UNDISCOVERED WOODY GUTHRIE

ROUNDER RECORDS TO RELEASE

WOODY GUTHRIE: AMERICAN RADICAL PATRIOT

SEPTEMBER 25

A UNIQUE PORTRAIT OF AMERICA'S MOST ICONIC FOLK SINGER

Includes the first publication of the complete Library of Congress recordings and many newly-discovered masters, plus a DVD – offering more than three hours of Woody Guthrie material never before released, including what Alan Lomax called Woody’s “musical autobiography.”

Burlington, MA – The centennial of Woody Guthrie’s birth has been celebrated in many ways, but no retrospective of his work offers such an incisive and entertaining look into Woody’s creative genius as this set conceived by Woody’s daughter Nora Guthrie.

It may seem a paradox that a man seen as a radical also found that the recordings he did for different government efforts to offer the most fulfillment and be the most productive periods of his life.

The book which accompanies the package explores this theme. Due September 25, Woody Guthrie: American Radical Patriot is a collection of material recorded while Woody was “in the service” of the U.S. Government.

 Here are his complete Library of Congress interviews and musical performances recorded by Alan Lomax (released in their entirety for the first time); his songs written while employed by the Bonneville Power Administration, including a previously unreleased, minor key version of “Pastures of Plenty”; a set of previously unheard home demonstration recordings of songs made for a late 1940s public health service VD education program; three radio skits, including two for the Office of War Information during the Second World War; and a number of other radio performances made in support of the war effort. It’s a sweeping overview both of a transitional period in American history, and of the prolific, multi-faceted life of Woody Guthrie.

Included in the deluxe package are:

• over 85 songs on six compact discs
• DVD: Roll On Columbia: Woody Guthrie & the Bonneville Power Administration
• 78 RPM record with Bob Dylan performing Woody’s song, “VD City” on one side, and a previously unreleased version of Woody singing “The Greatest Thing That Man Has Ever Done” on the other
• book-length notes by Bill Nowlin
• PDF document of transcriptions of all songs and spoken material
• many previously unpublished photographs
• many previously unpublished drawings by Woody Guthrie