Woody Guthrie

Woody Guthrie was born in rural Oklahoma to Nora and Charles Guthrie. His father was a businessman and politician with ties to the Ku Klux Klan, even taking the young Woody to a lynching. Woody followed his father to Texas in his teens, only to leave in the 1930’s when the Dust Bowl hit. Heading for California, he found work in radio as a musician. After a political disagreement with the station, Woody went to New York, where he made his first recordings. Best known for This Land is Your Land, Guthrie was the greatest folk musician of his era. Later, he developed Huntingtons, which led to his retirement and eventually his death in 1967.