In his music and his writing, Woody Guthrie chronicled the devastation of the 1930s dust storms and the Great Depression, championing the dispossessed as well as economic and social injustice.  Many of his songs such as “This Land is Your Land” have become American classics, and he has influenced subsequent songwriters, among them Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen.  This presentation by Greenberg explores Guthrie’s always-rambling life and legacy through readings from his prolific prose writings, recorded and live examples of his music, and slides of Guthrie’s own art and photographs documenting his complex life and times.

Mark Greenberg is an educator, writer, musician, producer, and proprietor of Upstreet Productions, specializing in radio, video, and audio projects involving traditional folk music and oral history. He has been involved with folk and traditional music since the 1960s.  Greenberg taught American Studies and Humanities at Goddard College from 1991-2003 and courses in American vernacular music at the University of Vermont from 2006-2015, including the travel-study course Chasing the Blues. He holds a B.A. and M.A. from the University of Chicago.

Greenberg has produced audio documentaries for National Public Radio, and his work has received a Grammy Nomination (Doc Watson Sings Songs for Little Pickers), NAIRD Award, awards from Parents’ Choice and the American Library Association, and a Peabody Award Nomination (Spotlight: Radio Visits with Vermont Artists).  His musical groups have included The Lake Country String Band, Coco & the Lonesome Road Band, Licks & Notions, Bob Yellin & the Joint Chiefs of Bluegrass, and Dave Van Ronk’s Kazoo-o-phonic Jug Band.  He currently plays with the duos Good Old Wagon and Anything Goes.