Category Archives: Concerts

Jackson Browne Added to Woody Guthrie Centennial Celebration Concert Line Up!

courtesy of jacksonbrowne.com

 The following press release has just confirmed the expected addition of Jackson Browne to the line up of the Woody Guthrie Centennial Celebration Concert taking place at the Brady Theater in Tulsa on Saturday, March 10. I had heard through the grapevine that this was in the works, and the Grammy Museum just made it official. Browne’s socio-politically active musicianship is a perfect fit for this Woody Guthrie tribute. His presence adds even more prestige and excitement to this performance that already features a stellar gathering of artists. There’s been some good buzz about this show around town and this announcement is sure to kick things up a notch. And I’m still hoping that more of the musical Guthries will be making an appearance at the show also. I’ve got my tickets – don’t wait to get yours as this show may be sold out. Hope to see many of you Tulsans at the Brady one week from this Saturday! Read the whole announcement for more news about the show and the events in celebration of Woody’s 100th.

The full text of the press release sent out via e-mail by the Grammy Museum, Feb. 29, 2012:

For Immediate Release

The GRAMMY Museum, Woody Guthrie Publications and The Woody Guthrie Archives Announce Addition To Tulsa’s

This Land Is Your Land ~ The Woody Guthrie Centennial Celebration Concert Lineup

 Jackson Browne To Join John Mellencamp, Arlo Guthrie, Rosanne Cash, Del McCoury Band, The Flaming Lips, Old Crow Medicine Show,

HANSON, Tim O’Brien and Jimmy LaFave

 Tickets On Sale Now At http://protixonline.com/

 LOS ANGELES (Feb. 29, 2012) – The LA-based GRAMMY Museum, in conjunction with Woody Guthrie Publications, Inc. and the Woody Guthrie Archives, has announced today the addition of Jackson Browne as a special guest to the This Land Is Your Land ~ The Woody Guthrie Centennial Celebration Concert lineup in Tulsa, Okla.  Taking place Saturday, March 10, at 7:30 p.m. at The Brady Theater, the concert serves as the pinnacle of the Woody Guthrie Centennial Celebration in Tulsa, and is the first installment of the series.  Jackson Browne joins the previously announced lineup of John Mellencamp, Arlo Guthrie, Rosanne Cash, Del McCoury Band, The Flaming Lips, Old Crow Medicine Show, HANSON, Tim O’Brien and Jimmy LaFave, who will be performing various Guthrie classics.  Author Michael Wallis and poet Joy Harjo will also be participating as narrators for the show using various Woody Guthrie texts.

“The goal of The Woody Guthrie Centennial Celebration Concert is not just to pay tribute to Guthrie’s obvious contributions to American music, but to also broaden the national understanding of his cultural impact,” said GRAMMY Museum Executive Director, Bob Santelli.  “The line-up scheduled for the Brady Theater show in Tulsa speaks volumes about Guthrie’s influence.  It’s truly an honor to be producing this all-star event.”

Woody Guthrie’s sister, Mary Jo Edgmon, will also be attending the celebration, and will be receiving a GRAMMY Museum American Music History plaque on behalf of Woody’s birthplace, Okemah, OK to honor their annual Woody Guthrie Festival.

Designed to celebrate Guthrie’s extraordinary body of work and impact on American music, Tulsa’s Woody Guthrie Centennial Celebration, will take place March 5 – 11.  In addition to the concert, the celebration will include a George Kaiser Family Foundation-sponsored exhibition titled Woody at One Hundred: The Woody Guthrie Centennial Celebration 1912-2012 atGilcrease Museum, various educational programming and a conference at The University of Tulsa titled “Different Shades of Red.”  The George Kaiser Family Foundation (GKFF), a Tulsa-based charitable organization, purchased the Woody Guthrie Archives in 2011 from Woody Guthrie Publications in New York and will create a permanent home for the Archives and make Guthrie’s collection available for research and education in downtown Tulsa. 

The Woody Guthrie Centennial Celebration is one of the largest and most comprehensive Centennial celebrations ever staged for an American music icon.  For the most up-to-date information and a complete schedule of events for the entire Woody Guthrie Centennial Celebration, visit www.woody100.com.

About The GRAMMY Museum

Paying tribute to music’s rich cultural history, this one-of-a-kind, 21st-century Museum explores and celebrates the enduring legacies of all forms of music, the creative process, the art and technology of the recording process, and the history of the premier recognition of excellence in recorded music — the GRAMMY Award. The GRAMMY Museum features 30,000 square feet of interactive and multimedia exhibits located within L.A. LIVE, the downtown Los Angeles sports, entertainment and residential district. Through thought-provoking and dynamic public and educational programs and exhibits, guests will experience music from a never-before-seen insider perspective that only The GRAMMY Museum can deliver. www.grammymuseum.org

 

About Woody Guthrie Publications

Woody Guthrie Publications, Inc. maintains Woody Guthrie’s catalog of music and is business administrator for Woody Guthrie’s creative works. Additionally Woody Guthrie Publications produces and sponsors new works based on his life, legacy and creative catalog. www.woodyguthrie.org

 

About The Woody Guthrie Archives

Established in 1972, the Woody Guthrie Foundation is a non-profit organization that serves as administrator and caretaker of the Woody Guthrie Archives.  Dedicated to the preservation and dissemination of information about Woody Guthrie’s vast cultural legacy, the Woody Guthrie Archives houses the largest collection of Woody Guthrie material in the world.  Since it’s opening in 1996, the Woody Guthrie Archives has been a major success becoming an important resource for the general public, musicians, singers, songwriters, scholars, and public and private cultural institutions wishing to access the research collection. The Archives contains a wealth of primary source material pertinent to the study of Woody Guthrie, and his life and times in America during the 20th Century. www.woodyguthrie.org

About George Kaiser Family Foundation

George Kaiser Family Foundation is a charitable organization dedicated to breaking the cycle of poverty through investments in early childhood education, community health, social services and civic enhancement. Based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, GKFF works primarily on initiatives developed in collaboration with Tulsa-based direct service organizations. For more information about George Kaiser Family Foundation, visit www.gkff.org

(END OF PRESS RELEASE)

FURTHER EXPLORATION

Performers Announced for Woody Guthrie Centennial Celebration Concert in Tulsa

Woody Guthrie Archives Comin’ Home to Tulsa

Tulsa World newspaper’s Woody Comes Home online feature

Performers Announced for Woody Guthrie Centennial Celebration Concert in Tulsa

Other events include symposium, traveling exhibit and more concerts

Folks, the line-up has been announced for what is likely to be the concert event of the year for Tulsa, and perhaps the whole Midwest/Southern Plains. In conjunction with the Woody Guthrie Centennial celebrations taking place around the world in 2012, there are five major concerts being held: three on the East coast, one on the West coast, and one – the first one – right here in Tulsa, Oklahoma at the Brady Theater (which is only two years away from its centennial, having been built in 1914.)

Brady Theater (known then as the Tulsa Municipal Theater) 1917. Photo courtesy of the Beryl Ford Collection/Rotary Club of Tulsa, Tulsa City-County Library and Tulsa Historical Society.

The concert, being held on Saturday, March 10, is billed as This Land Is Your Land – Woody Guthrie at 100, The Midwest Celebration and now the Woody at 100 website has listed the performers who are scheduled to perform at this show. I know people were figuring that Arlo would be involved, but I don’t think anyone had an idea about just how diverse a line-up would be hitting the Brady stage. It goes to show how much Woody’s music means to so many different artists. As of right now, because these things are always subject to change, the list of performers includes:

Wow! That’s gonna be one heck of a show. The somewhat surprising acts on this list are The Flaming Lips and Hanson, but with those bands perhaps being Oklahoma’s most widely popular acts touring today, it makes sense having them on the bill and, along with John Mellencamp, will add some serious rock mojo to the festivities. (And I’ve said this to many people before, if all you remember of Hanson is “Mmm Bop,” you should check out their music again. Those guys have forged their own musical path since their days of teen stardom and are a seriously fun pop-rock band.) Having the Flaming Lips up there with their epic weirdness will surely make for a much more interesting night. How can you go wrong with the band that wrote Oklahoma’s official state rock song? With all the other performers listed – Rosanne Cash, Del McCoury, Old Crow Medicine Show, Tim O’Brien, Jimmy Lafave – you’ve got some of the best Country/Folk/Americana talent out there coming to town for what should be an unforgettable evening of music. Maybe some of the other musical Guthries – Arlo’s offspring Abe, Sarah Lee and Cathy, and step-daughter Annie – will also make a surprise appearance? It wouldn’t be a birthday party for Woody without ‘em!

From Left: Sarah Lee Guthrie, Arlo Guthrie, Abe Guthrie and Johnny Irion (Sarah Lee's husband.) Photo courtesy of Rising Son Records.

According to a press release from the Woody at 100 website, ticket prices for this concert will range from $45 – $250; I can only hope that there will be plenty of tickets at the lower price levels to make this event somewhat accessible to most people. It is, after all, a celebration of a true populist who was a friend to everyday folks. Tickets are slated to go on sale Saturday, February 4 at 10 a.m. CST through ProTix.

This will be a special week in Tulsa not only for this incredible concert but also because there are several other Woody Guthrie Centennial events that’ll be happening. Here’s a quick look at those events; click the hot links to get more details about each of them as available.

  • Woody at 100: The Woody Guthrie Centennial Celebration 1912 -2012. Opening at the Gilcrease Museum on February 5 and running through April 29, this exhibit will be a comprehensive look at Woody’s life through his archives. The Gilcrease website states that “On display for the first time ever will be the hand-written lyrics of Guthrie’s famous ballad, ’This Land Is You Land’.” It’ll be worth the price of admission just for that, in my book.
  • Different Shades of Red: Woody Guthrie and the Oklahoma Experience at 100. This symposium sponsored by the University of Tulsa takes place at their new Lorton Performance Center on Saturday, March 10 and will feature three panel sessions with noted Woody Guthrie scholars and writers. The cost for the all-day symposium is $40, which includes lunch, and there’s a student discount price of $15. It also states that people registering for the symposium by Friday, February 3 will have a special opportunity to purchase advance tickets for the concert at the Brady Theater.
  •  Symphonic Variations of a Song by Woody Guthrie.  This event is listed with some details in the Woody at 100 press release and here is what that press release states: “Continuing the celebration on March 8 will be a special performance by the Oklahoma Jazz & Roots Music Symphony Orchestra of Symphonic Variations of a Song by Woody Guthrie , conducted and composed by David Amram. Commissioned by Woody Guthrie Publications and featuring a special introduction by Nora Guthrie, the concert will include additional performances by David Amram with Red Dirt Rangers, and other special guest star appearances by musicians and singers from the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame.  The concert will take place at Lorton Hall at the University of Tulsa.” The event has yet to be listed on the University of Tulsa’s events calendar for that week. David Amram has come to TU several times and his website confirms this event, but without details about where it will take place: “March 5-11 – Woody Guthrie Centennial, Tulsa, OK; Amram rehearses and conducts his Symphonic Variations on a Song By Woody Guthrie, as well as works by Aaron Copeland and Duke Ellington (two of Guthrie’s favorite composers). Amram will also perform with outstanding folk, jazz and rock musicians in some of Guthrie’s songs with outstanding folk, jazz and rock musicians to initiate the year-long celebration of Woody Guthrie’s 100th Birthday.” Stay tuned for further details about this interesting program.

    John Mellencamp. Photo courtesy of Mellencamp.com

Dozens of Woody Guthrie centennial celebration events are taking place all over the globe and you can check the Woody at 100 Calendar for a growing list. I hope there’s an event nearby that you can attend this year.

And don’t forget to listen to your daily dose of Woody with the Woody Guthrie Song of the Day.

–

FURTHER EXPLORATION

Woody Guthrie biography

Woody Guthrie Archives blog

Woody Guthrie Archives Details

The Flatlanders: A Band That’s More Real Than Ever

by Denis McGilvray

See The Flatlanders perform in concert at the Tulsa Performing Arts Center’s Williams Theater, Thursday, November 18, 2010, 7:30 p.m.

When I  recently learned that The Flatlanders were coming to play a show here in Tulsa, I was more than thrilled. You see, I had missed a chance to see Flatlander Joe Ely perform a solo show this past June at the All Soul Acoustic Coffeehouse series when it conflicted with a visit from my old friend from California, Dennis Cook, who was making his first visit to Tulsa on a writing assignment for Jambase.com. Dennis invited me to join him as he covered the premiere of Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey’s Ludwig – a funky re-arrangement of two Beethoven symphonies for jazz quartet and orchestra – that they performed with the Bartlesville Symphony Orchestra to critical acclaim. It was a concert I could not miss, and it worked out all right. Having the chance to catch Ely this week as he hits Tulsa with The Flatlanders will be even more fun than seeing him alone – and from what I heard, that was pretty dang fun!

The Flatlanders back then - l to r: Gilmore, Ely, Hancock. (photographer unknown, courtesy of theflatlanders.com)

Who the heck are The Flatlanders, you ask? Well, you’re not alone. The core of the group is Joe Ely, Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Butch Hancock, who formed The Flatlanders in 1971 when they all found themselves back in their sometime home of Lubbock, Texas (best known as the home of the great Buddy Holly.) The serendipitous confluence of Gilmore’s old-time country musings, Hancock’s folk leanings and Ely’s rebel rock made for a musical concoction that we might now call progressive or alt-country but, as the story of their first recording back in 1972 reveals, it was ill-fated for its time. I’m just glad that it has now been beautifully realized over the past decade.

As told in the excellent liner notes by music writer Colin Escott for the Rounder Records 1990 release of that first album entitled More a Legend Than a Band, the story of The Flatlanders is one of those really fascinating tributaries that feeds into the wide river that is the history of popular music. To sum up, the guys had almost organically formed the band and were playing small-time gigs around Texas when they happened to come to the attention of a Nashville-based producer working for Shelby Singleton, who had taken over the legendary Sun Studios just a few years earlier. They went to Nashville and recorded an album’s worth of songs in March of 1972. When the first single off the album, Gilmore’s wonderful tune “Dallas,” did not fare well commercially, the LP release was shelved and Plantation Records only released it on 8-track tape!  In other words, it was doomed, and the band members just sort of drifted off on their own paths.

Hancock and Gilmore both took a hiatus from the music scene for several years while Joe Ely plugged away and began a successful solo career with his late 70s band that included the fantastic Lubbock-bred musician and producer Lloyd Maines. Ely also became an unlikely ally of the punk-rock band The Clash, whom he met in London in 1979. Ely even recorded some back up vocals on the smash hit “Should I Stay or Should I Go?” from their album, Combat Rock; Ely shared duty on the refrains sung in Spanish with Joe Strummer. Jimmie Dale Gilmore moved to Austin in 1980 after being in Colorado for many years and reinvigorated his musical career; his first solo record came out on Hightone in 1988 and he’s released 8 albums since then. Butch Hancock came back to music in the late 70s when he released a couple of albums on his own Rainlight Records, and he’s continued making records ever since. As these guys’ careers started taking off again, word of that legendary original album spread and, lucky for music lovers, Rounder was able to release it in on CD in the U.S. 1990 after it had enjoyed a limited release on LP in the U.K. for the re-issue label Charly Records in 1980.

Cover for "More a Legend Than a Band." (Courtesy of theflatlanders.com)

When I listened to that first Flatlanders recording, I was immediately struck by its great songwriting. It’s a mix of tunes penned by Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Butch Hancock, along with some other choice cuts: Willie Nelson’s “One Day at a Time,” the beloved Cajun tune “Jole Blon,” and tunes from Gilmore’s Lubbock neighbor, Texas blues great Angela Strehli and her brother Al. The record kicks off with the truly wonderful song “Dallas” by Jimmie Dale Gilmore and continues with strong tunes all the way through to the end. It’s a really great listen. Gilmore’s twangy tenor harkens back to a bygone era. The musicianship and harmonies provided by the rest of the band are somewhat akin to the sound The Byrds achieved on Sweethearts of the Rodeo, but with some genuine honky-tonk flavor. An unmistakable twist on this record is the musical saw playing of Steve Wesson, their friend who apparently learned the instrument specifically so he could play in the band! Listening to this record now, one can hear how it fits, perhaps not perfectly squarely, in the realm of Americana, alt-country and roots music that thrives today.

The Flatlanders now - l to r: Hancock, Gilmore, Ely. (photo by Will Van Overbeek, courtesy of theflatlanders.com)

As a music lover, I’m glad the story does not end there. In 1998, The Flatlanders played together for the first time in 26 years to cut a track for the Robert Redford film The Horse Whisperer. The soundtrack also includes tunes from the likes of Emmylou Harris, Dwight Yoakam, Steve Earle, Lucinda Williams, Gillian Welch and Iris Dement. Ely, Gilmore and Hancock enjoyed playing together so much that they started touring as The Flatlanders once again, and in 2002, 30 years after the first one was made, they released their second album, Now Again, on New West Records. They’ve continued touring, playing about 40-60 dates a year, and making records as The Flatlanders while also doing solo work. In 2004 they released Wheels of Fortune and Live ’72, one of the only known live recordings of the band from its early days. Recorded on amateur equipment by the owner of the One Knite Club in Austin, the CD sounds surprisingly good under the circumstances and gives a great taste of the band in its element as they play a bunch of great songs, from Hank Williams and Tex Ritter to Bob Dylan and Townes Van Zandt. Only three songs on this live CD are ones they recorded on that original record. Now it seems The Flatlanders are on a roll. Last year, they released Hills and Valleys, which was produced by their old Lubbock pal Lloyd Maines, who also contributes his amazing dobro, banjo, mandolin, lap steel and pedal steel guitar playing to the proceedings. Since Ely, Gilmore and Hancock all handle acoustic guitar, they need a really solid electric player to bring some fire to their songs. They have the right man for the job in Robbie Gjersoe, who has played lead on their recent releases and also plays on tour. Gjersoe is a highly sought after session and live player who is well-known as the accompanist to Robbie Fulks. Hearing Gjersoe play with these guys live is just one more reason this should prove to be a fantastic show. Colin Gilmore, Jimmie Dale’s son, will open the show for the band. Touring in support of his brand new album, Good Night Lane, Colin is a fine Americana talent in his own right.

Cool water for some cool dudes... (photo by Will Van Overbeek, courtesy of theflatlanders.com)

Having made only four albums in their 40 year history, with the last three made in the past eight years alone, The Flatlanders have proven that they really are more than just a legend; they are, indeed, a band – a band that is now more real than ever.

FURTHER RESOURCES
The Flatlanders website
Check out their home page to hear songs and for a link to their appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman on July 21, 2009 when they performed a smokin’ version of the song “Midnight Train” from the Wheels of Fortune CD; listen to Robbie Gjersoe’s sweet guitar solo and the strong vocals from Ely, Gilmore and Hancock…and some hot organ playing by Paul Shaffer!

The Flatlanders CDs on New West Records

Hear The Flatlanders perform three songs and talk about Hills and Valleys on KUT Radio from Austin in May, 2009

I’d recommend this show to fans of Tulsa musicians like The Prairie Dawgs, the country/folk side of Jared Tyler,
Jesse Aycock, Klondike 5 String Band, or Scott Aycock