Get Out Wednesday: Country Joe Does Woody Guthrie at Ballard Jam House

Woody Guthrie was, and in many ways still is, one of the most important figures in the history of American music. He's responsible for hundreds of songs, some of which are still being found and put to music. His contributions to the American songbook include, of course, "This Land is Your Land," but also "Pretty Boy Floyd," "Pastures of Plenty," and other topical tunes by which topical songwriters continue to measure their worth. He also wrote two books--an autobiography called Bound For Glory, and Seeds of Man, which is a sort-of memoir that he disclaims at the beginning as being the story of his moving to California from Texas the way he remembers it. Which is to say, not entirely true.

There are also the myriad drawings, stories, poems and editorials, the years of his Southern California radio show. The man was nothing if not conscientious and prolific. He also happened to be hugely articulate, despite the disease that slaughtered his ability to articulate anything for the last years of his life.

While his son Arlo and family continue to more than adequately carry on Woody's ever-important legacy with the same grace and simplicity that make his work so important, other artists occasionally step up and pay tribute to the great folksinger of their own volition.

And so it is that Country Joe MacDonald is in town this week to share a show full of Woody's work, journal entries, and other songs and stories inspired by his life. The show will take place tomorrow night at Egan's Ballard Jam House. The show starts at 6 PM, tickets are $25 and you must purchase them in advance at Egan's. If you can't make if to Ballard before tomorrow night, you can get contact info at their website.

This would probably be our favorite show of the year if we didn't have to skip it to put on a different show downtown. We're hoping someone will go and then comment all about it.