Guthrie Quotes
Musicians on Woody Guthrie's lasting folk legacy.
These Guthrie quotes trace Woody Guthrie's influence across generations of musicians, from folk heroes who "wrote and sang real songs for real people" to artists who grew up singing his songs in school without realizing it. For more on musical roots, see our Folk quotes.
Irish fathers still have certain responsibilities, and by the time my two daughters turned seven, they could swim, ride a bike, sing at least one part of a Woody Guthrie song, and recite all of W. B. Yeats's 'The Song...
Then about 12 years ago it dawned on me that folk music - the music of Woody Guthrie and Phil Ochs, early Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Pete Seeger - could be as heavy as anything that comes through a Marshall...
Popular Quotes Topics for You.
My musical heroes are people like Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie who wrote and sang real songs for real people; for everyone, old, young, and in between.
Like most kids, I grew up singing 'This Land Is Your Land' in grammar school, but with the most radical verses neatly removed. This was before I knew it was a Woody Guthrie song.
Emotion Quotes
I spent two years at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, and then some New York types saw me there as Benvolio in 'Romeo and Juliet.' They sent me some enticing letters - about why didn't I come to New York?...
The Guthrie Theater is a beast. It has 1,300 seats, and I couldn't act there. I always felt I was acting too small. I'd always have to fight to get the gumption to act bigger. There's a weird trick to...
It sounds like something from a Woody Guthrie song, but it's true; I was raised in a freight car.
A lot of my training is in classical theatre; I've done a lot of classical plays in New York and also at the Guthrie and here and there across the country.
Folk Quotes
What I'm doing is basically the same as Bob Dylan did with folk songs and Woody Guthrie songs, the same as folk music's always done. I'm not going to sing about ploughing, but I'll write a song that sounds like...
A lot of Woody Guthrie's songs were taken from other songs. He would rework the melody and lyrics, and all of a sudden it was a Woody Guthrie song.
I went to a performance of 'The Crucible' at the Guthrie when I was a sophomore in high school, and I knew right away that that's what I wanted to do.
I got my Equity card at 24 at the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis, and they asked me to join the company. I was content and happy working in the company there for a long while until I really started to...
Though I acted in hundreds of productions, appeared at the Guthrie Theatre and on Broadway in Amadeus, I discovered in my thirties that I didn't really like stage acting. The presence of the audience, the eight shows a week and...
Influence Quotes
I can remember back as far as age 8, performing with the Boston Folk Song Society. It was a Woody Guthrie song.
We don't need another Woody. Even Bob Dylan knew he couldn't be Woody Guthrie... I like Woody Guthrie fine, but I don't need the 50th generation version of it.
Even with politics, stuff comes around again. Woody Guthrie would recognize America today.
People were talking about songs of the common man in order to make the common man. With Woody Guthrie and Lead Belly, they were so common it was just uncommon.
Related Quotes Topics for You.
You may also like
Frequently Asked Questions
What is this Guthrie quotes page about?
Why do people search for Guthrie quotes?
Do these quotes connect Guthrie to other musicians?
Is there a quote about learning a Guthrie song without knowing it?
What other quote pages relate to Guthrie?
One quote draws a direct line from Guthrie's songwriting tradition through Bob Dylan to today's folk musicians. Continue with our Influence quotes for more on artistic inheritance.
