Woody Guthrie Music Center

     Thursday night played at the Woody Guthrie Folk Music Center in Pampa, Texas, way up in the panhandle about an hour northeast of Amarillo. Woody lived there in the 1930's from the age of 17, and worked as a soda jerk at the Harris Drug Store, which has now been preserved as the Folk Music Center. Woody ran bootleg whiskey from behind the bar. His dad ran a cothouse for oil workers across the street- oil workers could come and get a cot for 25 cents, and for an additional fee they could go upstairs to the whorehouse. Talk about the good old days! 

     Woody had 'this machine kills fascists' written in bold block letters on his guitar. I spent a lot of time trying to think of what song or songs I had that best conveyed the awesome spirit of the great Woody Guthrie. I got to do a bunch, but I led with Song for Kori. I like to think if Woody was alive today, it'd be the kind of song he'd be singing- only a lot better. 

Thanks so much to Mike Sinks and all the others at the Folk Music Center for keeping Woody's spirit and story alive. Thanks to Mike and Brian for including me and letting me swap some songs.

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