Arlo And The Guthrie Boys

Taking Family Tradition To

Three Generations Of Folk

By John Voket

BRIDGEPORT — “Kids are kind of like songs,” folk singer Arlo Guthrie related to hundreds faithful fans who followed him to the intimate picnic grove at Connecticut’s Beardsley Zoo last weekend. “You don’t know if they’re good until you try ‘em out on people.”

And that’s exactly what Guthrie did during his nearly three hour, two-set performance, a fundraising event for the zoo’s new Andean Bear exhibit space. He hit the stage promptly at 8 pm, dressed casually with is white mane tied in a ponytail, and backed expertly by his son Abe, a long-time collaborator on keys and backing vocals.

But the surprise of the night was Guthrie grandson, Krishna, who contributed subtle but solid drumming throughout the set, flavoring the songs and stories his grandfather tossed to the crowd with no prompting or set list in sight.

The trio presented some familiar material including Arlo’s seminal hit “Alice’s Restaurant Massacre,” clocking in at just over 20 minutes. This was another unexpected treat because in recent appearances, Guthrie has not pulled that showpiece from his musical grab bag.

He prefaced the tune by commenting about proposals to reinstate the draft, before commenting that renewed interest in the practice prompted him to learn the song again. The senior Guthrie also couldn’t resist poking a little fun at himself recalling how he essentially made up a silly tune one day during a recording session, and it became a hit, “…that I had to play for the next 40 years.”

Referring to “Motorcycle (Significance of the Pickle) Song,” Arlo zipped through an abbreviated version which was followed by full-length renditions of “Coming In To Los Angeles;” Steve Goodman’s “City of New Orleans,” his highest charting single; and the family’s enduring tribute to Woody Guthrie, “This Land Is Your Land.”

Prior to the show, Arlo sat down for a nearly half-hour chat with The Newtown Bee, during which he talked about his famous father, the work of The Guthrie Foundation to support Huntington’s Disease research, and of course, music.

Arlo supposed that if Woody was around to witness the next three generations of Guthries carrying on the family business, he would be pleased. A fan of family groups himself, particularly the Carter Family, Arlo said we was encouraged to pursue music.

“I think the idea of families singin’ together was something he loved,” Arlo said. “I don’t know if he ever imagined it would ever happen. But here we are nearly 40 years after he’s gone, actually pullin’ this thing off. I think the best thing about it is my son Abe is a wonderful musician. And Krish has been playin’ since he was a little kid.”

While Arlo said his grandson is a great guitar player, he is merely filling in on drums for the summer of 2008. He was excited, however, that Krishna would have an opportunity to show off his guitar skills, along with Arlo’s daughters Sara Lee, Annie and Cathy, who is currently paired with Willie Nelson’s daughter Amy, in a duo called Folk Uke.

The entire Guthrie clan is formulating plans for a traveling revue in the summer of 2009, “…before I’m so old I forget all the words,” Arlo joked. “The chance to do it all together, as opposed to doin’ it on our own, is rare.”

Arlo’s Solo Reunion

On the other hand, reminiscing about his Solo Reunion Tour of 2007, Arlo said he hadn’t put himself out there on tour every night without a net for a long time.

“It was a return to a way of touring I haven’t done since I was a kid … back in 1965 and ’66,” he said. “So I had a chance to reach back and play some old blues and some Leadbelly stuff, the kind of things I can do on my own to fill up the musical space. It was an evening of material that kind of goes together, what makes sense in the moment.”

Arlo said switching back to being in a band, even with his son and grandson, was a little challenging after that.

“When you’re playin’ with anybody, part of the job is to listen to what everybody else is doing so you can squeeze yourself in without over shadowing,” he said. “When you do that with your own kids, you do something you don’t normally do in families – listening to everybody.

“So when you translate that off the stage, it becomes a part of the way you do things all the time,” Guthrie said. “What you really want to do is give the President an instrument to play, and have some of these big shots around the world sit down and play a little more. They might solve some of these problems a lot better than they’re doing now.”

Helping The Huntington’s Cause

Getting even more serious, Arlo said his Guthrie Foundation is helping families dealing with Huntington’s Disease, much like he had to do with his own father, and matching them up with cutting edge researchers to help bridge the gap and hopefully hasten a cure.

“As a family we had to deal with that. So we get them together with their doctors and the scientists working on this genetic research,” he said. “When you get those kinds of people together in a room, eat some food together, and let them all talk, you create a community of people who all have an understanding what’s going on in their world, it’s all related.

“You know, in those moments you may unknowingly find out something that can help somebody else,” Guthrie said. “In those moments their world expands. And what they learn can help anybody, not just people with Huntington’s.”

The songwriter went on to discuss the importance of grassroots activism versus huge attention getting global events, which he believes have their place, but often get very little accomplished.

“When thousands of little organizations in their little towns put together a thousand little events, a whole lot gets done,” Guthrie said. “You know, Pete Seeger once said to me that if there is any hope for the future, it’s in the little organizations because there’s no way to stop them.”

Before hanging up, Arlo took a moment to get political, affirming that it’s not his business to tell people how to vote.

“I just tell people what I think, even though we’re all in the same boat,” he said, adding that he was inspired by former Presidential contender Ron Paul as well as Barack Obama, for infusing the next generation of America’s leaders to get involved and vote.

“There’s two sides to every story, and there’s no telling what will happen. But people should do something,” Guthrie said. “It’s a dumb idea to try and tell people what to do. But get involved with the thing that resonates in you without puttin’ down someone else. I would love to see more and more than that.

“At the end of the day, people ought to go out and vote for whom ever resonated with them,” Guthrie concluded. “Whatever happens, I think we will be stronger and better for it – as long as we can get rid of the ridiculousness of false accusations, negative campaigns and all that stuff. That would be terrific!”