Editing Woody Guthrie (section)

==Career==
===1930s===
During the [[Dust Bowl]] period, Guthrie joined the thousands of [[Okies]] and others who migrated to California to look for work, leaving his wife and children in Texas. Many of his songs are concerned with the conditions faced by working-class people.

During the latter part of that decade in [[Los Angeles]], he achieved fame with radio partner [[Maxine "Lefty Lou" Crissman]] as a broadcast performer of commercial [[hillbilly]] music and traditional folk music.<ref>Klein, ''Woody Guthrie'', pp.&nbsp;90–92,&nbsp;103–12</ref> Guthrie was making enough money to send for his family to join him from Texas. While appearing on the radio station [[KTNQ|KFVD]], owned by a populist-minded [[New Deal]] Democrat, [[Frank W. Burke]], Guthrie began to write and perform some of the protest songs that he eventually released on his album ''[[Dust Bowl Ballads]]''.

{{quote box
|width=45%
|align=right
|quote=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.
|source= —Written by Guthrie in the late 1930s on a songbook distributed to listeners of his Los Angeles radio show ''Woody and Lefty Lou'', who wanted the words to his recordings.<ref name="curtis"/>}}

While at KFVD, Guthrie met newscaster Ed Robbin. Robbin was impressed with a song Guthrie wrote about political activist [[Thomas Mooney]], wrongly convicted in a case that was a [[cause célèbre]] of the time.<ref>{{cite book|page=[https://archive.org/details/ramblinman00edcr/page/139 139]|first=Ed|last=Cray|date=2004|title= Ramblin Man: The Life and Times of Woody Guthrie|url=https://archive.org/details/ramblinman00edcr|url-access=registration|publisher= W. W. Norton & Company|isbn=9780393047592}}</ref> Robbin, who became Guthrie's political mentor, introduced Guthrie to socialists and Communists in Southern California, including Will Geer. (He introduced Guthrie to writer John Steinbeck.)<ref>{{cite book|last=Kaufman|first=William|title=Woody Guthrie: American Radical|year=2011|publisher=University of Illinois Press|location=Urbana|isbn=978-0252036026}}</ref> Robbin remained Guthrie's lifelong friend, and helped Guthrie book benefit performances in the communist circles in Southern California.

Notwithstanding Guthrie's later claim that "the best thing that I did in 1936 was to sign up with the [[Communist Party USA|Communist Party]]",<ref>Woody Guthrie Archives. "My Constitution and Me" [http://woodyguthrie.org/ Woody Guthrie Archives Collection]. Manuscripts Box 7 Folder 23.1, Unavailable online, link to Woody Guthrie Archives website for contact information.</ref> he was never a member of the party. He was noted as a [[fellow traveler]]—an outsider who agreed with the platform of the party while avoiding party discipline.<ref>{{cite book|page=[https://archive.org/details/ramblinman00edcr/page/151 151]|first=Ed|last=Cray|date=2004|title= Ramblin Man: The Life and Times of Woody Guthrie|url=https://archive.org/details/ramblinman00edcr|url-access=registration|publisher= W. W. Norton & Company|isbn=9780393047592}}</ref> Guthrie wrote a column for the communist newspaper, ''[[People's World]]''. The column, titled "Woody Sez", appeared a total of 174&nbsp;times from May 1939 to January 1940. "Woody Sez" was not explicitly political, but it covered current events as observed by Guthrie. He wrote the columns in an [[eye dialect|exaggerated hillbilly dialect]] and usually included a small comic.<ref>{{cite book|page=[https://archive.org/details/ramblinman00edcr/page/153 153]|first=Ed|last=Cray|date=2004|title= Ramblin Man: The Life and Times of Woody Guthrie|url=https://archive.org/details/ramblinman00edcr|url-access=registration|publisher= W. W. Norton & Company|isbn=9780393047592}}</ref> These columns were published posthumously as a collection after Guthrie's death.<ref name="Spivey"/>

With the outbreak of World War II and publicity about the [[Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact|non-aggression pact]] the [[Soviet Union]] had signed with Germany in 1939, the owners of KFVD radio did not want its staff "spinning apologia" for the Soviet Union. They fired both Robbin and Guthrie.<ref>{{cite book|page=[https://archive.org/details/ramblinman00edcr/page/160 160]|first=Ed|last=Cray|date=2004|title= Ramblin Man: The Life and Times of Woody Guthrie|url=https://archive.org/details/ramblinman00edcr|url-access=registration|publisher= W. W. Norton & Company|isbn=9780393047592}}</ref> Without the daily radio show, Guthrie's employment chances declined, and he returned with his family to Pampa, Texas. Although Mary was happy to return to Texas, Guthrie preferred to accept Will Geer's invitation to New York City and headed east.<ref name=":1" />

===1940s: Building a legacy===

====New York City====
Arriving in New York, Guthrie, known as "the Oklahoma cowboy", was embraced by its folk music community.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.beachamjournal.com/journal/2014/07/woody-guthrie-was-born-102-years-old-today.html|title=After 102 Years, Woody Guthrie's Impact Still As Vital As Ever|website=Frank Beacham's Journal|access-date=January 12, 2018|archive-date=January 12, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180112160146/http://www.beachamjournal.com/journal/2014/07/woody-guthrie-was-born-102-years-old-today.html|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=GU006|title=Guthrie, Woodrow Wilson {{!}} The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture|website=www.okhistory.org|access-date=June 17, 2018}}</ref> For a time, he slept on a couch in [[Will Geer]]'s apartment. Guthrie made his first recordings—several hours of conversation and songs recorded by the folklorist [[Alan Lomax]] for the [[Library of Congress]]—as well as an album, ''[[Dust Bowl Ballads]],'' for [[Victor Records]] in [[Camden, New Jersey]].<ref>{{cite book|page=[https://archive.org/details/ramblinman00edcr/page/174 174]|first=Ed|last=Cray|date=2004|title= Ramblin Man: The Life and Times of Woody Guthrie|url=https://archive.org/details/ramblinman00edcr|url-access=registration|publisher= W. W. Norton & Company|isbn=9780393047592}}</ref>

{{Listen|filename=Woody Guthrie - This Land.ogg|title="This Land is Your Land"|description=Sample of Woody Guthrie's song, "This Land is Your Land"|format=[[Ogg]]}}

In February 1940, he wrote his most famous song, "[[This Land Is Your Land]]", as a response to what he felt was an overplaying of [[Irving Berlin]]'s "[[God Bless America]]" on the radio. Guthrie thought the lyrics were unrealistic and complacent.<ref>Klein, ''Woody Guthrie'', p.&nbsp;144.</ref> He adapted the melody from an old gospel song, "Oh My Loving Brother", which had been adapted by the country group the [[Carter Family]] for their song "Little Darling Pal Of Mine". Guthrie signed the manuscript with the comment, "All you can write is what you see."<ref name="Ed Cray 2004 165">{{cite book|page=[https://archive.org/details/ramblinman00edcr/page/165 165]|first=Ed|last=Cray|date=2004|title= Ramblin Man: The Life and Times of Woody Guthrie|url=https://archive.org/details/ramblinman00edcr|url-access=registration|publisher= W. W. Norton & Company|isbn=9780393047592}}</ref> Although the song was written in 1940, it was four years before he recorded it for [[Moses Asch]] in April 1944.<ref>Klein, ''Woody Guthrie'', p.&nbsp;287.</ref> Sheet music was produced and given to schools by [[Howie Richmond]] sometime later.<ref>Joe Klein, ''Woody Guthrie'', p.&nbsp;375.</ref>

In March 1940, Guthrie was invited to play at a benefit hosted by the John Steinbeck Committee to Aid Farm Workers, to raise money for migrant workers. There he met the folk singer [[Pete Seeger]], and the two men became good friends.<ref name="Ed Cray 2004 165"/> Seeger accompanied Guthrie back to Texas to meet other members of the Guthrie family. He recalled an awkward conversation with Mary Guthrie's mother, in which she asked for Seeger's help to persuade Guthrie to treat her daughter better.<ref>{{cite book|page=[https://archive.org/details/ramblinman00edcr/page/188 188]|first=Ed|last=Cray|date=2004|title= Ramblin Man: The Life and Times of Woody Guthrie|url=https://archive.org/details/ramblinman00edcr|url-access=registration|publisher= W. W. Norton & Company|isbn=9780393047592}}</ref>

From April 1940, Guthrie and Seeger lived together in the Greenwich Village loft of sculptor [[Harold Ambellan]] and his fiancée. Guthrie had some success in New York at this time as a guest on [[CBS]]'s radio program ''Back Where I Come From'' and used his influence to get a spot on the show for his friend [[Lead Belly|Huddie "Lead Belly" Ledbetter]]. Ledbetter's Tenth Street apartment was a gathering spot for the musician circle in New York at the time, and Guthrie and Ledbetter were good friends, as they had busked together at bars in Harlem.<ref>{{cite book|pages=194–195|first=Ed|last=Cray|date=2004|title= Ramblin Man: The Life and Times of Woody Guthrie|url=https://archive.org/details/ramblinman00edcr|url-access=registration|publisher= W. W. Norton & Company|isbn=9780393047592}}</ref>

In November 1941, Seeger introduced Guthrie to his friend the poet [[Charles Olson]], then a junior editor at the fledgling magazine ''[[Common Ground (magazine)|Common Ground]]''. The meeting led to Guthrie writing the article "Ear Players" in the Spring 1942 issue of the magazine. The article marked Guthrie's debut as a published writer in the mainstream media.<ref name="Cray2006">{{cite book|first=Ed|last=Cray|title=Ramblin' Man: The Life and Times of Woody Guthrie|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l5OnliWZY0gC&pg=PA228|access-date=January 30, 2013|date=March 17, 2006|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company|isbn=978-0-393-32736-6|page=241}}</ref>

In September 1940, Guthrie was invited by the Model Tobacco Company to host their radio program ''Pipe Smoking Time''. Guthrie was paid $180 a week, an impressive salary in 1940.<ref name="cray197">{{cite book|page=197|first=Ed|last=Cray|date=2004|title= Ramblin Man: The Life and Times of Woody Guthrie|url=https://archive.org/details/ramblinman00edcr|url-access=registration|publisher= W. W. Norton & Company|isbn=9780393047592}}</ref> He was finally making enough money to send regular payments back to Mary. He also brought her and the children to New York, where the family lived briefly in an apartment on [[Central Park West]]. The reunion represented Woody's desire to be a better father and husband. He said, "I have to set {{sic}} real hard to think of being a dad."<ref name=cray197/> Guthrie quit after the seventh broadcast, claiming he had begun to feel the show was too restrictive when he was told what to sing.<ref name="Cray200">{{cite book|page=200|first=Ed|last=Cray|date=2004|title= Ramblin Man: The Life and Times of Woody Guthrie|url=https://archive.org/details/ramblinman00edcr|url-access=registration|publisher= W. W. Norton & Company|isbn=9780393047592}}</ref> Disgruntled with New York, Guthrie packed up Mary and his children in a new car and headed west to California.<ref>{{cite book|page=199|first=Ed|last=Cray|date=2004|title= Ramblin Man: The Life and Times of Woody Guthrie|url=https://archive.org/details/ramblinman00edcr|url-access=registration|publisher= W. W. Norton & Company|isbn=9780393047592}}</ref>

Choreographer [[Sophie Maslow]] developed ''[[Folksay]]'' as an elaborate mix of modern dance and ballet, which combined folk songs by Woody Guthrie with text from [[Carl Sandburg]]'s 1936 book-length poem ''[[The People, Yes]]''. The premiere took place in March 1942 at the Humphrey-Weidman Studio Theatre in New York City. Guthrie provided live music for the performance, which featured Maslow and her New Dance Group. Two and a half years later, Maslow brought ''[[Folksay]]'' to early television under the direction of Leo Hurwitz. The same group performed the ballet live in front of [[CBS]] TV cameras. The 30-minute broadcast aired on WCBW, the pioneer CBS television station in New York City (now [[WCBS-TV]]), from 8:15–8:45&nbsp;pm ET on November 24, 1944. Featured were Maslow and the New Dance Group, which included among others Jane Dudley, Pearl Primus, and William Bales. Woody Guthrie and fellow folk singer Tony Kraber played guitar, sang songs, and read text from ''The People, Yes''. The program received positive reviews and was performed on television over WCBW a second time in early 1945.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.tvobscurities.com/2016/10/tales-of-lost-tv-folksay/|title=Tales of Lost TV: Folksay (1944)|first=Robert|last=Jay|date=October 20, 2016|website=Television Obscurities}}</ref>

====Pacific Northwest====
[[File:The Columbia.ogv|alt=A black-and-white image of a river|thumb|Video: In 1941 Guthrie wrote songs for ''The Columbia'', a documentary about the [[Columbia River]] released in 1949. Playing time 21:10.]]

In May 1941, after a brief stay in Los Angeles, Guthrie moved to [[Portland, Oregon]], in the [[Lents, Portland, Oregon|neighborhood of Lents]], on the promise of a job. [[Gunther von Fritsch]] was directing a documentary about the [[Bonneville Power Administration]]'s construction of the [[Grand Coulee Dam]] on the [[Columbia River]], and needed a narrator. Alan Lomax had recommended Guthrie to narrate the film and sing songs onscreen. The original project was expected to take 12 months, but as filmmakers became worried about casting such a political figure, they minimized Guthrie's role. The [[United States Department of the Interior|Department of the Interior]] hired him for one month to write songs about the [[Columbia River]] and the construction of the federal dams for the documentary's soundtrack. Guthrie toured the Columbia River and the Pacific Northwest. Guthrie said he "couldn't believe it, it's a paradise",<ref>{{cite book|page=209|first=Ed|last=Cray|date=2004|title= Ramblin Man: The Life and Times of Woody Guthrie|url=https://archive.org/details/ramblinman00edcr|url-access=registration|publisher= W. W. Norton & Company|isbn=9780393047592}}</ref> which appeared to inspire him creatively. In one month Guthrie wrote 26 songs, including three of his most famous: "[[Roll On, Columbia, Roll On]]", "[[Pastures of Plenty]]", and "[[Grand Coulee Dam (song)|Grand Coulee Dam]]".<ref>Klein, ''Woody Guthrie'', pp.&nbsp;195, 196, 202, 205, 212</ref> The surviving songs were released as ''[[The Columbia River Collection (Woody Guthrie Album)|Columbia River Songs]]''. The film "Columbia" was not completed until 1949 (see below). At the conclusion of the month in Oregon and Washington, Guthrie wanted to return to New York. Tired of the continual uprooting, Mary Guthrie told him to go without her and the children.<ref>{{cite book|page=213|first=Ed|last=Cray|date=2004|title= Ramblin Man: The Life and Times of Woody Guthrie|url=https://archive.org/details/ramblinman00edcr|url-access=registration|publisher= W. W. Norton & Company|isbn=9780393047592}}</ref> Although Guthrie would see Mary again, once on a tour through Los Angeles with the Almanac Singers, it was essentially the end of their marriage. Divorce was difficult, since Mary was a [[Catholic Church|Catholic]], but she reluctantly agreed in December 1943.<ref>{{cite book|page=266|first=Ed|last=Cray|date=2004|title= Ramblin Man: The Life and Times of Woody Guthrie|url=https://archive.org/details/ramblinman00edcr|url-access=registration|publisher= W. W. Norton & Company|isbn=9780393047592}}</ref>

====Almanac Singers====
{{Main|Almanac Singers}}
[[Image:Woody Guthrie NYWTS.jpg|right|thumb|Woody Guthrie, 1943]]

Following the conclusion of his work in the Northwest, Guthrie corresponded with [[Pete Seeger]] about Seeger's newly formed folk-protest group, the [[Almanac Singers]]. Guthrie returned to New York with plans to tour the country as a member of the group.<ref>Klein, ''Woody Guthrie'', p.192-93,195–231</ref> The singers originally worked out of a loft in New York City hosting regular concerts called "[[hootenanny|hootenannies]]", a word Pete and Woody had picked up in their cross-country travels. The singers eventually outgrew the space and moved into the cooperative Almanac House in [[Greenwich Village]].

Initially, Guthrie helped write and sing what the Almanac Singers termed "peace" songs while the Nazi–Soviet Pact was in effect. After Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union, the group wrote anti-fascist songs. The members of the Almanac Singers and residents of the Almanac House were a loosely defined group of musicians, though the core members included Guthrie, [[Pete Seeger]], [[Millard Lampell]] and [[Lee Hays]]. In keeping with common utopian ideals, meals, chores and rent at the Almanac House were shared. The Sunday hootenannies were good opportunities to collect donation money for rent. Songs written in the Almanac House had shared songwriting credits among all the members, although in the case of "[[Union Maid]]", members would later state that Guthrie wrote the song, ensuring that his children would receive residuals.<ref>{{cite book|page=220|first=Ed|last=Cray|date=2004|title= Ramblin Man: The Life and Times of Woody Guthrie|url=https://archive.org/details/ramblinman00edcr|url-access=registration|publisher= W. W. Norton & Company|isbn=9780393047592}}</ref>

In the Almanac House, Guthrie added authenticity to their work, since he was a "real" working class Oklahoman. "There was the heart of America personified in Woody ... And for a New York Left that was primarily Jewish, first or second generation American, and was desperately trying to get Americanized, I think a figure like Woody was of great, great importance", a friend of the group, [[Irwin Silber]], would say.<ref>{{cite book|page=216|first=Ed|last=Cray|date=2004|title= Ramblin Man: The Life and Times of Woody Guthrie|url=https://archive.org/details/ramblinman00edcr|url-access=registration|publisher= W. W. Norton & Company|isbn=9780393047592}}</ref> Woody routinely emphasized his working-class image, rejected songs he felt were not in the country blues vein he was familiar with, and rarely contributed to household chores. House member [[Sis Cunningham|Agnes "Sis" Cunningham]], another Okie, would later recall that Woody "loved people to think of him as a real working class person and not an intellectual".<ref>{{cite book|page=231|first=Ed|last=Cray|date=2004|title= Ramblin Man: The Life and Times of Woody Guthrie|url=https://archive.org/details/ramblinman00edcr|url-access=registration|publisher= W. W. Norton & Company|isbn=9780393047592}}</ref> Guthrie contributed songwriting and authenticity in much the same capacity for Pete Seeger's post-Almanac Singers project ''[[People's Songs]]'', a newsletter and booking organization for labor singers, founded in 1945.<ref name="PS1">People's Songs Inc. ''People's Songs Newsletter, Vol 1. No 1.''. 1945. [[Old Town School of Folk Music]] resource center collection.</ref>

====''Bound for Glory''====
Guthrie was a prolific writer, penning thousands of pages of unpublished poems and prose, many written while living in New York City. After a recording session with Alan Lomax, Lomax suggested Guthrie write an autobiography. Lomax thought Guthrie's descriptions of growing up were some of the best accounts he had read of American childhood.<ref>{{cite book|page=201|first=Ed|last=Cray|date=2004|title= Ramblin Man: The Life and Times of Woody Guthrie|url=https://archive.org/details/ramblinman00edcr|url-access=registration|publisher= W. W. Norton & Company|isbn=9780393047592}}</ref> During this time, Guthrie met Marjorie Mazia (the professional name of Marjorie Greenblatt), a dancer in New York who would become his second wife. Mazia was an instructor at the [[Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance|Martha Graham Dance School]], where she was assisting [[Sophie Maslow]] with her piece ''Folksay''. Based on the folklore and poetry collected by [[Carl Sandburg]], ''Folksay'' included the adaptation of some of Guthrie's ''Dust Bowl Ballads'' for the dance.<ref name=Cray200/> Guthrie continued to write songs and began work on his autobiography. The end product, [[Bound for Glory (book)|''Bound for Glory'']], was completed with editing assistance by Mazia and was first published by E.P. Dutton in 1943.<ref>Amazon.com. [https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0007E0CZ2 ''Bound for Glory'' (Unknown Binding).] Retrieved November 27, 2007.</ref> It is told in the artist's down-home dialect. The ''Library Journal'' complained about the "too careful reproduction of illiterate speech". However, Clifton Fadiman, reviewing the book in ''[[The New Yorker]]'', remarked that "Someday people are going to wake up to the fact that Woody Guthrie and the ten thousand songs that leap and tumble off the strings of his music box are a national possession, like [[Yellowstone]] and [[Yosemite]], and part of the best stuff this country has to show the world."<ref>Isserman, Maurice [https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2004-01-18-0401170325-story.html "Life of Woody Guthrie is thorough, if unoriginal"], ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'', Chicago, January 18, 2004. Retrieved on March 9, 2021.</ref>

This book was the inspiration for the movie ''[[Bound for Glory (1976 film)|Bound for Glory]]'', starring [[David Carradine]], which won the 1976 [[Academy Award for Original Music Score]] for Original Song Score and Its Adaptation or Adaptation Score, and the [[National Board of Review Award for Best Actor]], among other accolades.

In 1944, Guthrie met [[Moses Asch|Moses "Moe" Asch]] of [[Folkways Records]], for whom he first recorded "This Land Is Your Land". Over the next few years, he recorded "[[Worried Man Blues]]", along with [[Woody Guthrie discography#1944 & 1945, The Asch Recordings|hundreds of other songs]]. These recordings would later be released by Folkways and Stinson Records, which had joint distribution rights.<ref>Klein, ''Woody Guthrie'', p.&nbsp;417.</ref> The Folkways recordings are available (through the [[Smithsonian Institution]] online shop); the most complete series of these sessions, culled from dates with Asch, is titled ''[[The Asch Recordings (Woody Guthrie Album)|The Asch Recordings]]''.

===World War II years===
Guthrie believed performing his anti-fascist songs and poems in the United States was the best use of his talents.

<!-- Commented out: [[File:NBC Red Network.png|thumb|right|[[NBC Red Network]] logo]] -->
====Labor for Victory====
In April 1942, ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine reported that the [[American Federation of Labor|AFL]] (American Federation of Labor) and the [[Congress of Industrial Organizations]] (CIO) had agreed to a joint radio production, called ''Labor for Victory''. NBC agreed to run the weekly segment as a "public service". The AFL and CIO presidents [[William Green (U.S. labor leader)|William Green]] and [[Philip Murray]] agreed to let their press chiefs, [[Philip Pearl]] and [[Len De Caux]], narrate on alternate weeks. The show ran on NBC radio on Saturdays 10:15–10:30&nbsp;pm, starting on April 25, 1942. ''Time'' wrote, "De Caux and Pearl hope to make the Labor for Victory program popular enough for an indefinite run, using labor news, name speakers and interviews with workmen. Labor partisanship, they promise, is out."<ref>
{{cite magazine
| title = Radio: Labor Goes on Air
| magazine = Time magazine
| url = https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,790387,00.html
| date = April 20, 1942
| access-date = July 27, 2017}}</ref><ref name="NBC">
{{cite book
| first = Michele
| last = Hilmes
| title = NBC: America's Network
| publisher = University of California Press
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=rovD3dy-vDoC
| page = 73
| place = Berkeley
| date = 2007
| access-date = July 27, 2017| isbn = 9780520250819
}}</ref> Writers for ''Labor for Victory'' included: Peter Lyon, a progressive journalist; [[Millard Lampell]] (born Allan Sloane), later an American movie and television screenwriter; and Morton Wishengrad, who worked for the AFL.<ref>
{{cite book
| editor-first = Christopher H.
| editor-last = Sterling
| title = Biographical Dictionary of Radio
| publisher = Routledge
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=XDB5mn0OMXoC
| page = 293
| date = May 13, 2013
| access-date = July 27, 2017| isbn = 978-1136993763
}}</ref><ref>{{cite book
| editor-first = Christopher H.
| editor-last = Sterling
| editor-first2 = Cary
| editor-last2 = O'Dell
| title = The Concise Dictionary of America Radio
| publisher = Routledge
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=dmmLAgAAQBA
| page = 563
| date = April 12, 2010
| access-date = July 27, 2017
}}{{Dead link|date=August 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

For entertainment on CIO episodes, De Caux asked singer and songwriter Woody Guthrie to contribute to the show. "Personally, I would like to see a phonograph record made of your 'Girl in the Red, White, and Blue.{{' "}}<ref name=":1">
{{cite book
| editor-first = John S.
| editor-last = Partington
| title = The Life, Music and Thought of Woody Guthrie: A Critical Appraisal
| publisher = Routledge
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=QNIYDQAAQBAJ
| date = September 17, 2016
| access-date = July 27, 2017| isbn = 9781317025443
}}</ref> The title appears in at least one collection of Guthrie records.<ref>{{cite web
| title = Woodie Guthrie: American Radical Patriot
| publisher = WoodieGuthrie.org
| url = http://www.woodyguthrie.org/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=TWGS&Product_Code=WGARP&Category_Code=
| access-date = July 27, 2017
| archive-date = January 11, 2018
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180111224247/http://www.woodyguthrie.org/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=TWGS&Product_Code=WGARP&Category_Code=
| url-status = dead
}}</ref> Guthrie consented and performed solo two or three times on this program (among several other WWII radio shows, including ''Answering You'', ''Labor for Victory'', ''Jazz in America'', and ''We the People'').<ref>
{{cite journal
 |last=Jackson
 |first=Mark
 |date=2001
 |title=In Search of Woody Guthrie at the Library of Congress
 |journal=Folklife Center News
 |url=https://www.loc.gov/folklife/news/pdf/FCNxxiii2.pdf
 |volume=23
 |pages=7–9
 |access-date = August 2, 2017}}</ref><ref>
{{cite book
| first = R. Serge
| last = Denisoff
| title = Folk Consciousness: People's Music and American Communism
| publisher = Simon Fraser University
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=_xDaAAAAMAAJ
| page = 241
| date = 1968
| access-date = July 27, 2017}}</ref><ref>
{{cite book
| editor-first  = Robert
| editor-last   = Santelli
| editor-first2 = Emily
| editor-last2  = Davidson
| title         = Hard Travelin': The Life and Legacy of Woody Guthrie
| publisher     = Wesleyan University Press
| url           = https://books.google.com/books?id=CJIp65eNkCUC
| page          = 241
| date          = 1999
| access-date   = July 27, 2017| isbn = 9780819563910
}}</ref> On August 29, 1942, he performed "The Farmer-Labor Train", with lyrics he had written to the tune of "[[Wabash Cannonball]]". (In 1948, he reworked the "Wabash Cannonball" melody as "The Wallace-Taylor Train" for the [[1948 Progressive National Convention]], which nominated former U.S. Vice President [[Henry A. Wallace]] for president.)<ref>
{{cite book
| first = Bill
| last = Nowlin
| title = Woody Guthrie: American Radical Patriot
| publisher = Woody Guthrie Publications, Inc.
| page = 170
| date = 2013
}}</ref><ref>
{{cite web
| title = Farmer-Labor Train
| publisher = Woody Guthrie Publications, Inc.
| url = http://woodyguthrie.org/Lyrics/Farmer-Labor_Train.htm
| access-date = September 5, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
| title = Woody Guthrie American Radical Patriot, 2013
| publisher = Woody Guthrie Publications, Inc.
| url = http://www.woodyguthrie.org/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=TWGS&Product_Code=WGARP&Category_Code=
| access-date = September 5, 2017
| archive-date = January 11, 2018
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180111224247/http://www.woodyguthrie.org/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=TWGS&Product_Code=WGARP&Category_Code=
| url-status = dead
}}</ref> The [[Almanac Singers]] (of which Guthrie and Lampell were co-founders) appeared on ''The Treasury Hour'' and CBS Radio's ''We the People''. The latter was later produced as a [[We the People (U.S. TV series)|television series]].<ref>
{{cite book
| first = Will
| last = Kaufman
| title = Woody Guthrie, American Radical
| publisher = University of Illinois Press
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=uQop2edOXrkC
| page = 84

| date = October 1, 2012
| access-date = August 2, 2017| isbn = 9780199977086
}}</ref> (Also, [[Marc Blitzstein]]'s papers show that Guthrie made some contributions to four CIO episodes (dated June 20, June 27, August 1, August 15, 1948) of ''Labor for Victory.''<ref>
{{cite book
| first = Howard
| last = Pollack
| title = Marc Blitzstein: His Life, His Work, His World
| publisher = Oxford University Press
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=uQop2edOXrkC
| place = London, New York
| date = July 31, 2017
| access-date = July 27, 2017| isbn = 9780199977086
}}</ref>) While ''Labor for Victory'' was a milestone in theory as a national platform, in practice it proved less so. Only 35 of 104 NBC affiliates carried the show.<ref name=NBC /><ref>
{{cite book
| first = Elizabeth A.
| last = Fones-Wolf
| title = Waves of Opposition: Labor and the Struggle for Democratic Radio
| publisher = University of Illinois Press
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=bABsxfphOM8C
| page = 103
| date = 2006
| access-date = July 27, 2017| isbn = 9780252073649
}}</ref><ref>
{{cite book
| first = Nathan
| last = Godfried
| title = WCFL, Chicago's Voice of Labor, 1926-78
| publisher = University of Illinois Press
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=wd_PDZkvS8cC
| page = 210
| date = 1997
| access-date = July 27, 2017| isbn = 9780252065927
}}</ref> Episodes included the announcement that the show represented "twelve million organized men and women, united in the high resolve to rid the world of Fascism in 1942". Speakers included [[Donald E. Montgomery]], then "consumer's counselor" at the [[U.S. Department of Agriculture]].<ref>
{{cite web
| title = Labor for Victory
| publisher = Pandora
| url = https://www.pandora.com/artist/woody-guthrie/american-radical-patriot/labor-for-victory/TR5VhxmjbZXZ39g
| access-date = July 27, 2017}}</ref><ref>
{{cite web
| title = Labor for Victory
| website = Amazon
| url = https://www.amazon.com/Labor-For-Victory/dp/B00FTU97CI
| access-date = July 27, 2017}}</ref><ref>
{{cite web
| title = Labor for Victory
| publisher = SoundCloud
| url = https://soundcloud.com/woody-guthrie-official/labor-for-victory
| access-date = July 27, 2017}}</ref>

====Merchant Marine====
Guthrie lobbied the United States Army to accept him as a [[USO]] performer instead of conscripting him as a soldier in the draft.{{citation needed|date=June 2017}} When Guthrie's attempts failed, his friends [[Cisco Houston]] and Jim Longhi persuaded the singer to join the [[United States Merchant Marine|U.S. Merchant Marine]] in June 1943.<ref>Klein, ''Woody Guthrie'', pp.&nbsp;277–80,&nbsp;287–91.</ref> He made several voyages aboard merchant ships SS ''William B. Travis'', SS ''William Floyd'', and SS ''Sea Porpoise'', while they traveled in [[convoy]]s during the [[Battle of the Atlantic]]. He served as a mess man and dishwasher, and frequently sang for the crew and troops to buoy their spirits on transatlantic voyages. His first ship, ''William B. Travis'', hit a mine in the [[Mediterranean Sea]], killing one person aboard, but the ship sailed to [[Bizerte]], Tunisia under her own power.<ref>Robert Cressman, ''The Official Chronology of the U.S. Navy in World War II'', Naval Institute Press (1999), p. 180.</ref>

His last ship, ''Sea Porpoise'', took troops from the United States to England and France for the [[D-Day]] invasion. Guthrie was aboard when the ship was torpedoed off [[Utah Beach]] by the [[German submarine U-390]] on July 5, 1944, injuring 12 of the crew. Guthrie was unhurt and the ship stayed afloat; Sea Porpoise returned to England, where she was repaired at [[Newcastle upon Tyne|Newcastle]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/3285.html|title=Sea Porpoise (American Steam merchant) - Ships hit by German U-boats during WWII - uboat.net|website=uboat.net}}</ref>{{failed verification|date=April 2023}} In July 1944, she returned to the United States.<ref>Ronald D. Cohen, ''Woody Guthrie: Writing America's Songs'', pp. 28–29.</ref>

Guthrie was an active supporter of the [[National Maritime Union]], one of many unions for wartime American merchant sailors. Guthrie wrote songs about his experience in the Merchant Marine but was never satisfied with them. Longhi later wrote about Guthrie's marine experiences in his book ''Woody, Cisco and Me''.<ref>{{cite book |last=Longhi |first=Jim |title=Woody, Cisco and Me |year=1997 |publisher=[[Random House]] |isbn=0-252-02276-9 |url=https://archive.org/details/woodyciscomeseam00long }}</ref> The book offers a rare first-hand account of Guthrie during his [[United States Merchant Marine|Merchant Marine]] service, at one point describing how Guthrie referred to his guitar as a "Hoping Machine". But later during duty aboard the troop ship, Guthrie built an actual "Hoping Machine" made of cloth, whirligigs and discarded metal attached to a railing at the stern, aimed at lifting the soldiers' spirits. In 1945, the government decided that Guthrie's association with communism excluded him from further service in the Merchant Marine; he was drafted into the [[United States Army|U.S. Army]].<ref>Klein, ''Woody Guthrie'', pp.&nbsp;302–03.</ref>

While he was on [[Wiktionary:furlough|furlough]] from the Army, Guthrie married Marjorie.<ref>Klein, ''Woody Guthrie'', p.&nbsp;312.</ref> After his discharge, they moved into a house on Mermaid Avenue in [[Coney Island]] and over time had four children: daughters Cathy and [[Nora Guthrie|Nora]]; and sons [[Arlo Guthrie|Arlo]] and Joady. Cathy died as a result of a fire at the age of four, and Guthrie suffered a serious depression from his grief.<ref>Klein, ''Woody Guthrie'', p.&nbsp;344–351.</ref> Arlo and Joady followed in their father's footsteps as singer-songwriters.

When his family was young, Guthrie wrote and recorded ''[[Songs to Grow on for Mother and Child]]'', a collection of [[children's music]], which includes the song "Goodnight Little Arlo (Goodnight Little Darlin')", written when Arlo was about nine years old. During 1947, he wrote ''House of Earth'', an historical novel containing explicit sexual material, about a couple who build a house made of clay and earth to withstand the [[Dust Bowl]]'s brutal weather. He could not get it published.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.npr.org/2013/02/05/170496691/woodie-guthries-house-of-earth-calls-this-land-home |title=Woody Guthrie's 'House of Earth' Calls 'This Land' Home |last1=Neary |first1=Lynn |date=February 5, 2013 |publisher=[[NPR]] |access-date=February 5, 2013}}</ref> It was published posthumously in 2013, by [[Harper (publisher)|Harper]], under actor [[Johnny Depp]]'s publishing imprint, [[Infinitum Nihil]].

Guthrie was also a prolific sketcher and painter, his images ranging from simple, impressionistic images to free and characterful drawings, typically of the people in his songs.

In 1949, Guthrie's music was used in the documentary film ''Columbia River'', which explored government dams and hydroelectric projects on the river.<ref>{{cite video
 | year =1949
 | title =Video: The Columbia (1949)
 | url =https://archive.org/details/gov.fdr.353.3.4
 | publisher =[[United States Department of the Interior]]
 | access-date =February 22, 2012
}}</ref> Guthrie had been commissioned by the US [[Bonneville Power Administration]] in 1941 to write songs for the project, but it had been postponed by World War II.<ref>{{cite news
 |title        = Ten Dollars a Song: Woody Guthrie Sells His Talent to the Bonneville Power Administration
 |work         = Columbia Magazine
 |date         =Spring 2001
 |volume       = 15
 |issue        = 1
 |first        = Robert C.
 |last         = Carriker
 |url          = http://columbia.washingtonhistory.org/anthology/fromwartowar/woodyGuthrie.aspx
 |access-date  = February 23, 2012
|archive-date = March 29, 2013
|archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20130329193008/http://columbia.washingtonhistory.org/anthology/fromwartowar/woodyGuthrie.aspx
 |url-status   = dead
}}</ref>

===Post-war: Mermaid Avenue===
[[File:10 of the Woody Guthrie songs - contact details.png|alt=|thumb|This page from a collection of Guthrie's sheet music published in 1946 includes his Mermaid Avenue address and one of his [[anti-fascism|anti-fascist]] slogans]]
The years immediately after the war when he lived on Mermaid Avenue were among Guthrie's most productive as a writer. His extensive writings from this time were archived and maintained by Marjorie and later his estate, mostly handled by his daughter Nora. Several of the manuscripts also contain writing by a young Arlo and the other Guthrie children.<ref>{{cite web|last=WoodyGuthrie.org |title=Woody Guthrie Archives |url=http://www.woodyguthrie.org/archives/archivesindex.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060713144650/http://www.woodyguthrie.org/archives/archivesindex.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 13, 2006 |access-date=April 10, 2007 }}</ref>

During this time [[Ramblin' Jack Elliott]] studied extensively under Guthrie, visiting his home and observing how he wrote<!--wrote music or words?--> and performed. Elliott, like [[Bob Dylan]] later, idolized Guthrie. He was inspired by the singer's idiomatic performance style and repertoire. Because of the decline caused by Guthrie's progressive [[Huntington's disease]], Arlo Guthrie and Bob Dylan both later said that they had learned much of Guthrie's performance style from Elliott. When asked about this, Elliott said, "I was flattered. Dylan learned from me the same way I learned from Woody. Woody didn't teach me. He just said, If you want to learn something, just steal it—that's the way I learned from [[Lead Belly]]."<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3495000026.html|title=Elliott, Ramblin' Jack|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia.com (quote from a 1984 [[Esquire magazine]] interview with Randy Sue Coburn)|access-date=June 3, 2016}}</ref>