Woody lives with various families in Okemah.
1929
JUNE: Woody moves to Pampa, Texas.
1930
Woody forms his first band, the Corncob Trio, with his friends Matt Jennings and Cluster Baker.
JUNE 13: Nora Belle Guthrie dies at a hospital in Norman, Oklahoma.
1932
The Great Depression is at its worst.
1933
OCTOBER 28: Woody marries Mary Jennings. (They would divorce in 1943.)
1935
APRIL 14: Palm Sunday dust storms.
NOVEMBER: Woody and Mary’s first child, Gwendolyn Gail Guthrie, is born.
1937
Woody leaves Pampa, Texas, and heads to California, the “Garden of Eden.”
JULY: Woody and Mary’s second child, Carolyn Sue Guthrie, is born.
SEPTEMBER: Woody and his singing partner Maxine “Lefty Lou” Crissman perform for the first time on KFVD radio.
DECEMBER: Woody, Mary, and their kids move to Glendale, California.
1938
JANUARY 22: Woody, Mary, and Allene Guthrie (Woody’s cousin) and others travel to Tijuana, Mexico, to work on XELO radio. It doesn’t work out, and they move back to California three weeks later.
JUNE 18: Woody and Maxine “Lefty Lou” Crissman end the Woody & Lefty Show on KFVD.
1939
MARCH: The Grapes of Wrath is published. It sells 420,565 copies in its first year and wins both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award.
MAY 12: The first “Woody Sez” column appears in The Daily Worker.
JULY: Ed Robbins introduces Woody to Will Geer.
SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBER: Woody travels with Will Geer and others to support migrant workers organizing.
OCTOBER 7: Woody and Mary’s third child, William Rogers Guthrie, is born.
1940
Woody and Mary appear as extras in Pare Lorentz’s documentary The Fight for Life.
FEBRUARY: Woody moves to New York City and stays with the Geers.
FEBRUARY 18: Will Geer introduces Woody to Alan Lomax at a benefit concert for Spanish Loyalist refugees.
FEBRUARY 23: Woody writes “This Land Is Your Land” while living at the Hanover House in New York City.
MARCH 3: Pete Seeger for the first time hears Woody perform at a benefit concert for migrant workers hosted by the John Steinbeck Committee to Aid Agriculteral Organization.
MARCH 21, 22, 24: Woody records for Alan Lomax and the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.
MAY: Woody records Dust Bowl Ballads for RCA Victor.
AUGUST: Woody appears on CBS radio in a pilot for a series called Back Where I Come From.
NOVEMBER: Woody appears on Cavalcade of America and is hired by the Columbia Broadcasting System.
1941
JANUARY: Leaves New York City to head across the country with Mary and their three children.
FEBRUARY: Woody gets a short-term job at KFVD in Los Angeles and begins work on the manuscript that will become Bound for Glory.
MARCH: Woody performs at an International Woman’s Day Committee tea.
APRIL 3: Woody performs at an Okie benefit in Los Angeles.
APRIL 4: Woody performs at Barn Dance, a benefit for the Cannery and Agricultural Workers Union.
MAY 13: Woody begins his monthlong Columbia River project; he earns $266.66.
JULY: Upon returning to New York City, Woody joins up with the Almanac Singers on a trip west. They perform together in Detroit, Chicago, Milwaukee, Denver, and San Francisco.
JULY 7: Woody records Deep Sea Chanties and Sod Buster Ballads with the Almanac Singers.
AUGUST: Woody appears at Asheville, North Carolina, for a folk festival.
DECEMBER 7: Attack on Pearl Harbor.
DECEMBER 8: The United States enters World War II.
1942
JANUARY: Woody records home discs with the Almanacs in New York City and meets Marjorie Greenblatt Mazia at the Almanac House while rehearsing for Folksay (choreographed by Sophie Maslow).
JULY: RCA rejects Woody’s proposal to record his war songs.
1943
FEBRUARY: Woody and Marjorie Guthrie’s first child, Cathy Ann Guthrie, is born.
MARCH: Bound for Glory is published.
JUNE 5: Woody and his buddies Cisco Houston and Vincent “Jimmy” Longhi ship out with the Merchant Marine.
Woody, Marjorie, and Cathy move to 3520 Mermaid Avenue, Coney Island, in Brooklyn, New York.
1944
APRIL 16, 19, 20, 24, 25: Woody records for Moe Asch.
APRIL 19: Woody records fifty-seven songs with Cisco Houston.
OCTOBER: Woody performs in Chicago with the FDR Bandwagon.
Woody records Struggle for Asch Records.
1945
MARCH: Woody records for Moe Asch.
MARCH 10: With Ben Botkin, Herbert Haufrecht, Richard Dyer-Bennet, Charles Seeger, and Sonny Terry, Woody attends an all-day conference at Elizabeth Irwin High School on the place of folklore in a democracy.
MAY 8: Woody is inducted into the army.
NOVEMBER 13: Woody marries Marjorie Greenblatt Mazia. (They would divorce in 1953.)
DECEMBER 21: Woody is discharged from the army.
1946
Songs to Grow On is released.
Woody begins work on his unpublished novel House of Earth.
1947
Woody continues work on House of Earth.
FEBRUARY: Cathy Guthrie dies in an electrical fire.
JULY 10: Woody and Marjorie’s second child, Arlo Guthrie, is born.
1948
JUNE TO NOVEMBER: Woody and Cisco Houston sing for Henry A. Wallace’s presidential campaign.
DECEMBER 25: Woody and Marjorie’s third child, Joady Guthrie, is born.
1950
JANUARY 2: Woody and Marjorie’s fourth child, Nora Guthrie, is born.
FEBRUARY: Woody enrolls in Brooklyn College. He takes courses in philosophy, English, Spanish, and classical civilizations.
1952
Woody moves to Topanga Canyon, California, and meets Anneke Van Kirk.
1953
DECEMBER: Woody marries Anneke Van Kirk. (They would divorce in 1955.)
1954
Woody and Anneke have a daughter named Lorina Lynn.
Woody checks himself into Brooklyn State Hospital.
1956
Woody’s father, Charley Guthrie, dies.
Woody is officially diagnosed with Huntington’s disease.
MARCH 17: Benefit concert is held at Pythian Hall to raise money for Woody’s children; this concert helps spark the folk revival.
MAY: Woody voluntarily checks out of Brooklyn State Hospital.
Woody is hospitalized at Greystone Hospital, New Jersey.
1959
Bob and Sidsel Gleason have Woody visit their home on Sundays for a hootenanny with friends.
1961
Bob Dylan visits Woody’s home in Queens, New York, and is brought to visit Woody in the hospital.
Woody is transferred to Creedmore State Hospital.
1965
Born to Win is published.
1966
Woody receives the Conservation Service Award from the Department of the Interior.
1967
Hard Hitting Songs for Hard-Hit People, Woody Guthrie’s songbook written with Alan Lomax and Pete Seeger in the 1940s, is published.
OCTOBER 3: Woody Guthrie dies at Creedmore State Hospital, Queens, New York.
1968
“Tribute to Woody Guthrie” concert is performed at Carnegie Hall.
1976
Seeds of Man is published.
1980
Joe Klein publishes Woody Guthrie: A Life, the first biography of Woody Guthrie.
1988
Woody Guthrie is posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
1996
The Woody Guthrie Archives opens in New York City.
1998
Mermaid Avenue Volume 1, an album of unpublished Guthrie lyrics set to music, is released by Billy Bragg and Wilco.
1999
The Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service curates This Land Is Your Land: The Life and Legacy of Woody Guthrie. (The exhibit toured the United States through 2002.)
2000
FEBRUARY: Woody Guthrie posthumously receives the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS).
2012
JUNE: Woody Guthrie posthumously receives the inaugural Songwriters Hall of Fame Pioneer Award.
2012
JULY: Woody Guthrie’s centennial. The New York Times Book Review announces the discovery of the completed House of Earth.
2013
FEBRUARY: House of Earth is published by Harper–Infinitum Nihil.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Woodrow Wilson “Woody” Guthrie (1912–1967) was an American folk balladeer whose best-known song is “This Land Is Your Land.” His musical legacy includes over three thousand songs, covering an exhaustive repertoire of historcal, political, cultural, topical, spiritual, narrative, and children’s themes. Guthrie was a prolific writer and visual artist. His papers, artwork, and recordings are preserved in the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Woody Guthrie Archives. Often performing with the slogan “This Machine Kills Fascists” painted across his guitar, Guthrie was a major influence on hundreds of musicians, including Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs, Bruce Springsteen, Joe Strummer, John Mellencamp, Ani DiFranco, and Billy Bragg.
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CREDITS
Cover Design by Jarrod Taylor
Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following for permission to reprint or reproduce previously published material:
“The Great Dust Storm” (page xiii): words and music by Woody Guthrie. WGP-TRO © copyright © 1960 (renewed) and 1963 (renewed) by Woody Guthrie Publications, Inc. & TRO-Ludlow Music, Inc. (BMI). “If I Was Everything on Earth” (page xx): words by Woody Guthrie, music by Hans Eckardt Wenzel. Copyright © 2002 by Woody Guthrie Publications, Inc. (BMI) & Matrosenblau. “Bling Blang” (page xxii): words and music by Woody Guthrie. WGP-TRO copyright © 1954 (renewed), 1963 (renewed), 1982 (renewed) by Woody Guthrie Publications, Inc. & TRO-Folkways Music, Inc. (BMI). “This Land Is Your Land” (page xxxv): words and music by Woody Guthrie. WGP-TRO Copyright © 1956 (renewed), 1958 (renewed), 1970 and 1972 by Woody Guthrie Publications, Inc. & TRO-Ludlow Music, Inc. (BMI). Woody Guthrie Letter to Eddie Albert, ca. 1937 (pages xxv–xxviii): courtesy of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Margaret Herrick Library. Copyright © Woody Guthrie Publications, Inc.
Front cover image: In El Rancho Grande. Oil on board by Woody Guthrie, December 1936. Santa Fe, New Mexico. Courtesy of Barry and Judy Ollman. Copyright © Woody Guthrie Publications, Inc. Additional artwork courtesy of the Woody Guthrie Archives, copyright © Woody Guthrie Publications, Inc. This Is a Day (front and back matter image) by Woody Guthrie, 1939. Summer Leaves and Limbs (page 1) by Woody Guthrie, 1947. Untitled (page 53) by Woody Guthrie, ca. 1947. Snow (page 99) by Woody Guthrie, February 1947. What a Beautiful World (page 185) by Woody Guthrie, 1947. Detail from Hand Thinks It Over (page 213) by Woody Guthrie, 1939.
Text from “This Land Was His Land” by Douglas Brinkley and Johnny Depp from the New York Times, July 19, 2012 © 2012 The New York Times. All rights reserved. Used by permission and protected by the copyright laws of the United States. The printing, copying, redistribution, or retransmission of this content without express written permission is prohibited.
Time line courtesy of the Woody Guthrie Archives.
COPYRIGHT
HOUSE OF EARTH. Copyright © 2013 by Woody Guthrie Publications, Inc. Introduction copyright © 2013 by Douglas Brinkley and Johnny Depp. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Infinitum Nihil and the Infinitum Nihil logo are trademarks of Infinitum Nihil Corporation.
All writings by Woody Guthrie copyright © Woody Guthrie Publications, Inc.
For more information about Woody Guthrie, please visit www.woodyguthrie.org.
FIRST EDITION
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been applied for.
ISBN: 978-0-06-224839-8
EPub Edition © FEBRUARY 2013 ISBN: 9780062248411
Version 02082013
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* In one recorded version of the song he replaced “no trespassing” with the more anticapitalist “private property.”
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