Greatness Woody Notes

Woody Finds His Footsteps - Notes aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Text a Home

Bill Dorris

All quotes and information from "Since the 1960s…" to "…the things that you've done" are from Klein (1980) pp 413, 421-4, 433-4; and Yurchenco (1970), p154.

In order to maintain the flow of the writing here (and in the rest of the book), quotes which are used are sometimes changed slightly - eg, "producing" changed to "produce"; “is” changed to “was”, ". . ." omitted, etc.

(2) All quotes and information from "What had he done…" to "…me a hoist" are from Guthrie (1970), pp 212-13, 215; and Klein (1980) p422.

(3)All quotes and information from "And a few years later, back East…" to "…twentieth century" are from Klein (1980) pp 142-3, 164; Yurchenco (1970), p9; and Guthrie (1963), p75.

(4)All quotes and information from "And a year or so later…" to "…twenty-four of em for you tonite" are from Klein (1980) pp 189-90, 197-8; Yurchenco (1970), pp107-08; and Guthrie (1963), pp 8. 11. 83, 106-07, 111, 113.

(5)All quotes and information from "Aside from the two obvious…" to "…seasoned street hustler" are from Klein (1980) pp 140, 142,188; Yurchenco (1970), p107; Guthrie (1963), pp 7, 29, inside front cover; Guthrie (1958); and Guthrie (1968).

Re Woody's best and lasting songs all being written the same way, as he put it on the bottom of the first draft of "This Land" in February, 1940: "All you can write is what you see". (p 141 Klein). The two notable exceptions – Woody's only great "newspaper songs" – are "Tom Joad" and "Deportee" (pp 90 & 24, Guthrie, 1963), both of which recount stories so close to his own Dust Bowl experiences that Woody might as well have lived them himself.

(6) Everything known re Woody’s early childhood clearly suggests he was born “adaptable”, “active”, “positive”, “curious”, ie in Thomas & Chess’s (1977) terms, an “easy child”. or as Costa & McCrae would have it “open to experience” (cf Pervin, 1996, pp43-51)

(7) Information and quotes in this section (“Unlike Hitch, Woody . . .” to “. . . who remained ‘forever young’.”) come from Klein, 1980, pp 8-11, 16-19, 136; Guthrie, 1970, 38-40; Yurchenco, 1970, pp18-20, 23; Guthrie, 1992, pp xxiv, 3, 24, 177; Dickey, 1976, p3; Lampell, 1972; Guthrie, 1961, p1; Terkel, 1975, px.

(8) Re the benefits of being 6 years younger than his sibs, getting “mama’s best hours”, having an older sister he “idolized”, and having no younger sibs for yet another 6 years see, eg, Toman, 1993, pp 25, 31-2 (re “more time, attention & affection” from parents); Weisner & Gallimore, 1977 (re older sibs showing great tolerance, caretaking, and being important models of competence for younger); Golombok & Fivush,1994, p 86 (re powerful female as model for boy); and Sutton-Smith & Rosenberg, 1970, pp 23-24, 31-34; Albert, 1971; Guthrie, 1976, pp45-8 (re opposite-sex role influence & creativity and cross-sex effects on independence and cognitive complexity).

(9) Re family status as a powerful source of pride/ confidence/ freedom of expression in early childhood, see Hollingshead, 1967, Ch5; Bourdieu, 1986, eg pp75-7. Or for “live” egs see Davis , 1990, p14; de Beauvoir, 1959. pp5-21; Graham, 1991, pp18-41; Hepburn, 1992, pp7-28; Szulc, 1989, pp104-06; Caro, 1992, pp42-9, 59-60, 62-4, 69-72.

(10) Re the interplay of genetic bias and early experience in development of musical & linguistic intelligences, Woody’s strong pull toward both is obvious, but in these crucial years he is much more actively engaged in “constructing” his linguistic skills - for, eg, vs concert pianists (Sosniak, 1985a, pp24-31; 1985b, pp 69-73). See Ericsson & Faivre, 1988, p437, 468; Winner, 1996, eg pp55, 212-15 (re genetic bias as “motivation/ drive for acquiring skills”); Gardner, 1985, 79-83 &108-15 (re dev of linguistic & musical intelligences); Guthrie, 1976, p51 (re Charley as “poet man”).

(11) Woody’s 1st 6 years were practically “Erikson’s dream” re the development of “basic trust”, “autonomy”, & “initiative”. (see eg, Allen, 1994, 162-4) “Securely attached” to mom (Ainsworth et al, 1978) and to “multiple caretakers” (Smith, 1980), and clearly getting a “high degree of attention/ love” (McCurdy, 1957, p168), he no doubt “internalized his parent’s evaluative reactions” and developed “high self-esteem” (Epstein, 1980, p10), and “schema” which would lead him to expect positive, effective relations with his world and the people in it (Main et al, 1985; Waters et al, 1979; Stern, 1985, p193-4). For egs of Woody “becoming whatever he saw” see, eg, Klein, 1980, pp 50, 55, 65-6, 81, 93, 122, 310-13; Guthrie, 1970, pp 174-7; Guthrie, 1976, pp 121-2, 254-5.

(12) Quotes and information in this section (from “By six it was. . .” to “. . .just waiting for Woody”) come from Klein, 1980, pp18-23, 25-7; Guthrie, 1970, pp 46-7, 50-55, 61, 65-73; Yurchenco, 1970, pp 28-9; Guthrie,1976, pp 42-4; Guthrie, 1963, p11; Guthrie, 1961; Guthrie, 1964.

(13) Huntington ’s, which Woody also died of, is an hereditary disease that passes from parent to child (via a “single dominant gene”) and usually manifests itself between “30 and 45”. There is a progressive - and so far irreversible - degeneration of brain cells, especially in several midbrain areas crucial to “balance and movement”, and in the frontal cortex, affecting “sense of self and social awareness”. As the disease progresses so does lost of control over “a wide range of emotions and desires”, including sex and aggression. see Klein, 1980, pp439-41; Rosenzweig & Leiman, 1989, p 141.

(14) Re Woody’s “drifting” out the door to “disruptive behavior problems” and a “high risk of delinquency”, see, eg, Masten, Best & Garmezy, 1991, p435 (“loss of adequate care” & “experiencing horrific acts perpetuated by (Nora) or against (Clara) attachment figures”); Rutter, 1985, p605 (“high risk” associated with lack of “appropriate social controls and prosocial models”, “parental supervision and monitoring of children’s activities”, and “good scholastic achievement”) and especially, Radke-Yarrow, et al., 1992, pp 68, 73 (kids in “middle and late childhood” with “affectively ill mothers” having “disruptive problems”, esp among boys in families with increased “stress” and lower “social economic status”). See also, Garmezy, 1991, p423, re “parental role patterns” associated with disadvantaged, low scholastic achievers; McLoyd, 1989, pp297-9, re financial and marital strain from Charley’s declining fortunes increasing Woody’s tendency to “affiliate with peers”, “violate school rules”, & “decline in academic performance”. See Guthrie, 1970, pp 103-113, re punchups, gangs, and petty thefts; Guthrie, 1976, pp42-8; Klein, 1980, pp21, 26, re marital strains.

Charley’s regular presence in downtown Okemah as a still aspiring politician, a “33rd degree Mason”, parttime member of the police force and the local KKK, plus the fact that Woody had a very “positive prior relationship” with his father no doubt set definite limits on Woody’s “delinquency” - not to mention giving him privileged access to the pool halls, brothels, & poker rooms (see McLoyd, 1989, pp297-9; Klein, 1980, pp25-6, 35, 48; Guthrie, 1970, pp 98, 101, 138-40; Yurchenco, 1970, 26-7). Woody’s lessened, but ongoing ties to his grandmother also no doubt undercut his “deviant activities” (see Guthrie, 1970, 57-73, 156-7; Wilson , 1989, p382). Re importance of “unusual circumstances” in early life of a future writer which conforms m in s aloneness and puts m in contact with multiple fascinating personalities, see Gardner, 1973, pp247-52.

(15) Quotes and information in this section (from “With oil derricks jumping. . .” to “. . .pretty much all of the time”) come from Klein, 1980, pp 24-5; Guthrie, 1970, pp 94-102, 106+; Yurchenco, 1970, pp 24-28; Guthrie, 1976, pp42-4; Guthrie, 1963, p11; Guthrie, 1961; Guthrie, 1964.

(16) “Music” is used as a metaphor for all of Woody’s expressive creations - tunes, songs, stories, cartoons, sketches, dances, and working the crowd.

(17) Thanks to the oil boom Woody went straight into the real “tool world” just at the peak of Erikson’s “school age” - just as he was most “ready to learn, to be directed by others”; just as his “intellectual curiosity”, his desire “to know” and take on “parental roles” were all skyrocketing - with the result that he escaped both school and delinquency, and instead got 3 years of intensive “learning experiences” with “the help of cooperative peers and instructive adults”, and of course developed a powerful sense of “competency”, not to mention a thorough grounding in the basics of his adult life, ie ear music, wordslinging, and street hustling. See Allen, 1994, p164-5; Erikson, 1968, p289; Lowe, 1993, 127-38.

(18) In Woody’s case the “defensive origins” of his “inner world of fantasy” are obvious. But since they occurred well past the age of basic linguistic competency, his “imaginative output”, particularly in relation to drawings and stories, clearly served both to help him “escape unpleasant thoughts” and to attempt to rectify the situation (eg by cheering up his mom, himself, or by getting others to “mother” him). See Klein 1980, pp 28, 30, 31, & Guthrie, 1970, pp 49-50, 65, 76-81, 91-2, 136-7, 150-51, 153-55, for egs of Woody’s concern re mother, fantasies/ stories re animals, and use of drawings to escape/ comfort himself. See Gardner, 1982, pp141-2, 179-82; Howe, 1992, pp183-5; Gardner, 1985, pp 79-81, 178-80, 244-51; Storr, 1983, Ch 12, esp p198, re theory/ research on development of fantasy and its expression in stories and drawings. See Kuspit, 1987, re Gauguin, who like Woody spend his early childhood (1848-55) getting all of “mama’s best hours”; then was abruptly separated from her and sent away to boarding school; and later in his “primitive decorative art”, in the “sky and sea of Oceania”, and especially in its “native women”, sought a “state of union” with “the mothering world” (p 177). See also Miller, 1990, Ch2, re Kathe Kollwitz, whose childhood was filled with fear “that her mother might ‘come to some harm’, ‘get lost’, ‘go mad’, or die”; and whose pictures, like Woody’s of his mother (Guthrie,1970, p137) are laced with “hopelessness and despair”.

(19) As a result of his family’s disintegration (age 5+), his riding the oil boom (8-11), and his “street schooling” (12-15), the development - to use Gardner’s terms - of Woody’s “linguistic”, “musical”, “spatial”, and “bodily-kinesthetic” intelligences not only accelerated greatly, but also never lost the synesthesia-like quality that characterizes children’s early “symbolic expressiveness”, ie, between 5 & 7 when there is a “natural commerce among various media”, when “sounds can readily evoke colors” and “motions of the hand suggest lines of poetry”. Not only did he escape the suppression of spontaneity and the segregation/ institutionalization of intelligences common to most school programs, Woody also missed out on the ramroding of “logical-mathematical” intelligence and the short-term, exam crammings that generally serve to back ward any hope of expressive development. Moreover in Woody’s case the “conventions” and “rules” of the “literal stage” of development, with its “concern with realism” and “mastering the rules” - as well as the subsequent “years preceding adolescence” when his sensitivity to “style, expressiveness, balance, and composition” would come to the fore - all occurred in an “environment” which was itself virtually synesthetic, with its continual mix and flow of a “swirling, whirling, swelling” roar of sound, form, words, and action. Naturally his mature “symbolic codes”/ ”languages” had precisely these same characteristics. See Gardner, 1985 (re various intelligences); Gardner, 1982, pp 86-90, 91-102, 128-43, 144-57, 168-83 (re childhood developments of expressiveness in various media); Gardner, Wolf & Smith, 1982 (re Max who might easily be confused for Woody); Gardner & Winner, 1982 (re early use of metaphor); Gardner, 1973, Ch5 (re research on artistic development); Cytowic, 1994, pp92-8, 106-110, 147-52 (re difference between synesthesia and “cross-modal associations” in frontal cortex).

(20) You could say that Woody’s “interpersonal intelligence” developed at an accelerated rate due to his 3 years on the street (Gardner, 1985, pp250-52) or that his moral development never got much beyond Kolhberg’s “Level one: preconventional morality”, the level common to “most children under 9 and many adolescent and adult criminal offenders“ (Smith & Cowie, 1991, p202-3). Either way he clearly missed out on the “most important characteristic schools share in common”, ie “a preoccupation with order and control” (p122), not to mention 3 years of being “discouraged from developing the capacity to learn by and for himself” (p135, Silberman, 1971); or that like, eg, Meyer Lansky, Henry Hill, Iceberg Slim, and Al Capone he found “betting the shills”, “running Muldoons”, “jerking the Murphy”, and “doing the big job” somehow more engaging than getting Bar Mitzvahed down at the local Seward Park Library. (see Lacey, 1991, pp29-47; Pileggi, 1990, pp20-34; Slim, I, 1987, pp30-48; Kobler, J, 1992, pp23-37; also, Thrasher, F. M., 1927). In Bowles & Gintis’ terms Woody definitely never got “replicated” into his proper position in those “relationships of dominance and subordinancy” that are so crucial to smooth functioning of “the economic sphere” (1977, p 125).

(21) Quotes and information in this section (from “Three straight years . . .” to “. . . bouncing up on momma’s knee.”) come from Klein, 1980, pp 8, 24-38; Guthrie, 1970, pp 86-7, 89, 91,104, 113, 135-43, 147-51, 158; Yurchenco, 1970, pp 28-35; Guthrie, 1976, pp 35-6; Guthrie, 1961; Guthrie, 1964.

(22) In the rest of this section Woody provides a perfect eg of a ”vulnerable”/ “high risk” child who proved to be extremely “resilient”/ ”invincible” due to repeated beneficial “fits” between his personal/ social characteristics (eg., “secure early attachment”, “easy temperament”, “high self-confidence”, “resourceful problem-solver”, “effective niche-seeker”, “valued competencies”) and the more than adequate “transient buffers” and “enduring protective factors” provided by his family and small community. See, for eg, especially Masten, Best & Garmezy, 1991; also Werner & Smith, 1982; Garmezy, 1993, pp 132-3 esp, 1991; Rutter, 1987, 1985; Luthar, 1991; Cicchetti & Lynch, 1993.

(23) See note (18) above.

(24) By pre-adolescence Woody was well past the basic ability to “accurately capture time values, repetitions, and the ‘underlying beat’” in music (Gardner, 1973, pp194-5). His total immersion in the harmonica, bones etc from 12 to 15 parallels the “middle years” of young concert pianists, when they “become possessed by music”, by the “sudden desire to play”, to “work and rework a piece, ‘going over it note by note, phase by phase’, until they’ve ‘got it right’”. ‘Course Woody’s practicing wasn’t quite “the sort of habit - like brushing your teeth” - that takes over after “4 or 5 years” of the folks forking over cash for private lessons, not to mention the essential grand piano; “monitoring” the selection of the proper 2nd, 3rd, or 4th teacher, all of whom would “expect constant perfection” - continually “discussing” such matters as “’how you hold your hand, this way, that way; this finger, that’”; while running you through all the basic “Czerny exercises” & “Chopin etudes” ‘til “everything was just so”. Still while Woody’s early “recitals” weren’t exactly sponsored by the Young Musicians Foundation, he did share certain motivational influences with young concert pianists, eg “being interested in what he was doing”, “enjoying working with a recognized expert” down at the shoeshine stand, and knowing full well it was “a matter of survival” out in the school yard, or as Willie Nelson put it, “out of those cottonfields”. See Sosniak, 1985, pp45-51 re pianists; Nelson & Shrake, 1988, p48. For parallels to the sort of “rehearsals & recitals” Woody experienced see, eg, Marsh, 1981, pp27-31; Haggard & Russell, 1983, pp27, 30-1, 44-6, 110-114; Scaduto, 1973, pp17-22; Flippo, 1989, pp22-26. See Sloboda, 1994, pp160-63, re features common to lives of “self-taught” musicians. For more accelerated version see Winner, 1996, pp86-89.

Re the “colored shoeshine boy”, who Woody said “gave” him his first French harp and then responded to Woody’s request to “show him over and over” how to play various pieces (Klein, 1980, p9, 13, &28), it’s worth noting that this “boy” was of course actually a man and recalling how similar benefits accrued to Hank Williams some 10 years later in Greenville, Alabama: “Even though Hiram with his shoe-shine kit was lower than Tee-Tot on the economic scale, he was still a white man, even if he was only twelve years old. So he demanded that Tee-Tot teach him guitar”. (Flippo, 1989, p24) See also Klein, 1980, p48, re “Spider Fingers”.

(25) In early adolescence due to the accelerating change, importance, & uncertainty re sexuality, competence, social differentiation, etc,12-15 year olds naturally ban together in “remarkably clannish cliques” of “co-oriented peers” for purposes of sorting out such matters as “social reality”, “self-image”, and “self-esteem”. In Woody’s case that meant hanging out with the “boomer’s kids” and other outcasts. (See Erikson, 1963, pp261-3; Bee, 1994, 291-2; Willis,1983, pp89-91; Visano, 1990, p157; Jones & Gerard, 1967, ch 9 & 10; Durkin, 1996, pp321-2, 525-29; Klein, 1980, pp 28-9, 35-7; Guthrie, 1970, p116.)

Given that he was streetwise, better connected than the recent arrivals, & had excellent “task” and “socio-emotional” skills (eg “intelligence”, “verbal fluency”), Woody was a natural leader - giving him (like a “seasoned hustler” among today’s “street children”) a power base for building skills, confidence, and identity; for successfully “differentiating” himself in “opposition” to the hostile “school culture”. (See Willis, 1983, pp89-109; Klein, 1980, pp 29-31, 37-8; Visano, 1990, pp147-9, 153-5; Secord & Backman, 1974, Ch 11).

(26) As a “resilient child” with years of “mastery experiences” already in the bag, Woody no doubt took on both street and school buoyed with “feelings of self-efficacy” and “prepared for effective action”. He continually sought out and developed those “niches” whose “flexible structures” were ideally suited to his high level of “intrinsic motivation” and specific “academic potentials” - ie, music, dancing, drawing, etc; not to mention his “adeptness at mediation and accommodation” acquired from years as an “intermediate-born”, and his “natural championing of the oppressed”, courtesy of being a late maturing outcast who spent his first 6 years as a “last-born” - with the result that Woody maximized his “learning” and “enjoyment” by, among other things, becoming the “class clown”. He also managed to hookup with a “flexible, enthusiastic” typing teacher who obviously “adapted” herself to his sizable “individual differences”. And when he ran up against his “betters” - the students who scorned him as “trash” and teachers who had no time for dirty, “lazy”, “rebellious” and “disobedient” little misfits like him - Woody just pulled out his French harp, chalk, and jig steps and landed the whole lot of ‘em on their head. And while he never got the rigorously supportive/ motivating sequence of intensively working with increasingly more expert teachers and peers that’s essential to success in highly specialized fields like concert piano or Olympic swimming, between 8 & 15 Woody got plenty short, sharp exposures to multitudes of teachers - some with sizable expertise - and continuous opportunities to practice/ perfect his skills in the areas that mattered most, ie., wordslinging, ear music, and hustling on the street. And equally important - while clearly noone planned or paid for it - conditions worked out such that - like the specialists - he was able to take on and master increasingly bigger challenges in all three areas - eg playing his French harp for hours alone, then for the captive audience of Indian kids at the Saturday markets, then ad-libbing in the school yard, and finally - by invitation - off the junior class flatbed. With the result that, like the concert pianists, Woody was well past the requisite standards in all three fields - not to mention on his “favorite instrument” - by the time exams rolled around. See Masten, Best & Garmezy, 1991, p431; Cicchetti & Rogosch, 1997, pp810-11 (re resilience); Cronbach & Snow, 1977; Peterson, 1977 (re structures & potentials); Stewart, 1992, p48-51 (re sibling positions); Durkin, 1996, p511; Simmons et al, 1987, pp 189-90, 195-7; Mussen & Jones, 1957, p252; Duke et al, 1982 (re low status of slight, nonathletic, late maturating boys); Allport, 1958, p146 (re “clowning” as response to “victimization”) Gage,1965 (re traits of effective teachers); Lepper, Greene & Nisbett, 1973; Hennessey & Amabile, 1988, (re intrinsic motivation); Gottlieb, 1966 (re teachers attitudes toward lower class students) ; Bloom 1985, pp 512-24 (re talent development); Klein, 1980, p28; Agee, 1969, pp 19-22 (re Charlie Chaplin as role model).

(27) See note (19) above.

(28) Information and quotes in this section (“And that’s the other. . . “ to “. . . he ever felt the heat”) come from Klein, 1980, pp 22, 30-32, 36-40, 49, 60; Guthrie, 1970, pp55, 65, 136-7, 156-7; Yurchenco, 1970, pp18-19, 28-29.

(29) Re Woody’s “hunger and terror”. Many of the dynamics of him having experienced close intimacy with his mother and then lost it horrifically/ inexplicably are discussed in Storr, 1983, Ch7, ie, need for continual, “recurrent injections of love” (Klein, 1980, eg pp58, 65, 98, 299); intense relationship with children, “devoted” totally accepting friends, and social rejects - none of whom would reject him (Klein, pp 35, 68, 188, 274, 417); continual/ conflictful seeking of mothering (Klein, pp30,31, 39-40, 49, 55, 62, 239, 295, 410); depression when affirmation not readily available (Klein, pp 38, 61, 300); avoidance of confrontation with intimates, as if anger would drive them away and “nothing could restore the balance” (Klein, pp 31-2, 36, 50, 86, 256-8); and associated with this, much repressed anger - starting with that aimed at mom for ‘rejecting’ him (Klein, pp 24, 39) - which is expressed indirectly through “acting out” and his artistic creations (Klein, pp35, 73-4, 86-7, 139-40; Guthrie, 1970, pp70-1, 74-81). See Stein,1984, re how Woody’s repression and acting out of feelings would have been augmented by the Southwestern “cowboy culture”. Riso, 1988, ch9, gives rich illustrations of many aspects of Woody’s “hunger and terror” in action.

(30) See note (13) above.

(31) Information and quotes in this section (“Seven years later. . .” to “. . . no rudder, no direction”) come from Klein, 1980, pp37, 46-9, 53, 56, 58-68, 70-74, 77-80, 85, 87, 91, 94-5; Guthrie, 1963, pp20-1; Guthrie, 1970, pp179+; Guthrie, 1976, p50; Lomax, 1975, p603 (re “Carter lick”); Lomax, Guthrie, & Seeger, 1967, pp216, 219, 226-7; Malone, 1974, pp36-42, 48, 63-5; Miller, 1987, p30 (“Kittie Clyde”); Yurchenco, 1970, pp42-9, 60-66.

(32) Re unstable work histories of men whose families were devastated by economic loss/ marital discord while they were still preschoolers, see Elder, 1974, also Bronfenbrenner, 1986, p733.

(33) The importance of musical tradition in the Guthrie extended family cannot be overestimated, in that prior to extensive development of phonograph and advent of urban teen culture, traditional/ country music was learned almost entirely through membership in “musical” families in context of local communities - eg fiddle almost always passed on father to son. Woody of course maintained contact with his extended family (inc the Moores) primarily for emotional needs (as he could easily support himself). The development of his musical skills (vs eg his sketching/ artistic) over 10 years between Okemah and his initial fame on station KFVD in L.A. can be traced to his ever increasing involvement with music as a result of his family connections (Moores, Uncle Jeff/ Matt Jennings, Cousin Jack - an accomplished musician who opened the door to KFVD for his sidekick, Woody). See Klein, 1980, pp37, 46, 48-9, 56-67, 87-91; Malone, 1974, ch 1&2; Stambler & Landon, 1969, eg, pp 29, 51, 81, 96, 180-1,185,190, 206-7, 250-2, 269, 283; Ritchie, 1963. See also Laband & Lentz, 1992, pp171-4, re parallels in career development of politicians.

(34) Combo of Corncob Trio & Carter Family records forced Woody - like a young concert pianist in a “master class” of peers - to “think & experiment”, to “find his own way” with the music - which in Woody’s case worked out to something like a French harp & Carter lick red balling an oil slick. Since Woody’s musical challenges had nothing to do with hushed concert halls, but rather with hitting it right off the 1st slice with the likes of Smokey, Lefty Lou, & Possum Trot Bruce, the Corncob Trio let Woody - like a rock musician or vaudeville performer - work out his position in relation to the group - a position that never varied over subsequent years of playing outside the family. Woody became the dominant personality, the “ultimate arbiter of taste”, the front man, ad libber, songwriter, & wordslinger; always supported by a “loyal, calm, caring, easy going friend” who was also an “amazed, delighted”, awe-struck, “student” of his (eg Matt Jennings, Pete Seeger, Cisco Houston, Ramblin Jack Elliot); and backed by superior musicians (eg, Cluster Baker, Pete Seeger, Leadbelly) who “accommodated” themselves to Woody’s dominance of the group (eg Corncob Trio, Almanac Singers) or session (eg historic Asch recordings of Woody, Cisco, Leadbelly, Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee et al). See Klein, 1980, pp48, 59, 152, 166, 207, 275-6, 364. Seeger, 1972, pp41-60, esp 43, 58-60; Sosniak, 1985, 63-5; Bennett, 1980, Ch1.

(35) Re the commercialization of poor, white Southern music in the ‘20s & ‘30s, as a result of the emergence of radio, competition & then collaboration between the mega-stations and the record companies (beginning with Ralph Peer’s recording of Fiddlin’ John Carson in 1923 at the instigation of Okeh’s Atlanta distributor, Polk Brockman), see Malone, 1974, Ch2, esp 40-1; Green, 1965, pp208-23. Re massive influence of The Carter Family & the “Carter lick” - the guitar style made famous by Maybelle Carter - see Malone, 1974, pp62-67; Lomax, 1975, p603. Re the influence of urbanism (as in racism) in preventing the earlier recording/ dissemination of “redneck”, “linthead”, “clayeater”, “tarheel”, “turdkicker”, “cajun”, “cracker”, “hillbilly” music, see Green, 1965, pp204-07; Malone, 1974, pp33-4; Klein, 1980, p148.

(36) Information & quotes in this section (“A direction Woody. . .” to “. . . on his tombstone”) come from Klein, 1980, pp18-19, 23, 30, 33, 43, 78-9, 152; Guthrie, 1970, pp142, 210, 239, 248, 254-5, 277; Lomax, Guthrie, & Seeger, 1967, pp 88, 213, 218, 232; Yurchenco, 1970, pp 73-9; Guthrie, 1975, p428; Guthrie, 1976, pp 41-48; Guthrie, 1961; Phillips, 1973, pp 63, 93.

(37) Re Woody’s finding an identity: For nearly a decade after leaving Okemah (most of it spent in Pampa, Texas) Woody was in a constant roller coaster search for identity - going from “exploration/ crisis” (eg accelerated “gathering of information”, “exhilaration” & “curiosity”) to intensive, short-lived “commitments”: eg, reading “every psychology book” in the Pampa library --> writing a “thick, bound notebook” re everything he’d learned about “the search for self-knowledge”; “devouring” the Bible --> baptism by “total immersion”; “very soon” after he “started dating” 15 yr old Mary Jennings --> “intensely” & “insistently” “asking her to marry him”; discovering Gibran’s The Prophet -->studying “occult/mysticism” with Bettie Jean --> starting own service in “Divine Healing and Consultation”. Each of these short lived “commitments” fulfilled the same crucial “identity functions” for Woody, ie, emotional “communality”, “continuity”, & “protection” - always via the people he was closely associated with in each “commitment”, ie the Okemah librarian who “fit neatly into the role Mrs Chowning had played in Okemah”; Rev. Eulys McKenzie, a “gentle man with a kind heart”; the shy and admiring Mary whose marriage made Woody into Matt Jennings’ “brother”; Bettie Jean, “one of the few people who understood what he was talking about”. But they all failed in regard to other critical functions which Woody eventually fulfilled via his identification with the Okies (ie, oppressed/ exploited) - a “coherent framework for organizing/ integrating behaviors across diverse aspects of his life”; a “sense of purpose”, ”raison d’etre”; a “direction through choice of specific activities”; a “mechanism for Woody’s potentialities to be recognized”. See Waterman & Archer, 1990, esp pp 34-8; Erikson, 1968; Marcia, 1980; Klein, 1980, pp48-71, 78-85, 111-124. See also, Burkitt, 1994, re social/ cultural influences on development of identity.

(38) Information & quotes in this section (“And that was it. . . “ to “. . . became ‘that people'.”) come from Klein, 1980, pp 66, 68, 85, 98, 115-17,135-6, 141-50, 413, 424-5; Yurchenco, 1970, pp74, 80-3, 87-91; Guthrie,1963, pp35, 207; Guthrie, 1970, 177-8; IWW, 1976; Steinbeck, 1967, p9.

(39) Re radical political insurgency during the Depression see, eg, Pivan & Cloward, 1979, Ch2 & 3; Zinn, 1980, Ch15; Boyer & Morais, 1980, Ch 9; Thompson & Murfin, 1976, Ch12; Pries, 1974, Ch 1-9; Mitchell, 1979, Ch 2-16; Klein, 1980, pp82-5, 119-23. For personal and news accounts of all aspects of the Depression see Terkel, 1986; Shannon , 1964. Re the Wobblies & The Little Red Songbook, see IWW Website, 1998; Phillips on Rounder Records Website, 1998; Hoosier Slim's Website, 1998.

(40) Re Woody’s songwriting: Any book of readings on creativity will have a fair number of articles on personal and interpersonal influences, a few on institutional/ societal/ cultural factors, and varying emphasis on neurobiological factors in relation to both the development of the creator and the process of creation (see for eg, Boden, 1996; Albert, 1983, 1992; Runco & Albert, 1990; Vernon, 1982; Ghiselin, 1952 (views of famous creators). In Sternberg, 1988, for eg, the following are clearly relevant to Woody: Hennessey & Amabile re personal characteristics (esp “intrinsic motivation”) & environmental factors affecting them; Torrance re creator’s “love of what he is doing”; Barron re personal “ingredients of creativity”; Sternberg re the “integration of intellectual, stylistic and personality attributes” relevant to the creative process; Weisberg re the critical role of “deep knowledge of the domain” with reference to likes of Mozart, Darwin & Picasso; Gruber & Davis re the “loose coupling of knowledge, purpose, effect & milieu” with reference to “cognitive case studies” of historic greats; Csikszentmihalyi re the “generative force of the field”; and Simonton re “sociocultural marginality”, “political fragmentation”, and “chance processes”.

(41) The “liberals and radicals and New Dealers" who were central to making Woody and his work visible to wider public included, eg, Frank Burke, Alan Lomax, Pete Seeger, & Moe Asch. Frank Burke, a 'crusty old populist' was the owner of KFVD and “prominent in LA liberal circles" when Woody was first on the air as a bit player in his cousin Jack's show in the mid 1930s. When the show fell into Woody's lap and became the 'Woody and Lefty Lou" show in the fall of 1937, it found a "natural audience" among the 10s of 1000s of Okies and Arkies and other rural migrants in the LA area and far beyond. Frank 'loved' Woody and made many allowances for him, eg, letting him walk out on his contract and then return to the station a month later "as though nothing had happened". As a result the year Woody spent at KFVD provided him with an essential "apprenticeship" during which he "learned how radio worked, gained confidence in his ability to write songs, refined his craft", and in the process became "just Woody" to 10s of 1000s of Dust Bowl migrants, a fact which Woody first discovered in the summer of 1938 when he left the show, 'hopped a freight (and went) up the big valley" - "on assignment " for Frank Burke's paper - to document in cartoons, songs, and stories, the exploitation of migrants throughout the central valley in the lead up to the 1938 gubernatorial campaign. The migrants, "sick, hungry, starving" and "angry", recognized his voice, knew him, and welcomed him into in their "orange-crate-and-cardboard hovels" as simply "Woody" from KFVD (Klein, 1980, pp 89, 91, 105, 111-13, 117).

By the late 30s the Popular Front cultural project - a 'giddy, exhilarating burst of optimism and pride" in American's new hero, the "common man" - supported from the very top of the East Coast Liberal establishment by the likes of, eg, Eleanor Roosevelt - "virtually became the federal government’s cultural policy", a cultural project which was accelerating into full swing just as Woody arrived - virtually unknown - in New York City for the "Graphs of Wrath Benefit Concert" in early March of 1940 - a "show that changed the course of Woody's career and, perhaps of American music as well".

Second on stage after Aunt Molly Jackson, Woody "ambled out onto the stage of the Forrest Theater, scratched his head with a guitar pick and said "Howdy", squinting up at the cheap seats in the same unassumming, slightly bemused way that he'd surveyed every house since the Taylor tent show: as if he'd wandered in by accident, but didn't mind hanging around and singing a few songs as long as he was there. Muttering something about how pleased he was to perform in a 'Rapes of Graft' show, he tilted up his chin, leaned into his guitar, and began to sing". Off in the wings, Alan Lomax -- a "flagrant activist" who at 23, with his "legendary" father practically retired, was already the virtual head of the Library of Congress Folk Music Archives -- "snapped to attention". He "felt a surge of adrenaline as he realized - quickly, viscerally, no question about it - that the little man onstage was someone he'd often thought about but feared he's been born too late to meet: the great American frontier ballad writer". (Klein, 1980, pp 143-4, 147-9)

Within a week Guthrie was camping on Lomax' couch in Arlington, spinning out the first 25 pages of what would become his autobiography, and “red balling" his way through "three marathon sessions" in the Library of Congress recording studio. In the evenings, over the course of the "long drunken singing contests", Woody met and "captivated" the "stream of visitiors invited over by Alan to meet his new discovery". By April he was on CBS performing "coast to coast", and by May Woody was standing in (RCA) Victor's Camden studio recording the “Dust Bowl Ballads”, an album which would "eventually be recognized as a landmark, one of the most influential American recordings of the twentieth century".

Shortly after Woody hit the road again, back to Oklahoma . This time accompanied by a "tall, thin, painfully shy, Harvard dropout" with "impressive native musical ability"; a "twenty-year-old", who had travelled north for the New York City benefit and then back in Washington "immediately attaching himself to Woody, watching and listening and learning all he could, and loving every moment of it"; a "tall, thin, dreamy" twenty-year-old who somehow "just looked like a banjo" -- a 'banjo' that would spend the next five decades spreading the songs and legend of Woody Guthrie across America and around the world. (Klein, 1980, pp 151-3, 155-6, 159-61, 164; see also, Seeger, 1972, 41-61, 405-8, 555-6)

Re John Steinbeck quote re "just Woody" see, eg, Klein, 1980, p160.

(42) Re Guthrie as the “original folk hero”, the young Dylan's idolization of Guthrie, and the origins of the Guthrie cult, see, Klein, 1980, pp 421-434; Hampton, 1986, esp pp 150-163; Sheldon, 1986, pp76-82; Guthrie in Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Website, 2001.

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