café Bar & Grill (terrific Reuben sandwiches and ice-cold beer) and at the beautifully restored Crystal Theater a block away (fresh popcorn and Cokes). And after the night show? Late-night jamming in the basement of the Brick.

There is some talk about the lack of "fresh faces," but that is not what family reunions are about. GuthrieFest is a place for seeing and hearing the performers we've come to love so much. Eight of them were honored for participating at each of the five festivals. Jimmy LaFave, Peter Keane, Joel Rafael, Bob Childers, Tom Skinner, Don Conoscenti, the Red Dirt Rangers and Ellis Paul receive limited-edition prints and plaques.

The festival started on Wednesday night with a fund-raiser at the Crystal Theater. This year it combined two very down-to-earth, well-respected musicians, Steve Young ("Seven Bridges Road", "Lonesome, Ornry and Mean") and Luke Reed ("Corridos"). It ends on Sunday afternoon after a free (donations to Huntington's research are glady accepted) all-artists presentation of Woody's songs, and is very well attended. Just this one concert is worth driving to Okemah for, from wherever you live Narration from Guthrie's writing is ably provided by Dr. Guy Logdson to tie the song selections together.

Highlights this year include Chicago's Kat Eggleston doing a remarkably emotional "Pastures of Plenty," Guthrie's song about migrant farm workers. "We pick your grapes for your tables, your light, sparkling wine," she sings, accompanying herself with guitar rain, painting a picture of new meaning and sensitivity to an already exquisite song; Don Conoscenti's mournful banjo colors the mood of "Vigilante Man" perfectly; Joel Rafael does a stirring version of "1913 Massacre," the tragic story of a labor strike gone bad; and there are two songs presented that I have never heard before, "Stepstone," as sung by Slaid Cleaves, and "Dear Mrs. Roosevelt," sung by Rafael and Mary Reynolds. Reynolds and her trio also give a rousing version of "Join The Union" and "Union Maid," delighting the leftist-leaning crowd. She provokes chuckles when she alters Woody's song "Hobo's Lullaby" from "I know the police cause you trouble, they cause trouble everywhere," to "I know the police cause you trouble -- some of the time -- they cause trouble everywhere, from time to time." It is the same version Guthrie might have sung, had he experienced the kindness of the Okemah police during Festival week.

Other community officials help out as well. On Friday, the rain-soaked parking lot (an empty field the rest of the time) was deemed too soggy for cars to park on, so traffic was re-routed to the shoulders of nearby roads. (In five years, it has never rained on the evening audience.) Three yellow school buses ran the circle route throughout the entire evening. The buses were driven by the bus company owner, the principal of the high school, and the Superintendent of Ofuskee County Schools. At the antique shop on the same block as the Crystal Theater, the Farm Couple's CD "Songs From the Kitchen Table" is playing on the PA. Later, I see the clerks enjoying the music in the park.

There are discernable tears in the eyes of some of the performers on the last night of the Festival, during the danceable finale of "This Land Is Your Land." Shooting pictures at the edge of the stage, I turn to watch what they are watching, and I see tears mirrored in the eyes of many in the audience, tears of joy and appreciation, people singing and dancing to the music. It is a moment in time that is recognized in passing, a non-verbal exchange of present sentiment, a moment when all that loving energy seems like all there needs to be in the world.

I write what I see,
I write what I've seen,
I write things that I just hope to see
Somewhere farther along
--Woody Guthrie

Credit must be given­ To all the volunteers, including the musicians, and Debbie Spears, Secretary of the Coalition & press connection; Bill McCloud, Chair of the Concert Committee; Tom Marshall for Festival Security; and to Dr. Guy Logdson, Historian. www.woodyguthrie.com

You can contact Bonny Holder at bonny-at-rockzilla.net

 
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