Woody Guthrie: A Life by Joe Klein Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Woody Guthrie: A Life
Book Review: "Take it easy, but take it."
Summary: 5 Stars
In the liner notes to the album, "Mermaid Avenue," Billy Bragg suggested that, to many, Woody Guthrie was merely a character glimpsed over the shoulder of Bob Dylan. Without doubt, that is where I first saw him (although I can't remember a time when I did not know his name). After having explored the entire Dylan back catalogue and after devouring all the Dylan biographies, I turned my attentions to Guthrie. My introduction to him was strange in that I went after him whole heartedly and perhaps somewhat recklessly, blowing a large chunk of my paycheck on the Asch Recordings boxed set. I can't say I enjoyed what I heard. Infact, after listening to half of it, halfway through, once, I shelved it and didn't take it down again for a good six months. However, something about Guthrie enchanted me. I had seen a documentary on his life and the sense of freedom and adventure that came across made me feel extremely stifled by what I was doing. At my age, whilst I was cashing a depressing dole check each week, Guthrie had been out riding box-cars and freights across the entire length and breadth of America. I got him all tangled and mixed in my head with Kerouac and "On the Road" and found myself even more fascinated after reading his autobiographical novel, "Bound for Glory". After returning to the CDs (and loving them this time round), I decided to hunt down a good biography and eventually fell upon Joe Klein's book, the book I am reviewing now. Klein's book is fantastic to my mind simply because he seems to have entered into it with a similar outlook to the way I felt. To Joe Klein, Woody Guthrie also represented a simple life, filled with boyish adventure and urges for freedom that could not be subdued. His love affair with Guthrie's art, music and politics seems to have developed from that and subsequently the book reads with a very well-rounded feel to it. Of course, Guthrie's life wasn't all box-cars and Hard Travelin' (much to my dissmay), but Klein deals with all the humour and tragedy of his short life in a very witty and likeable way. It's extremely well researched and I actually found myself learning far more about America during the Depression years than I thought I ever would. A marvellous book.