Arlo Guthrie facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Arlo Guthrie
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Guthrie in 1979
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| Birth name | Arlo Davy Guthrie |
| Born | July 10, 1947 Brooklyn, New York City, U.S. |
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| Children | 4 |
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Arlo Davy Guthrie (born July 10, 1947) is an American folk singer and songwriter. He is famous for singing songs of protest against unfairness in society. He also tells stories while performing, just like his famous father, Woody Guthrie.
Arlo Guthrie's most well-known song is "Alice's Restaurant Massacree". This long, funny song is about 18 minutes long. It has become a special song played around Thanksgiving each year. His only song to reach the top 40 charts was "City of New Orleans". This was a cover of a song by Steve Goodman. Arlo's song "Massachusetts" was made the official folk song of that state. He has lived there for most of his adult life. Arlo Guthrie has also acted in movies and TV shows. He has four children, and they are musicians too.
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Growing Up and Learning
Arlo Guthrie was born in Brooklyn, New York. His father was the famous folk singer Woody Guthrie. His mother, Marjorie Mazia Guthrie, was a dancer. Arlo was the fifth of Woody Guthrie's eight children. He was the oldest child who lived to adulthood. His sister, Nora Guthrie, became a record producer. His mother also started a group to help people with Huntington's disease.
Arlo's father came from a Baptist family. His mother was Jewish, and her parents were from Ukraine. Arlo's grandmother, Aliza Greenblatt, was a Yiddish poet.
Arlo Guthrie studied for his bar mitzvah with Rabbi Meir Kahane. Arlo later said the rabbi was a kind teacher. In 1977, Arlo became Catholic. Later in his life, he believed in ideas from many different religions. He said that different religious traditions can exist in one person. In 2020, he shared that he liked gospel music. He felt it was a strong form of protest music.
Arlo went to Woodward School for elementary and middle school. He graduated from Stockbridge School in Massachusetts in 1965. He also briefly attended Rocky Mountain College. He received special honorary degrees from two colleges later in his life. Arlo Guthrie has continued his father's work as a singer, songwriter, and activist. He received an award for his courage in 1992.
Music Career and Famous Songs
The Story of "Alice's Restaurant"
On November 26, 1965, Arlo Guthrie was 18 years old. He was in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, for Thanksgiving break from college. He and his friend, Richard Robbins, were arrested. They had dumped a lot of garbage on private land. This happened because the local dump was closed for the holiday. Guthrie and Robbins admitted they were guilty. They paid a small fine and cleaned up the trash.
This event became the basis for Arlo Guthrie's most famous song, "Alice's Restaurant". It is a long, spoken-word song. The original recording is 18 minutes and 34 seconds long. The "Alice" in the song is Alice Brock. She was a librarian at Arlo's school. She later opened a restaurant and an art studio.
The song makes fun of the Vietnam War draft. Guthrie has said the song is more about "anti-stupidity" than anti-war. In the song, Guthrie is called for a draft exam. He is rejected from military service. This is because his only criminal record was for littering. Alice and her restaurant are mentioned often in the song. Alice herself is described when she helps Guthrie and his friend get out of jail. Guthrie has said that everything in the song really happened.
"Alice's Restaurant" helped Guthrie get his first recording deal. A radio host named Bob Fass played a recording of the song many times in 1967. Arlo also performed it at the Newport Folk Festival. Soon after, he recorded the song and released it on an album called Alice's Restaurant. By the end of the 1960s, Guthrie was playing in big places like Carnegie Hall and the Woodstock Festival.
After its release in 1967, "Alice's Restaurant" was played a lot on college radio stations. It became a symbol of the late 1960s. Many young people learned the song's words. Today, many radio stations play "Alice's Restaurant" every Thanksgiving Day.
A movie based on the song was made in 1969. It was also called Alice's Restaurant. Arlo Guthrie and some other people from the song played themselves. However, Guthrie, Alice Brock, and Richard Robbins were not happy with how they were shown in the movie.
Arlo Guthrie did not always perform "Alice's Restaurant Massacree" at every show. He started performing it every ten years since 1984. He said the Vietnam War had ended, and most people had already heard the song.
Other Popular Songs
"Alice's Restaurant" was one of several long songs that became popular. This happened when music albums became more popular than single songs. In 1972, Guthrie had a very successful single. It was Steve Goodman's song "City of New Orleans". This song is about train travel. Guthrie first rode that train in 2005. Other songs that were somewhat popular include "Coming into Los Angeles". This song was played at the 1969 Woodstock Festival. A live version of "The Motorcycle Song" was also popular.
In 1975, Guthrie performed with his band, Shenandoah, for the first time. They toured and recorded until the early 1990s. The band received good reviews. However, they were not as popular as Guthrie was when he played alone.
Guthrie performed a concert almost every Thanksgiving weekend at Carnegie Hall. This tradition lasted from the late 1960s until 2019. His 1976 album Amigo received a very high rating from Rolling Stone magazine. It is considered one of his best works.
Many musicians have performed with Guthrie. These include Pete Seeger, Willie Nelson, and Judy Collins. In 2020, Guthrie worked with Jim Wilson. They covered Stephen Foster's song "Hard Times Come Again No More".
On October 23, 2020, Arlo Guthrie announced he would stop touring. He had a series of strokes that made it hard for him to walk and perform. All his shows for 2020 were canceled. His last performance at Carnegie Hall was in November 2019. His last live touring concert was in March 2020.
In April 2023, Guthrie announced he would tour again. He decided to do fewer shows, only in the Northeast. This "What's Left of Me" tour included conversations and old videos. He hoped it would help him recover from his stroke. Guthrie said he was not interested in more tours after this one. He explained he could no longer live on a tour bus.
Acting Roles
Arlo Guthrie is best known as a musician. However, he has also acted in movies and on television. The film Alice's Restaurant (1969) is his most famous acting role. He also had small parts in other films. He even co-starred in a TV show called Byrds of Paradise.
Guthrie often appeared as himself in TV shows. He would perform music or talk about the 1960s and folk music. His TV appearances included The Muppet Show (1979). He had a rare acting role in the 1992 movie Roadside Prophets. His performance at the 1969 Woodstock Festival was shown in the film Woodstock.
Guthrie also made a TV variety show pilot in 1987. It was called The Arlo Guthrie Show. It included stories and music. It was shown on PBS.
Political Views and Activism
From the 1960s to the 1980s, Arlo Guthrie often shared left-leaning political views. These views were influenced by his father. In his concerts, he spoke against war and nuclear power. He also made fun of former President Lyndon Johnson in a song.
In 1984, he supported George McGovern's presidential campaign. He performed at rallies in Massachusetts.
In 2008, Guthrie said he was a registered Republican. He supported Ron Paul for president. He said he liked Paul because he believed in the Constitution. He told The New York Times Magazine he became a Republican because "We needed a few more good Republicans."
For the 2016 election, Guthrie said he was an independent. He said he was suspicious of both Democrats and Republicans. He did not support any candidate. He liked Bernie Sanders but disagreed with some of his ideas. He thought it was good that Donald Trump did not rely on campaign donations. However, he was not sure if Trump had the country's best interests in mind.
In 2018, Guthrie clarified his political stance. He said, "I am not a Republican." He disagreed with the Trump administration's views, especially on immigration. He urged people to look beyond party names. He wanted them to support candidates whose ideas matched their own.
Guthrie supported the George Floyd protests in June 2020. He said it would be good if politicians accepted the changing nature of being an American. In 2023, Guthrie said he had become mostly apolitical. He still held his personal beliefs. However, he found it annoying when his past political views were brought up in interviews.
Arlo Guthrie's Legacy
Like his father, Woody Guthrie, Arlo often sings about social injustice. He worked with poet Adrian Mitchell on a song about Chilean folk singer Víctor Jara. He often performed with folk musician Pete Seeger. Seeger was a longtime friend of his father. Ramblin' Jack Elliott lived with the Guthries for two years. Arlo has said that Elliott helped him learn his father's style.
In 1991, Guthrie bought the church that was once Alice and Ray Brock's home. It is in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. He turned it into the Guthrie Center. This is a meeting place for people of all religions. The center offers free lunches and support for families with serious illnesses. It also hosts concerts and fundraising shows. There are annual events like a walk to help cure Huntington's disease. There is also a Thanksgiving dinner for families and doctors working with the disease.
One of the characters in the comic strip Arlo and Janis is named after Guthrie. The cartoonist said he was inspired by a friend who looked like Arlo.
Family Life
Guthrie owns a home in Washington, Massachusetts. He and Jackie Hyde were married for 43 years. Jackie passed away in October 2012. She had been diagnosed with liver cancer.
On October 23, 2021, Guthrie announced his engagement to Marti Ladd. They had been together since Jackie's death in 2012. They married on December 8, 2021. It was the second marriage for both of them. Guthrie met Ladd 20 years earlier. He and Jackie stayed at The Wild Rose Inn, which Ladd owned. In 2016, Ladd sold the Inn and moved in with Guthrie.
Arlo and Marti now spend their time between Washington, Massachusetts, in the summer and Micco, Florida, in the winter.
Arlo Guthrie's son, Abe Guthrie, is a musician. His daughters, Annie Guthrie, Sarah Lee Guthrie, and Cathy Guthrie, are also musicians. Abe has toured with his father. Annie writes songs and helps with family tours. Sarah Lee performed with her former husband, Johnny Irion. Cathy plays the ukulele in a group called Folk Uke. She formed it with Amy Nelson, who is Willie Nelson's daughter. Cathy and Sarah Lee also perform together as the "Guthrie Girls."
On October 23, 2020, Guthrie announced his retirement from touring. He mentioned health issues, including a stroke in 2019. He said, "Going from town to town and doing stage shows, remaining on the road is no longer an option." In November 2023, Guthrie said he was finding it hard to adjust to retirement. He missed being able to perform as he had his whole life.
Music Albums
- Alice's Restaurant (1967)
- Running Down the Road (1969)
- Washington County (1970)
- Hobo's Lullaby (1972)
- Last of the Brooklyn Cowboys (1973)
- Arlo Guthrie (1974)
- Amigo (1976)
- One Night (1978)
- Outlasting the Blues (1979)
- Power of Love (1981)
- Someday (1986)
- Baby's Storytime (1990)
- Son of the Wind (1992)
- Woody's 20 Grow Big Songs (1992)
- Mystic Journey (1996)
- This Land Is Your Land: An All American Children's Folk Classic (1997)
- In Times Like These (2007)
- 32¢ Postage Due (2008)
- Tales of '69 (2009)
See also
In Spanish: Arlo Guthrie para niños
