Woody Guthrie: An Intimate Life

Since the story of Woody Guthrie’s life, travels and books are not well known, this is a very timely book which has been well received. Those who have not read Guthrie’s House of Earth, posthumously published in 2017, may be shocked and surprised by the gusto with which Guthrie embraced life and loving. The author of this book seems genuinely shocked at the earthiness of Guthrie’s sexual appetite.

Many of us only know that Guthrie inspired and was worshipped by Bob Dylan, that he was the father of Arlo, that he wrote folk songs such as This Land is Your Land and that he was a victim of Huntington’s disease. The truth is that Guthrie was a genius, an original and true believer in the promise of a better democracy.

Like Guthrie’s freight hopping and travel bug, this is not a chronological biography but rather a musing upon the vagaries of Guthrie’s life and loves. For this read, it seemed somewhat disconnected and hard to follow, but the author’s credentials as a music scholar are impeccable.