Arlo Guthrie kicks off 15th annual Woody Guthrie Folk Festival in Okemah
OKEMAH – Folk singer-songwriter Arlo Guthrie, son of Oklahoma icon Woody Guthrie, kicked off the 15th Annual Woody Guthrie Folk Festival Wednesday night in the late, great troubadour’s hometown of Okemah.
Woody Guthrie, who died of Huntington’s disease in 1967, would have turned 100 on Saturday, July 14. The 100th anniversary of Woody Guthrie’s birthday has the entire musical world as well as his hometown celebrating.
The Oklahoman’s Conner Rohwer covered Wednesday night’s show and reports that Arlo Guthrie, who turned 65 this week, treated the packed house at Okemah’s historic Crystal Theatre – where his father went to the movies as a youth – to several of his father’s songs as well as a few stories about the late folk singer.
Like his father, Arlo loves to talk as much as he loves music, Conner reports. While singing “This Land is Your Land,” he stopped abruptly in the middle of the song to talk about how the song caught on around the world. He cracked a few more jokes and about 10 minutes into his story, he resumed playing the song without skipping a beat.
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