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Woody Guthrie Free Folk Festival #6
Okemah, OK, July 9-13, 2003
By Bonny Holder
 Vance
Gilbert walked onstage, shaking his head, pointing to the backstage
area. "It's full of Guthries," he exclaimed. "I
mean, there are white Guthries, black Guthries, Asian Guthries...it's
like they want to take over the whole world. A world full of
Guthries!"
The 6th annual Guthrie family reunion was underway, as always,
on Woody's birthday (he would have been 91 on July 14th.) During
this weekend, two other family members celebrated their birthdays,
also. Woody's son Arlo turned 56 on the 10th, and family friend
Jimmy LaFave hit the 48 mark on the 12th. These guys probably
don't mind having their ages exposed. They are pretty much exactly
the same ages as most of the people who visited this year's Free
- yeah, free except for a $10 per car parking charge - Festival.
But there were plenty younger folks also, and older people as
well.
Age and aging, growth and acknowledgment were part of this
year's event. Pete Seeger was pretty much the guest of honor,
and Ramblin' Jack Elliott was scheduled. He's only 71 (if you
can believe what he said, that he's twenty years younger than
his old compadre, Woody) but he seems - well, really really old.
Those 71 years were action-packed, I'm pretty sure.
 Then there were the
fresh crop of Woody's progeny, grands and great-grands everywhere,
including Woody's granddaughter, Sarah Lee Guthrie (daughter
of Arlo and Jackie) and her handsome young husband, Johnny Irion.
They brought their baby daughter, Olivia, with them too, to hang
around with her cousins for the weekend. (LEFT: Johnny Irion
and Olivia Guthrie Irion )
Other young acts included "Steppin' In It" from
Michigan; "Blackfire" from the Navajo rez; and Carrie
Newcomer, from Indiana.
Because Festival shows take place in at least three different
settings (not counting the campgrounds), it's impossible to see
it all. This is no problem to me; I like to have a choice.
Here are the highlights to me:
Thursday night, July 10th, 2003
The surprise of the Pastures of Plenty main stage show was
the Burns Sisters (Annie, Jeannie and Marie), three of twelve
siblings ("numbers #7, #8 and #9") from upstate New
York. They've put in their Texoma time, though, appearing with
Jimmy LaFave on his album of the very same name. They have a
collective gospel harmony than renders them larger than a trio.
Slaid Cleaves did his usual masterful set, treating us to
a few new songs, and lots of favorites. Slaid's been on the road
recently on the "Songs In The Spirit of Woody: Ribbon of
Highway" tour, but is back now in Austin, with a new CD
in the works.
Friday night, July 11th
 Morning shows were
staged at the Brick, a restaurant-coffeehouse on the wide- red-brick
main in downtown Okemah. The Guthrie Family Jam Band was scheduled
for 10:30. The idea was to get a bunch of Guthries together to
kind of noodle musically with each other. Their lack of rehearsal
resulted in a charming set of three or four tunes that highlighted
the personal charisma of Sarah Lee Guthrie Irion. She's so genuine
and spontaneous, people couldn't help but smile. When is the
last time you were in a public place full of smiles? (RIGHT:
Sarah Lee and sister Cathyeliza Guthrie)
Jackie Guthrie, their Mom, was there with her camcorder. I
wanted to interview her about how she raised such exceptional
children, but she told me she doesn't talk with reporters. She
probably has good reason.
Greg Jacobs' set at 1:15 was hard to hear, and I began to
realize that there seemed to be an awful lot of people in the
Brick compared to previous years. There was a lot of milling
about. It was fun to be part of, but I wished I could have paid
more attention to Mr. Jacobs, whose historical songs are favorites
of mine.
 Photographer and
festival supporter extraordinaire' Jim Dirden and his wife Deanne
had booked some of the performers into appearing at places in
the community where musicians don't ordinarily come. This Outreach
effort was very worthwhile. I went to see the Farm Couple (PHOTO
LEFT) at the Colonial Inn Nursing Home, where Monica Taylor
and Patrick Williams, along with their talent bassist Don Geesling
took requests from the residents for an hour or so. The room
was decorated with a "summer vacation" theme, colorful
plastic beach pails and shovels and swimfins hanging from the
ceiling with fishline. I go out of my way to see the Farm Couple,
whose clear, sincere singing and playing only continue to grow
stronger. They should have done "Ain't Misbehavin'",
which is on their new CD Fertile Ground. The oldsters
would have loved it!
 Back to town (about a half-mile)
to catch Willis Alan Ramsey at the beautiful Crystal Theater.
But wait! A hand-written sign in the window says that, for the
second year in a row, Mr. Ramsey has canceled due to illness.
In his place, Jimmy LaFave would put together a little jam group...the
Road Warriorettes high-five each other. We just can't see Jimmy
too often. We run amok into the theater, shoving others aside,
and scoop up some real good seats. Naah, I'm kidding about shoving
people. WoodyFest isn't like that.
Jimmy has a knack for getting people together, and here he's
gathered Terry "Buffalo" Ware, Michael Fracasso, and
the Burns Sisters before us today.. I've never met my saturation
point of Jimmy LaFave songs and enjoyed hearing "Land of
the Five Civilized Tribes" and "Oklahoma" again,
as well as a couple other of Jimmy's tunes, but being a generous
stage manager, he made sure everyone onstage got equal time.
It wasn't really a jam, more like a song circle. I particularly
liked Michael Fracasso's songs.
This really set us up for the Friday night show. The weather
was perfect, I'm not making that up, and when Michael Fracasso
took the stage, we already felt as if we knew him.
 Tracy Grammer followed,
and, almost a year to the day her songwriting partner Dave Carter
died of a sudden heart attack, presented a set of Dave's songs
with Donny Wright accompanying her. People sitting around me
began stirring, wanting more. Her voice and stage presence has
really intensified in the past year. Her importance in the acoustic
music scene can only increase. As she sang, a large dragonfly
zoomed out from behind a speaker, passing over the crowd on its
way to the east. If you want to know why that's significant,
click here.
The Joel Rafael Band, featuring his talented daughter Jamaica,
did mostly Woody songs. Joel's voice has the same timbre as John
Prine's and his delivery of my favorite Woody song, "Dance
A Little Longer", was as smooth as silk.
Austin's Eliza Gilkyson was next, with her son Cisco Ryder
on drums. Her wry wit and tall, dignified demeanor contrast with
the wonderful earthiness of her song lyrics, such as, from "Richmond
Boy":
He don't emotionally swing,
he notices the little things,
he don't mind my defects,
he don't scare me when we fight,
he's quiet when he sleeps,
and puts the seat down in the night.
I walked to the back of the Pastures of Plenty to visit a
food vendor, who served up an amazing dessert called cherries-something,
big pillows of puff pastry, whipped cream and dark fruit. Two
people ahead of me was a man buying the same thing. I noticed
that he was tall, slim, and fit perfectly in his classic blue
jeans. Turned out to be Pete Seeger.
 Vance Gilbert turned
in a rich, strong set. He's another performer who seems to get
better every year. "Oh Eliza Jane," he sings of a biracial
relationship in one of his very candid lyrics, "it was you
and I holding hands, black and white and looking like a Unitarian
Christmas card that's frayed around the edges for the holidays,
because it was so hard. Eliza Jane, what hair you didn't cut
or perm you had braided back, hoping your predetermined genetic
situation might be mistaken for being Black."(LEFT: Vance
Gilbert)
Jimmy LaFave's band included David Webb on keyboards, Scott
Eric Olivier on drums, Larry Wilson on guitars and Will Landin
on bass. I don't think there's any song these guys couldn't play,
and play well. Guest artists were added, including songwriter
Bob Childers, and no one could sit still by the time they shook
the night with "This Land Is Your Land." The next day,
Jimmy told me that his Mom was in the audience. I'll bet she
was really kickin' up her heels.
We Road Warriorettes got back to our motel room late and had
to dissect the whole thing before we fell asleep. Unfortunately,
this resulted in missing MaryJo's Pancake Breakfast, reviewed
on the WG website thusly: "For those of you that missed
Mary Jo's pancake breakfast Saturday morning. You missed the
BEST! For the price of $5.00 you not only got Pancakes, Bacon,
Juice, Milk & Coffee...but entertainment by Jimmy LaFave,
Joel Rafael, Guy & Phyllis Logsden & the Folk Legend
himself, Pete Seeger. There was also a Huntington's program by
Mary Jo & Dr. Jim Pollard. This was a memorable experience!"
 Mary Jo is Woody's
baby sister, Mary Jo Guthrie Edgmon, a charming artist with a
"I Heart Woody Guthrie" pin on her straw hat. She changes
the ribbon every day to match her outfit. Huntington's is the
disease that killed Woody in 1967, and his mother before him.(RIGHT:
Mary Jo Edgmon)
Being wily, we got a perfect spot at the Brick from which
to watch and listen to the Farm Couple. Monica Taylor and Patrick
Williams had just, minutes earlier, accepted delivery of their
brand-new CD Fertile Ground. The audience was relatively
quiet and respectful; they got a standing ovation. Monica dedicated
a song to her Mom, sitting at the table behind us. Hopefully
we'll see them on the main stage next July. Their voices are
so complementary, it's a breath of fresh air for the ears.
 We scurried over
to the Crystal Theater, a good block-and-a-half away, to catch
Audrey Auld and Bill Chambers, from Tasmania and Woy Woy, Australia,
respectively. Bill is the father of Kasey Chambers, who is a
popular rock star down under, and has turned quite a few heads
in the U.S. as well. I had missed them that morning at the Brick,
and I was curious to see them in person. (LEFT: Bill Chambers,
Audrey Auld, Eliza Gilkyson)
They are an amazing duo (read: not couple. Not anymore.) They
speak in Australian, but they sing in mid-American. Their love
for Americana music is succinctly defined in Bill's song, "Dreaming
of Texas":
The sounds of the night ring out like a Spanish guitar,
and I'm back in her arms in those Texas cantinas and bars,
now the bright lights of Austin, they're something I wish I could
see,
and I'm dreaming about Texas, and wondering if she ever thinks
of me.
Audrey is the very image of the word "spirited".
At one point in the show, Audrey joined Bill on stage just after
he had finished a duet with his "new best friend" Eliza
Gilkyson. She looked up at the vocal mic, half a foot over her
head. "Eliza was here," she deadpanned. These two are
earthy and full of life. That they are so very entertaining was
my surprise of the weekend.
The Crystal Theater program ended with the couple everybody
was in love with, Arlo & Jackie's youngest daughter Sarah
Lee, and her husband-partner Johnny Irion. I'd been reading rave
reviews of their music all over the place, including in Rockzillaworld.
Now I could decide for myself.
 "People ask
us why we live in Columbia, South Carolina, and I just have to
tell 'em, 'because they need us there'," says Sarah Lee.
She has exactly the same face as her grandfather Woody, I've
been looking at the huge portrait hung at the back of the main
stage for many hours. Most of the Guthries bear more or less
a resemblance, but Sarah Lee is a ringer. Later, she'll tell
us in her lazy tongue that Woody stole the tune to "This
Land Is Your Land." "Can you believe that?" she
coos. (RIGHT: Sarah Lee Guthrie)
Johnny Irion can stand as a performer on his own. Their harmonies
were right-on, and his contribution to the duo anchors hers in
a very attractive way. It would be almost impossible not to like
them, because they're such honest characters.
Saturday night's main stage show began with Don Conoscenti,
who played what I thought of as a subdued set. He was joined
on stage by his usual compañeros, Vance Gilbert and Ellis
Paul. He looked very comfortable in his tank top and surfer shorts.
Did I mention that the Okemah bank alleged on its sign that it
had hit 106 degrees just a few hours earlier?
Carrie NewComer and Ellis Paul were interesting to hear. I
don't mean to damn them with faint praise, because I enjoyed
their sets a lot. Paul has performed at all six festivals, as
had a handful of others. Josh White Jr., whom I hadn't seen in
many years, did the best version of Tony Joe White's "Rainy
Night In Georgia" that I've ever heard.
By the time Ramblin' Jack Elliott came out, the full moon
was high in the sky above the stage. There were a lot of people
there. The Coalition that runs the festival hasn't announced
a head count yet, but I could tell that the crowd was twice as
large as any other audience this year or any year. There were
lines at the port-o-potties, and to get there, one had to step
over many, many people lying on blankets, since clear aisles
were not designated.
There was a man in front of me wearing a t-shirt printed with
this sentence on the back: "This may be the start of something
small." Probably he was referring to something other than
WoodyFest, but it made me think. The fragile physical environment
of Okemah, OK can not withstand a big crowd at this festival,
in general. To encourage bigger and bigger audiences will diminish
the quality of festival-going, no matter how well-behaved. I
hope the Coalition keeps this phrase in mind as they plan next
year's festival.
I hadn't seen Ramblin' Jack for, oh, thirty years. I'm pretty
sure he used to be taller. You know who he reminded me of? Hank
Hill's father on King of the Hill, the guy who lost his
shins in the war.
He told the audience that he thought he could sleep all day,
that his show was tomorrow, and that he was still pretty-much
asleep, but would try to do his best. I was so hoping that the
Coalition people weren't committing elder abuse!, but the next
day, several folks who had seen Jack lately said that he always
says stuff like that.
He played half-songs, then told stories about the dog who
used to be his agent, about days on the road with Woody and somebody
else, about passing through Okemah half-a-century ago. He just
sort of went off, and I heard the young guy behind me say to
his bud: "I thought his nickname has to do with him ramblin'
around the country, but I guess it's just because he rambles
on and on."
He promised to play again at the Sunday hootenanny, to make
it up to the audience, and I'm told that he did just that, and
gave a wonderful performance that the audience will cherish forever.
 It was wonderful
to see Pete Seeger and Arlo Guthrie again (Pete prefers to play
with Arlo these days.) Though his voice is ragged (and he is
the first to admit it), it was something many long-term fans
wondered if we would experience again. There was something very
full-circle about it. All the performing Guthries joined him,
voices sailing out over the Oklahoma prairie under the perfect
full golden moon. (LEFT: Pete Seeger and Bonny Holder)
To learn more, go to WoodyGuthrie.com,
search the Rockzillaworld
archives, or the web for individual artists' sites.
You can contact Bonny Holder at bonny-at-rockzilla.net
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