26 Songs in 30 Days: Woody Guthrie's Columbia River Songs and the Planned Promised Land in the Pacific Northwest

by Greg Vandy, Daniel Person

Overview

A fascinating portrait of icon Woody Guthrie, the Pacific Northwest, and folk music—all set against the backdrop of a tumultuous moment in American history
 
In 1941, Woody Guthrie wrote 26 songs in 30 days—including classics like “Roll On Columbia” and “Pastures of Plenty”—when he was hired by the Bonneville Power Administration to promote the benefits of cheap hydroelectric power, irrigation, and the Grand Coulee Dam. Now, KEXP DJ Greg Vandy takes readers inside the unusual partnership between one of America’s great folk artists and the federal government, and shows how the American folk revival was a response to hard times.

26 Songs In 30 Days plunges deeply into the historical context of the time and the progressive politics that embraced Social Democracy during an era in which the United States had been severely suffering from The Great Depression. And though this is a musical history of a vibrant American musical icon and a specific part of the country, it couldn’t be a better reminder of how timeless and expansive such topics are in today’s political discourse.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781570619717
Publisher:	Sasquatch Books
Publication date:	04/12/2016
Sold by:	Penguin Random House Publisher Services
Format:	eBook
Pages:	208
File size:	103 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Greg Vandy has been the host of The Roadhouse on KEXP-FM Seattle since 2000, and is a lifelong supporter of non-commercial community radio. In addition to being a DJ and a content consultant for various media and music festivals, he publishes American Standard Time, a blog devoted to American
music and vintage lifestyles. Vandy lives in Seattle.

Daniel Person was born and raised in Helena, Montana, just over the Continental Divide from the Columbia River watershed. His work has appeared in High Country News, Cowboys & Indians, Seattle Weekly, Montana Quarterly, and Outside Online. He lives in Tacoma, another public power community.

Table of Contents

Preface xi

Chapter 1 Biggest Thing That Man Has Ever Done 1

Chapter 2 Hard Travelin' 15

Chapter 3 Ballad of the Great Grand Coulee 33

Chapter 4 Ramblin' Blues (New York Town) 47

Chapter 5 Pastures of Plenty 63

Chapter 6 Ramblin' Blues (Portland Town) 91

Chapter 7 Roll, Columbia, Roll 115

Chapter 8 Oregon Trail 131

Chapter 9 Talkin' Columbia 147

Acknowledgments 155

Discography 159

Bibliography 173

Photo Credits 181

Index 185

Editorial Reviews

I can’t get enough of Woody Guthrie, and Greg Vandy reveals him afresh in the context of a project that piques the best in Woody, and maybe the best in America. Read, learn, enjoy—and sing.”
—Robert Gordon, author of Respect Yourself

“26 Songs in 30 Days is a valuable addition to the Woody Guthrie library, not to mention a great read.”
—Robert Santelli, author of This Land Is Your Land: Woody Guthrie and the Journey of an American Folk Song

"Greg Vandy, known for his engaging KEXP roots-music show, “The Roadhouse,” lovingly unravels that tale in this cleanly written, handsomely designed and liberally illustrated book about Guthrie’s month-plus tenure based in Portland in 1941."
—The Seattle Times

". . . a fascinating glimpse of the musician's life as well as the social politics of the time."
—Largehearted Boy

"Knowing the story behind these songs enriches them, but the real value and enjoyment of 26 Songs is the surprisingly relevant connections between past and present political issues it offers you to make through the lens of Guthrie’s music."
—The Stranger

“One of KEXP’s most noted DJs explores the relationship between Guthrie and the Bonneville Power Administration that yielded timeless folk songs.” 
—Shelf Talk, The Seattle Public Library

“26 Songs in 30 Days... [is] the revelatory history of Guthrie’s work as a commissioned songwriter for the Pacific NW...” 
—Northwest Music Scene

“26 Songs In 30 Days plunges deeply into the historical context of the time and the progressive politics that embraced Social Democracy during an era in which the United States had been severely suffering from The Great Depression. And though this is a musical history of a vibrant American musical icon and a specific part of the country, it couldn’t be a better reminder of how timeless and expansive such topics are in today’s political discourse.” 
—The Columbia Riverkeeper

"26 Songs in 30 Days is powerful. Vandy and Person do expansive justice to their narrow subject, swerving outside their coffee table book lane and crucially, big-upping Guthrie while filleting the notion of his unassailable musical-ethical integrity. This is a book that raises philosophical, artistic and ethical questions."
—Seattle Review of Books

“[The story of] Guthrie’s fertile 30-day sojourn in the Pacific Northwest, when he road-tripped throughout the Columbia River basin...”
—Acoustic Guitar

"Moving, inspiring, and uplifting, the songs of Woody Guthrie took the rural grassroots to the entire nation through folk music – and, as a result, warmed up their hearts and minds, respectively, in unity."
—Heed the Hedonist

From the Publisher