A Photographic Retrospective By John Robert Rowlands

Arlo Guthrie

 

b. 10 July 1947, Coney Island, New York, USA.

 

The eldest son of folksinger Woody Guthrie, Arlo was raised in the genre's thriving environment.

His lengthy ballad, 'Alice's Restaurant Massacre', was the outcome of being arrested

for being a litter lout in 1965. It was a part humorous song, part narrative, and achieved popularity

following the artist's appearance at the 1967 Newport Folk Festival.

The composition became the cornerstone of Guthrie's debut album, and inspired a

feature film, but the attendant publicity obscured the performer's gifts for melody.

An early song, 'Highway In The Wind', was successfully covered by Hearts And Flowers

as Arlo emerged from under the shadow of his father. Running Down The Road, produced by

Van Dyke Parks, indicated a newfound maturity, but his talent truly flourished on a series of

excellent 70s recordings, notably Hobo's Lullaby, Last Of The Brooklyn Cowboys, and Amigo.

Although offering a distillation of traditional music - wedding folk and country to ragtime,

blues and Latin - such recordings nonetheless addressed contemporary concerns.

'Presidential Rag' was a vitriolic commentary on Watergate and 'Children Of Abraham' addressed

the Arab/Israeli conflict. The singer enjoyed a US Top 20 hit with a reading of Steve Goodman 's

'City Of New Orleans' (1972) and, if now less prolific, Arlo Guthrie remains a popular figure on the

folk circuit as well as an imposing sight with his full mane of grey hair. He returned to the site of his most

famous song in 1995 with a reworked (even longer!) reprise, 'The Massacre Revisited'.

In a 1997 interview he quoted a family joke regarding the original; 'Woody heard a test pressing,

we played him Alice's Restaurant, and then, uh, he died.'.

 

Photogrpah of Arlo Guthrie by John Robert Rowlands