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Arlo Guthrie’s concert in Kent last night was an inspiring celebration of family just as much as a wonderful celebration of folk music. Here he performs with his children, their spouses, and his grandkids.
Arlo Guthrie sings with his three daughters, all accomplished musicians carrying the flame from their legendary grandfather Woody Guthrie.
Forty-one years after Arlo Guthrie’s performance at Woodstock, the American folk-singer is as vital and relevant as ever. Last night Arlo, his children, and his grandchildren put on a beautiful sing-along performance at Kent’s Showare Center.
Arlo Guthrie’s son Abe covered the Keyboard through the show, and his three daughters played major performance roles on guitar, ukulele and auto-harp. His grandchildren, ranging from adult to as young as two, played many other instruments from bass to tambourine. In-laws rounded out the band and added additional music styles. And of course, everybody sang.
Arlo explained that this Kent performance was their third-to-last stop on a special family tour that begun last October. The family was looking forward to being home, but was also going to miss the time they have spent together as an extended family on the road. It was obvious that they are a big, loving family, and it was simply heart-warming and uplifting to see the three generations perform together. There were times in the show when it seemed like Arlo was entertaining his kids and grandkids just as much as he was entertaining the audience. Arlo Guthrie still tells funny, funny stories, recites poems, and makes up crazy song verses like his famous father Woody Guthrie did. Arlo’s story-telling is arguably what propelled him to fame with Alice’s Restaurant.
After their next two stops, Arlo Gurthrie will be returning to his home in rural Massachusetts, where he performs and socializes regularly at the church where Alice once lived during the Alice’s Restaurant days. His children are all accomplished musicians in their own right, and they have been producing albums on their own. His youngest daughter Sarah and her family just released Go Waggaloo, an album of kids music, and Cathy and I picked up a copy after they performed some of their tracks from it.
The family ended the show on a very high note with the family singing Woody Guthrie’s best known song ever “This Land is Your Land, ” Arlo stopped the song mid-way to explain that his mother once heard this song performed in China, by children, back in the 70s. The family has since heard it sung all over the world, with some countries, like Canada, changing the words to reflect their own geography “from the Arctic, to the great lakes”. When Arlo hears another nation sing it without changing the words, he figures they are referring to the LONG way around the world when they sing:
“From California, to the New York Island
From the redwood forest, to the gulf stream waters
This land was made for you and me”
After a standing ovation, the family offered an encore with “My Peace”, another beautiful and spiritual song that uses lyrics written by his father Woody, put to music by Arlo.
They will be performing in Bellingham tonight, and then hopefully Arlo will be back this way on tour again in a couple more years.
I last saw Arlo Guthrie perform a year ago in Wichita Kansas, when I was on a business trip and his band stayed in the same hotel. Here is a link to my journal entry about that.
For those who want to see more photos, click below.
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