Woody Guthrie: Songs and Art • Words and Wisdom (Autographed by Nora Guthrie)

by Nora Guthrie & Robert Santelli

*Winner of 2022 ASCAP Foundation Deems Taylor/Virgil Thomson Book Award!

"This is what I’d like to share with everyone. This is how I’d like my father to be remembered. And this is what I love about him." ~ Nora Guthrie

With contibutions by Douglas Brinkley, Rosanne Cash, Chuck D, Jeff Daniels, Ani DiFranco, and Arlo Guthrie.

This stunningly visual collection is enlightening, inspiring, and edifying, spotlighting Woody Guthrie as a significant guiding voice and citizen of the world.

Curated by his daughter Nora Guthrie and music historian Robert Santelli the new book Woody Guthrie: Songs and Art • Words and Wisdom delves deep into his archives, giving unprecedented access and visibility to his lyrics, art, and correspondence; and spotlights Guthrie’s passionate social politics which are as vital today as ever.

This fresh, intimate, and vibrantly visual book brings to life Woody’s story through facsimiles of his own personal writings, photos, and artwork. Woody wrote powerfully about economic inequality, immigration reform, fascism, war, corruption from unbridled capitalism, patriotism, environmentalism, as well as spirituality of all kinds, love, and family.

Readers will get to know Guthrie through his own words and art including:

• Over 90 original handwritten and typed lyrics to classic and well-known songs such as, Oklahoma Hills, Pretty Boy Floyd, Deportee, The Ballad of Harriet Tubman, All You Fascists, California Stars, I’m Shipping Up To Boston, Joe DiMaggio and Riding In My Car.
• Illustrated pages from his journals, and notebooks of the people he met, ideas he considered, and issues he confronted.
• Private letters to friends, family, and fellow creators that illuminate his inner thoughts, deliberations, and celebrations.
• Photographs from his personal collection including from his time in military service, gigs on the road, photos with fellow musicians, and family snapshots.

"I opened this book with modest expectations, and closed it with a transformed understanding of who Woody Guthrie was. Edited with love and precision by Guthrie’s daughter Nora and scholar Robert Santelli, Songs and Art * Words and Wisdom takes a 360-degree look at a fascinating American life and a profoundly influential artist." - Jay Gabler / The Current

Chronicle Books. Hardcover. Full color. 340 pgs. November 16, 2021.