Arlo Guthrie introduces his 18-minutes tome “Alice’s Restaurant” for the first time at the 1967 Newport Folk Festival. It’s based on a true story — his arrest for littering — and though greatly exaggerated, the arrest does keep him out of the Vietnam War.
Nobody caught Arlo on video back at Newport so here he is at Farm Aid 2005 …
Bonus: Mini-doc on the Newport Folk Festival 1967 …
Happy birthday to Nanci Griffith …
June 28, 2011 ~ Gillian Welch and David Rawlings are back after a long, long, eight years with The Harrow & The Harvest.
The album takes its name from the frustrations incurred by both Gillian and David over the prior 8 years trying to write and record something — anything — that would meet with their approval.
“The sad truth is we never liked anything enough to put it out, which is not a pleasant place to be. Over the course of that time that we were quiet we probably had enough songs to put out two or three records. Actually we made a few tentative steps at trying to record, but inevitably the heart would go out of it when we realized that we simply didn’t like the material enough to go on with it.”
Gillian Welch from an interview with The Australian
It was worth the wait. The album is nominated for “Best Folk Album” at the 2012 Grammys.
Tom Waits releases not one but TWO albums on May 7, 2002. Blood Money and Alice are both used by playwright Robert Wilson for two productions.
Pete Seeger believed in “the power of song” to bring social change. Over the years, Pete used his voice and his hammer to strike blows for workers’ rights and civil rights; world peace and environmental conservation, and he always invited us to sing along. For reminding us where we come from and showing us where we need to go, we will always be grateful to Pete Seeger.”
President Barack Obama
American folk singer and activist Pete Seeger ~ b. May 3, 1919
“I delivered to a Baptist old people’s home where we’d have to go room-to-room,” he said, “and some of the patients would kind of pretend that you were a grandchild or nephew that had come to visit, instead of the guy delivering papers. That always stuck in my head.”
Source: Behind The Song: John Prine, “Hello In There” « American Songwriter
At its height, my mom’s San Francisco bakery was producing 10,000 cannabis brownies every month.
BY ALIA VOLZ
Source: My Mom’s Pot Brownies Were Legendary During the AIDS Epidemic. This Is Her Recipe. | Bon Appétit
The lyrics are written on a single sheet of lined paper in Dylan’s handwriting and reveal numerous discarded lyric fragments and intriguing notes like “Carter Family Tune,” “42nd Street Photo Booth,” “Peter-Banjo” and “Tommy Blake Sweetie Pie,” a reference to a 1958 tune by a somewhat obscure rockabilly singer signed to Sun Records.
Source: Bob Dylan’s ‘The Times They Are-a Changin” Lyrics Headed to Auction – Rolling Stone
It’s rare when the turn of a phrase or lyric can make me laugh one second and cry in another. Her songs are precious to me. Happy birthday to Dar Williams.
