Live Music: Joel Underwood's, "The Story of Woody Guthrie"

Step into the music and history of one of America’s most influential folk artists at a special free concert, “The Story of Woody Guthrie,” presented by the library in partnership with the Lopez Center for Community and the Arts. Join us on Friday, April 17 at 7:00 PM at the Community Center for an engaging evening of storytelling and song.

Performer Joel Underwood, "actor, teacher, musician, and historian," brings Woody Guthrie’s legacy to life through a dynamic blend of live music and historical insight. A recipient of the Woody Guthrie Fellowship, Underwood conducted in-depth research at the Guthrie Archives in Tulsa, focusing on Guthrie’s service in the World War II Merchant Marine. Currently on the history faculty at Pierce College and a recent Humanities Washington speaker, he tours throughout the Pacific Northwest sharing performances that connect music with place, history, and lived experience.

This program highlights Guthrie’s time in the Pacific Northwest, where he wrote 26 songs in just 30 days while traveling the Columbia River and visiting the Grand Coulee Dam in 1941. Through songs and stories, Underwood explores Guthrie’s reflections on the promise and complexity of that moment??"what Guthrie called “the greatest thing that man has ever done.”

Audience members will be treated to classics like “Roll On, Columbia,” “Reuben James,” and “This Land Is Your Land,” while gaining a deeper understanding of the man behind the music.