- Bike
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- Nov 07, 2020
Guthrie Quotes
Musicians on Woody Guthrie's lasting folk legacy.
These Guthrie quotes trace Woody Guthrie's influence across generations of musicians, from folk heroes who "wrote and sang real songs for real people" to artists who grew up singing his songs in school without realizing it. For more on musical roots, see our Folk quotes.
- Last Updated on Aug 03, 2026
- Me
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- Nov 07, 2020
Then about 12 years ago it dawned on me that folk music - the music of Woody Guthrie and Phil Ochs, early Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Pete Seeger - could be as heavy as anything that comes through a Marshall stack. The combination of three chords and the right lyrical couplet can be as heavy as anything in the Metallica catalogue.
- People
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- Nov 07, 2020
My musical heroes are people like Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie who wrote and sang real songs for real people; for everyone, old, young, and in between.
- Dust
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- Nov 07, 2020
The Woody Guthrie 'Dust Bowl' tunes were really fascinating.
- Me
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- Nov 07, 2020
I spent two years at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, and then some New York types saw me there as Benvolio in 'Romeo and Juliet.' They sent me some enticing letters - about why didn't I come to New York? - and since it was well below zero that winter in Minneapolis, it didn't take much to get me to leave.
- Never
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- Nov 07, 2020
The Guthrie Theater is a beast. It has 1,300 seats, and I couldn't act there. I always felt I was acting too small. I'd always have to fight to get the gumption to act bigger. There's a weird trick to it. You don't want to overwhelm the first six rows. You don't want to starve the back. I could never get it.
- Like
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- Nov 07, 2020
It sounds like something from a Woody Guthrie song, but it's true; I was raised in a freight car.
- New
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- Nov 07, 2020
A lot of my training is in classical theatre; I've done a lot of classical plays in New York and also at the Guthrie and here and there across the country.
- Doing
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- Nov 07, 2020
What I'm doing is basically the same as Bob Dylan did with folk songs and Woody Guthrie songs, the same as folk music's always done. I'm not going to sing about ploughing, but I'll write a song that sounds like it should be about ploughing.
- Lyrics
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- Nov 07, 2020
A lot of Woody Guthrie's songs were taken from other songs. He would rework the melody and lyrics, and all of a sudden it was a Woody Guthrie song.
- High School
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- Nov 07, 2020
I went to a performance of 'The Crucible' at the Guthrie when I was a sophomore in high school, and I knew right away that that's what I wanted to do.
- Happy
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- Nov 07, 2020
I got my Equity card at 24 at the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis, and they asked me to join the company. I was content and happy working in the company there for a long while until I really started to feel as if I hit a bit of a glass ceiling artistically.
- Appeared
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- Nov 07, 2020
Though I acted in hundreds of productions, appeared at the Guthrie Theatre and on Broadway in Amadeus, I discovered in my thirties that I didn't really like stage acting. The presence of the audience, the eight shows a week and the possibility of a long run were all unnatural to me.
- Nov 07, 2020
I can remember back as far as age 8, performing with the Boston Folk Song Society. It was a Woody Guthrie song.
- He
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- Nov 07, 2020