GRAND Magazine - August 2009 - 24

cover story Arlo Guthrie performed with the Boston Pops Orchestra in 2007 and will repeat that honor at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts in Woodstock on August 22, 2009. Nelson, Willie’s daughter. They have a little duo called Folk Uke. They are very funny. You can’t play their stuff for your kids, though.” When we talked with Arlo in late May, he had just celebrated the 90th birthday of his lifelong friend Pete Seeger at Madison Square Garden in front of a packed house of 21,000 people. Nearly 70 artists were backstage, including Joan Baez, Bruce Springsteen, Kris Kristofferson, Richie Havens and Roger McGuinn. Pete was up on the stage leading everybody in songs. “It was so crazy [that night] that I didn’t even get to say hi to Pete until the end of the show.” Arlo and Pete toured together for nearly 30 years. About 10 years ago Pete told Arlo, “I don’t know if I want to continue doing these big shows. My voice isn’t what it used to be. I can’t play like I used to play,” and Arlo replied, “Pete, the hearing of the people ain’t what it used to be. It shouldn’t be a problem.” Looking forward, Arlo is a typical grandparent, concerned about the issues that will affect his grandchildren’s future. “It’s not a political thing. We have conservatives and liberals on both sides of all of these things. This is not a Democrat/Republican thing. It’s the same dividing line around the world. It doesn’t matter if you’re in the Middle East or in Africa, there are some people who are trying to take advantage of their neighbors and their friends and their families and others. And then, there’s the group we—the whole family—like to think of ourselves as belonging to: people who are just trying to figure out how to get along together.” G CLICK ON VIDEO CONTROLS TO PLAY “It doesn’t matter if you’re in the Middle East or in Africa, there are some people who are trying to take advantage of their neighbors.” ago and put out a record that my father and mother had begun to create, a project they’d never finished, called Woody’s 20 Grow Big Songs . We put it out with my kids and some of their kids and my brother and his son and my sister and her daughter and son. That was the first time we got together as a family. In that album we incorporated the voice of my father singing—so it’s my father’s generation, mine, my kids’ and my grandkids’—four generations on one record. We’re trying to recreate that spirit, although for an older crowd, on the tour that’s coming up . We’ll have some recordings of my father, even my mom, so there’ll be a huge time span that we’re trying to insert into a two-hour show.” That tour begins in October. “All the kids will be with us. The major portion will be handled by me and Abe; Krishna is 18—he’s a great player; and Johnny and Sarah Lee. The small ones will make an appearance at some point, but we may have to get some cattle prods. We’ll get them out there just to bounce around at the end.” Humor is threaded through the Guthrie family music. “My family has a good sense of humor. My daughter Cathy sings with Amy 2009 24 GRAND AUGUST

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GRAND Magazine - August 2009

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