WoodyFest turns 20
Oklahoma songwriters keep flocking to Okemah for music event in Guthrie’s hometown
On a summer day in 2004, Brad Piccolo checked himself out of the hospital and made his yearly pilgrimage to Okemah, crutches and all.
The Oklahoma musician had a date to play at the Woody Guthrie Folk Festival, and he was determined not to miss it.
“In 2004, WoodyFest was just after our terrible helicopter crash. Ben and Coop were still hospitalized, and I talked my way out of the hospital on crutches … just so I could show up so we wouldn’t break the string. So, yes, we’ve been there every year,” recalled Piccolo, who makes up the venerable Payne County band the Red Dirt Rangers with Ben Han and John Cooper.
“They wanted to keep me for a couple more days. I said, ‘Look, I need to get out of here,’ and I explained it. … It’s our favorite festival of all time for us. We’ve been part of it every year, and it hits so close to home. Woody was like our No. 1 influence probably, so we just couldn’t ask for a more perfect festival for us to play.”
For two decades, hundreds of musicians and music fans have made the yearly trek to Okemah to pay homage to the late, legendary folk singer-songwriter in his hometown on the week closest to his July 14, 1912, birthday.
The 20th Annual Woody Guthrie Folk Festival on July 12-16 will feature several of Woody Guthrie’s musical relatives, including headliner Arlo Guthrie (the late Guthrie’s son), Sarah Lee Guthrie (the late Guthrie’s granddaughter), Cole Quest (the late Guthrie’s grandson), and Cathy Guthrie (the late Guthrie’s granddaughter),
who performs as folk duo Folk Uke with Amy Nelson (Willie Nelson’s daughter). They will be joined by WoodyFest regulars like Ellis Paul, Joel Rafael, Michael Fracasso, David Amram, Sam Baker and Nancy Apple, as well as acclaimed songwriters Terri Hendrix, Butch Hancock, Rod Picott, SONiA and Amy Speace.
As usual, the festival also will include a strong contingent of Oklahoma talent honoring one of the most influential musicians ever born and bred in the Sooner State: John Fullbright, Wink Burcham, Jacob Tovar, Turnpike Troubadours, Miss Brown to You, Monica Taylor, Gabe Marshall, Levi Parham, Susan Herndon and more.
“What made Woody Woody was the fact that he was from Oklahoma. He had a way of looking at things through the eyes of the common man. He wasn’t a big, megastar of the day or anything. He was just a troubadour,” Piccolo said. “That’s very important to us to be in his hometown honoring him.”
Forming a family
Susan Herndon, an Oklahoma singer-songwriter who serves on the board of directors of the Woody Guthrie Coalition, the nonprofit that organizes WoodyFest, likens the event's volunteer organizers and performers to a family.
“I feel like WoodyFest and anybody who studies and plays his songs is a part of an extended family,” she said. “It’s a great family, and they’re all great players and songwriters and musicians. And I think that sure speaks a lot to have a family that has carried on what you’ve started.”
Herndon, a former Okemah resident now based in Norman, said she still recalls the first time she played the festival about 15 years ago. She was enjoying the continuous musicmaking in the WoodyFest campgrounds when red dirt pioneer Jimmy LaFave invited her to another jam session.
“LaFave pulled me over and said, ‘Hey, you need to come out to the parking lot and jam with us in the evenings. There’s an all-night jam in the parking lot,’ ” she recalled.
“There’s just music everywhere there, and it’s still growing. It’s better than ever. I think the past two festivals have been even better. You know, we were in the red for a little bit, but we made some transitions … and now we’re out of the red. Everyone has worked really hard to keep it going and keep it at a great level.”
Paying tribute
The 2017 festival will open at 8 p.m. July 12 at Okemah’s historic Crystal Theatre with a tribute to LaFave, who died May 21 of cancer at 61. Along with members of LaFave’s band, Night Tribe, Andy Adams, the Burns Sisters, Greg Jacobs, the Red Dirt Rangers and more will perform at the separately ticketed event.
“This is our chance to pay homage to him … and we’re so proud to be part of that,” said Piccolo, whose Rangers were inducted into the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame alongside LaFave earlier this month in Muskogee.
“I’m really looking forward to that because he was such an important person in our career. He’s the first one that got the Red Dirt Rangers on stage.”
This year’s festival also will include tributes to late red dirt songwriters Bob Childers and Tom Skinner, children’s events, songwriting workshops, open mics, poetry readings and featured speakers, along with live musical performances on five stages. Festivalgoers must buy wristbands to see the shows at the Crystal Theatre and the outdoor Pastures of Plenty main stage, but admission is free to the other venues.
As is customary, WoodyFest will close Sunday, July 16, at the Hoot for Huntington's All-Star Jam, which raises funds for the Huntington's Disease Society of America. Woody Guthrie died Oct. 3, 1967, of Huntington's disease at 55.
Plus, Mary Jo’s Pancake Breakfast, a Saturday morning tradition, was started as a Huntington’s disease research fundraiser by Woody Guthrie’s younger sister, Mary Jo Guthrie Edgmon, who in her 90s remains “a great matriarch for the whole festival,” Piccolo said.
“We love her, and we do this for her and the Guthrie family, as well for the fans and people,” he said.
“They had a few events there in Okemah before they even started the festival, which to me were like the seeds of what we have now. Back then, it was not uncommon to walk down the street in Okemah and see signs in windows like ‘Don’t honor this commie.’ … He’s embraced now, and the voice against him is not near what it was. And I’m glad to see that.”
Continuing a legacy
The longtime musician said he believes it’s vital that songwriters continue Guthrie’s legacy as a champion of the downtrodden.
“WoodyFest is more important than ever because what Woody stood for was speaking up against injustice,” Piccolo said. “I’ve seen it in a lot of the younger, upand-coming songwriters. Protest music is making a comeback. People have things to say about our current situation, and folk music has always been a venue to express political discontent.”
Fellow Oklahoma musician Beau Jennings will perform July 15 on the Pastures of Plenty Stage as the first-place winner of this year’s WoodyFest Songwriting Contest. The Norman-based singersongwriter won with “No One Can Destroy a Song,” which he penned last fall for a Tulsa benefit for the Standing Rock protesters in North Dakota.
“I did want them to hear the song, and I thought they would appreciate it. I’m really thankful they did, and they took a listen. Of course, it’s a huge honor, ”he said.
“Half the battle is finding an audience, and not only finding an audience, but the right one, the people that want to hear what you have to say. That can take a while to figure out, so any time someone is interested in a song I wrote, I’m just thrilled."
Playing WoodyFest the past few years, Jennings said he has come to prize the relatively humble festival for showcasing what Guthrie is best known for: the power of song.
“I just liked that it was a very direct channel from the artist to the listener. It felt like a lot of stuff had been stripped away and you really got to the essence of what people are there for, which is the song. I just loved it,” he said. “It’s a little bit of a validation to keep working on the craft and to let everything else fall by the wayside. That other stuff changes, it comes and goes, but the substance, the craft, it’s always gonna be there. It just feels like WoodyFest puts a nice emphasis on that.”