Arlo Guthrie

Can an artist register as a one-hit wonder across three distinct occasions? Arlo Guthrie’s catalog raises exactly that issue through three tracks that each surfaced prominently yet separately. “The City of New Orleans,” his solitary Top 40 single, earned him a listing in Wayne Jancik’s The Billboard Book of One-Hit Wonders. “Coming into Los Angeles,” performed at the historic Woodstock festival, later appeared in both the concert film and its multi-platinum soundtrack. “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree,” the extended comic narrative that launched his visibility, occupied the entire first side of his million-selling debut album on Reprise.

These three pieces may have been anomalies within a performing life that continued vigorously four decades after Guthrie first reached national notice, yet they also sustained that career. They secured a fifteen-year major-label contract that yielded eleven charting LPs; afterward he founded his own imprint and kept releasing recordings. More importantly, they helped sustain an enduring concert audience that followed him on worldwide tours year after year, drawn by his comic stage presence and a musical blend of folk, rock, country, blues, and gospel drawn equally from self-penned material and carefully selected covers.

Arlo Davy Guthrie entered the world on July 10, 1947, in Brooklyn’s Coney Island neighborhood and spent his childhood there. He was the fifth child of legendary folksinger and songwriter Woody Guthrie, though only the second born to Woody’s second wife, Marjorie Greenblatt Mazia Guthrie, a onetime Martha Graham dancer who later taught dance; an older half-sister, Cathy Ann Guthrie, had perished in a fire at age four five months before Arlo’s birth. After two further siblings, Joady and Nora, arrived, the parents separated when Arlo was four and eventually divorced; his mother remarried. Woody nevertheless remained a steady influence, presenting his son with a first guitar on the boy’s sixth birthday in 1953. By then Woody had received a diagnosis of Huntington’s disease; he entered permanent hospitalization in 1954, with Marjorie overseeing his care.

Arlo’s early surroundings included frequent visits from his father’s circle, among them Pete Seeger and Cisco Houston. Houston once brought the ten-year-old onstage at Gerde’s Folk City in Greenwich Village for an unplanned appearance. Guthrie later recalled that he had not grasped the extent of his father’s reputation until he transferred, in sixth grade, to a progressive private school where classmates sang Woody’s compositions such as “This Land Is Your Land.” Only then did he begin absorbing that repertoire. Even so, he did not envision a performing life for himself, convinced that his reserved temperament ill-suited the spotlight. Upon finishing high school at the Stockbridge School in Massachusetts in 1965, he entered Rocky Mountain College in Billings to pursue forestry studies aimed at a forest-ranger post, yet withdrew after six weeks. Returning to Massachusetts, he took up residence at the former church home of Alice and Ray Brock, ex-Stockbridge faculty who now operated the Back Room restaurant. During Thanksgiving, Guthrie and friend Rick Robbins attempted, as he later described it, the “friendly gesture” of clearing accumulated trash for the couple; when the municipal dump proved closed they discarded the load down a slope. Arrested and fined twenty-five dollars each for littering, they retrieved the refuse—an episode that proved advantageous when Guthrie was later called for military induction and deemed ineligible because of the conviction.

He turned professional in February 1966 with a debut at Club 47 in Cambridge. Among the numbers was a sixteen-bar promotional jingle for the Brocks’ establishment whose refrain ran, “You can get anything you want / At Alice’s restaurant.” The brief tune, however, served merely as frame for an extended, whimsical recounting of the littering incident and draft-board experience that stretched into a roughly twenty-minute comic monologue. He presented the piece, titled “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree” (with the final word idiosyncratically spelled and pronounced), at Carnegie Hall during a WNYC-sponsored folk festival; WBAI subsequently broadcast a tape in spring 1967 and listener response prompted further airplay. At the Newport Folk Festival that summer he was moved to the main-stage closing concert, delivering the piece to twenty thousand listeners on July 16. Warner Bros. Records promptly signed him; Reprise issued the debut album Alice’s Restaurant weeks before Woody Guthrie’s death on October 3. The LP entered Billboard’s Top LP’s chart on November 18, climbed to number 29 by March 2, 1968, and remained listed for sixty-five weeks. Though the title track dominated attention, the second side held original compositions including “Highway in the Wind,” later recorded by Hearts and Flowers, Noel Harrison, and Kate Wolf.

Beyond sales figures, the album and its centerpiece created a separate identity for the younger Guthrie apart from his father’s legacy. Woody had ceased performing after the early 1950s; Arlo therefore offered a distinct, if related, persona to listeners who might scarcely recall the elder Guthrie. The live recording’s entertainment value instantly translated into concert demand, casting him as a wry yet affable hippie figure who lampooned institutional pretensions through comic exaggeration.

He appeared at a January 20, 1968, Carnegie Hall memorial concert for his father later issued as A Tribute to Woody Guthrie, Pt. 1, performing “Do Re Mi” and “Oklahoma Hills”; the album charted. A second Hollywood Bowl event on August 12, 1970, produced A Tribute to Woody Guthrie, Pt. 2, containing “Jesus Christ” and a collective “This Land Is Your Land”; that disc also charted. While Alice’s Restaurant continued selling, Reprise released the second studio album, Arlo, in October 1968—a live set from the Bitter End that emphasized further humorous routines alongside originals. It reached number 100 on Billboard and number 40 on Cash Box.

Guthrie consented to an expanded film adaptation of “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree” in which he would portray himself. Director Arthur Penn and co-writer Venable Herndon enlarged the story into a virtual biography of the twenty-one-year-old. The movie premiered at the New York Film Festival on August 24, 1969, to positive notices and earned Penn an Academy Award nomination for Best Director; the album promptly reentered the charts, was certified gold on September 29—the same day Guthrie graced the cover of Time—and attained a new Billboard peak of number 17 on November 15. It ultimately logged ninety-nine weeks on the chart and received platinum certification in 1986. United Artists issued a soundtrack LP featuring a two-part rendition of the title piece plus Guthrie instrumentals; simultaneously Reprise delivered the third album, Running Down the Road. Despite the crowded marketplace both sets performed respectably, the soundtrack reaching number 63 (58 Cash Box) and Running Down the Road number 54 (33 Cash Box). Reprise also issued a shortened, re-recorded single version titled “Alice’s Rock & Roll Restaurant” that charted briefly.

Running Down the Road, produced by Lenny Waronker and Van Dyke Parks with contributions from James Burton, Ry Cooder, and Clarence White, contained no comic monologues. It paired new originals such as the psychedelic “Coming into Los Angeles” and the ballad “Oh, in the Morning” (later covered by McKendree Spring) with interpretations of Woody Guthrie’s “Oklahoma Hills” and Mississippi John Hurt’s “My Creole Belle.” From this point forward Guthrie would balance covers and originals in roughly equal measure on each release. Prior to the album’s appearance he had performed “Coming into Los Angeles” at Woodstock on August 15, 1969; the song’s inclusion in the 1970 film and soundtrack cemented it as one of his signature pieces.

In October 1969 Guthrie, by then owner of a 250-acre Stockbridge farm, married Alice “Jackie” Hyde; the couple would raise four children—Abraham (Abe), Annie, Sarah Lee, and Cathy. Abe later became a musician and occasional collaborator; Sarah Lee pursued a recording career of her own.

Washington County appeared in October 1970. Though it included Bob Dylan’s “Percy’s Song,” original material predominated, among them “Gabriel’s Mother’s Hiway Ballad #16 Blues” (subsequently recorded by Jackie DeShannon) and the single “Valley to Pray,” which charted on Cash Box. The LP reached number 33 on Billboard and number 29 on Cash Box. Nineteen months elapsed before Hobo’s Lullaby arrived in May 1972; the set leaned heavily on outside material, most notably Steve Goodman’s “The City of New Orleans.” Released as a single, it peaked at number 18 on the Hot 100 and number 4 on the Easy Listening chart; the album itself climbed to number 55 (35 Cash Box) and stayed on the chart for thirty-eight weeks. Last of the Brooklyn Cowboys followed in April 1973, again largely given to covers and featuring top Los Angeles session players. The single “Gypsy Davy” registered on the Easy Listening chart, while the album reached number 87 on Billboard and number 63 on Cash Box.

Thereafter Guthrie’s album sales declined amid the waning singer-songwriter era and the ascent of disco; Last of the Brooklyn Cowboys proved his final upper-half Top 200 entry. Subsequent releases either scraped the lower half of the chart or failed to register. The seventh album, Arlo Guthrie, issued in May 1974, underperformed despite strong material that included the Watergate-era “Presidential Rag,” “Children of Abraham,” and the introspective “Last to Leave.” Despite softening record sales he remained a reliable live draw. Joint concerts with Pete Seeger yielded the double live set Together in Concert in May 1975. That autumn he retained the Massachusetts band Shenandoah as his regular backing unit. Amigo, released September 1976 and recorded with Los Angeles musicians, contained several originals, among them “Victor Jara” (later covered by Christy Moore) and “Patriot’s Dream” (later used by Jennifer Warnes). Though critics praised its rock edge—especially a cover of the Rolling Stones’ “Connection”—sales remained modest. That autumn Guthrie joined Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue, resulting in an appearance in the film Renaldo and Clara.

Another Amigo track, “Darkest Hour,” reflected Guthrie’s spiritual questioning at the time; in 1977 he formally entered the Roman Catholic Church, later exploring Hinduism and Buddhism and adopting an ecumenical outlook. One Night, issued October 1978, was a live album containing a single original, the comic narrative “The Story of Reuben Clamzo and His Strange Daughter in the Key of A.” Shenandoah appeared on that disc and on the subsequent studio set Outlasting the Blues (June 1979), which again drew favorable reviews without notable sales. Power of Love, released June 1981, marked his final charting album. A second Seeger collaboration produced the double live album Precious Friend in February 1982. Warner Bros. rejected Guthrie’s next submitted album and ultimately dropped him along with other veteran acts; he continued touring as his primary income source. In 1984 he joined Seeger, Holly Near, and Ronnie Gilbert in the quartet HARP; a live album appeared on Near’s Redwoods label in 1985. That same year he narrated the documentary Woody Guthrie: Hard Travelin’ and contributed to its soundtrack. In 1986 he inaugurated Rising Son Records and issued the previously rejected Someday, whose highlights included “All Over the World” (first heard on the HARP album) and “Oh Mom,” with lyrics by Terry Hall.

He participated in the all-star Folkways: A Vision Shared tribute to Woody Guthrie and Leadbelly, released August 1988 and peaking at number 70. In 1990 Rising Son issued the children’s album Baby’s Storytime. All Over the World followed in 1991. In January 1992 Guthrie purchased the former Brock church, converting it into Rising Son headquarters and a community service center. Son of the Wind, a collection of Western and cowboy songs, appeared that year. On August 25, 1992, he briefly returned to Warner Bros. for Woody’s 20 Grow Big Songs, a family overdub project billed to Woody & Arlo Guthrie & the Guthrie Family that earned a 1992 Grammy nomination for Best Album for Children. He also took a small role in the film Roadside Prophets.

More Together Again: In Concert, a third double live set with Seeger, emerged in March 1994. That year Guthrie accepted a recurring part in the television series Byrds of Paradise and later appeared on Relativity and Renegade. In October 1995 he collaborated with Alice Brock on the children’s book Mooses Come Walking. Mystic Journey, his first studio album of new material since 1986, arrived in January 1996, co-produced by Abe Guthrie. To mark the thirtieth anniversary of the original Alice’s Restaurant, he re-recorded the entire album and released it June 17, 1997, as Alice’s Restaurant: The Massacree Revisited. Rounder Records simultaneously issued This Land Is Your Land, another father-son overdub project that received a Grammy nomination for Best Musical Album for Children.

Guthrie toured with Judy Collins’ Wildflower Festival alongside Eric Andersen and Tom Rush, yielding a 2003 live album and video. Live in Sydney, a double-disc concert recording with Abe Guthrie and Gordon Titcomb, appeared August 9, 2005. Since 1998 he had also performed with orchestras, including the Boston Pops, resulting in a PBS Evening at Pops broadcast and a 2001 Fourth of July A&E special. On his sixtieth birthday, July 10, 2007, he released In Times Like This, recorded with the University of Kentucky Symphony Orchestra, and embarked on a yearlong solo tour. The long-rumored bluegrass collaboration with the Dillards, 32¢/Postage Due, surfaced in 2007, followed by Tales of ’69 in 2009.