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Monday, August 18, 2025

Woody Guthrie defines an essential character in the American dream

from Robert Cantwell

essay "Fanfare for the little guy"

in Hard Travelin' : The life and legacy of

Woody Guthrie [1999 published

anthology of essays, Rock 'n Roll

Hall of Fame / Univ. Press of New England ]

"AMERICAN MUSIC MASTERS" series


We celebrate Woody Guthrie for

his political conviction and his

poetic genius. . .Woody was a skinny

little feather-boned guy with a 

head of springy black hair, a high-

sloping intelligent brow, sharp-

hooded, sometimes heavy-lidded

scrutinizing eyes, a nose and mouth

coldly faceted as if by a smith's

hammer and yet, in the pronounced

bow of his upper lip, touched with

sensuality.  He was in a sense homely,

and in another beautiful.  His hands,

moreover, his lifelong, guitar-picking

notwithstanding, were plump, languidly

relaxed, possibly lovely.


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