Tulsa’s Woody Guthrie Center turns 5
There’s many ways to measure the impact of Tulsa’s Woody Guthrie Center.
If it’s in years, then wish it happy birthday. The public museum and archive dedicated to Okemah’s son and omnipresent folk icon Woodrow Wilson Guthrie turns 5 next week. In conjunction with the weeklong celebration, the Tulsa Arts District mainstay will host several free concerts, a fundraiser, film screenings, panels and even a freshly finished virtual reality exhibit promising a digital trip to Oklahoma’s Dust Bowl era panhandle.
If you measure by feet, then you’re in the same boat as WGC archivists. That’s how they calculate the thousands of notebook stacks and loose leaf pages full of songs and drawings. Tulsa marks the first public space for all this materiel after Woody’s daughter Nora Guthrie led the charge in organizing the archives for researchers throughout the 1990s. The WGC officially opened on April 27, 2013, after the collection was acquired by the George Kaiser Foundation.
If you measure in blocks, the WGC — located at 102 E M.B. Brady St. — is within stumbling distance of Cain’s Ballroom, where it has continued to attract musicians who have either a musical connection or spiritual kinship to Guthrie. Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives not only share that bond with the “Way Out West: A Country Music Odyssey” exhibit that opened in January but also in a fundraising concert taking place 8 p.m.Tuesday at “the home of Bob Wills.”
WGC Education and Public Programs Manager Jerry Wofford said the partnership between the museum and Stuart was so strong the singer joined the advisory board.
“His collection is enormous,” Wofford told The
Oklahoman. “This is just a small piece of it. He played in our theater when the exhibit opened and appreciated what we do . ... Stuart especially understands Woody Guthrie’s place in music and the broader cultural landscape.”
The “Way Out West” exhibit is a perk of WGC partnering with the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles.
“So much of what Stuart has and does lies in that West Coast influence and how that affected country music,” Wofford said. “You’re talking your Merle Haggards and your Maddox Brothers and Roses who were playing these songs that people who migrated out west during the Dust Bowl brought with them.
“These Okies and people from the Midwest going out to California to find work took all of their guitars and style with them.”
Back to Oklahoma
As harrowing as it is to see Stuart’s photograph of Johnny Cash days before his death or any number of guitars and sequined outfits, it’s the Dust Bowl VR experience that helps usher the WGC into both the past and future.
“We opened with stateof-the-art technology,” Wofford said. “A lot of the touch screen and interactive stations pulled people into Woody’s world through his music. You can explore his lyrics in so many different ways. It was cutting edge and technologically exciting.”
Five years later and that drive to tell stories in fresh ways has moved into a digital headset experience. The VR exhibit will put you on an actual porch — built out of wood from old barns and farmhouses from Oklahoma’s Panhandle — while a dust storm rolls in. The horizon starts off as a small black line, and before long the wind’s frightening livestock while people run for shelter before dust envelops the porch. The public can test the VR experience starting Tuesday.
“The Dust Bowl is visually and audibly compelling,” Wofford said. “It was really influential in Woody Guthrie’s life, too. That’s really where he sunk his teeth into using his music to promote social justice.”
Families that fled the Midwest for California often were met at state lines by police, who turned people away and sometimes requested a bribe for entry into the Golden State.
“He was seeing how this abuse of power affected people,” Wofford added. “That was a big impact. You shouldn’t be able to treat people this way . ... So much of what Woody did, especially in early songs and artwork, depicted a lot of that struggle and that fight for dignity.”
School’s in session
As I started my tour through the WGC, a school bus full of students drove off. Wofford had wrapped a free tour, which is a common practice at the Oklahoma museum. WGC also hosts after-school programs that foster songwriting and creativity. I asked Wofford what he hoped the kids would walk away with after a visit. The WGC is less about hero worship than it is about letting people know their voice has equal value to the cherished folk singer, he said.
“I hope people leave here energized and wanting to make change in their world,” he said. “We like people going back to their communities with this idea of creating a world where everyone has a seat at the table.”
When students see the handwritten lyrics to “This Land Is Your Land” — a song every Oklahoman grows up singing — they can get a peek at a few extra verses.
There was a big high wall there that tried to stop me Sign was painted, it said private property But on the back side it didn’t say nothing This land was made for you and me
“It’s neat when they get to see that, and you see it in their eyes when it clicks together . ... Woody was saying to treat people with respect, take care of each other and stand up for what’s right,” Wofford said. “That’s really inspiring to see.
“And it’s great when adults get it, too.”