‘Grand Coulee Dam’: the only time Woody Guthrie was paid for his work
Folk music is not a genre designed to flourish within the modern music industry. Its prioritisation of historical accuracy and passing songs down through the generations is completely at odds with the typically profit-driven, forward-focused levers of the industry. While there have been hundreds of millionaire rock stars over the years, the list of rich and successful folk artists is considerably shorter. So much so that Woody Guthrie, the most important and influential folk artist America has ever produced, was only paid for his work on one occasion.
It should be noted that Guthrie never entered the world of music in the hopes of earning fame or fortune, although he would often busk in exchange for food and spare change during his early years. No, the folk hero’s aims were far removed from the big-money business that the music industry later became. Throughout his career, Guthrie penned songs about the people around him, his life experiences, and the political injustices he witnessed.
You could even argue that all of Guthrie’s work is inherently political; the singer represented an alternative to the capitalistic image purported by American society at the time. Prioritising anti-fascism, unity, and togetherness, the songwriter was a truly original voice within music at the time. On top of that, he also wrote various songs which became definitive anthems for the United States on the whole, with ‘This Land Is Your Land’ a particular example – although, tragically, many self-identifying patriots overlook the political message at the heart of that particular song.
Even though Guthrie’s work has been committed to the songbooks of the United States, and hailed as culturally significant in the history of the nation, this never translated into monetary gain for the songwriter. Seemingly, the only time Guthrie received any kind of monetary reward for his songwriting was for the song ‘Grand Coulee Dam’ during the early 1940s.
The story goes that the Bonneville Power Administration, created by Congress in 1937, hired Guthrie for a month to write songs about the project, which encapsulated the Grand Coulee Dam on the Columbia River in Washington.
Although, on the face of it, writing music to promote a government programme hardly seems in keeping with the ethos of Woody Guthrie, the songwriter managed to write about the natural beauty of his nation and its community spirit, rather than simply promoting the power company. According to his granddaughter, Anna Canoni, the songs he wrote during this month-long period were likely the only ones he was ever paid for.
“I think that was probably the only time he was paid,” shared Canoni, who is a director at the Woody Guthrie Foundation. “And they may have just said, ‘Write about this project,’ and then he took that to mean whatever he wanted it to mean for himself.” She also added, “I think some of his most powerful work came from that time period, from those 30 days that he spent on the Columbia River.”
Those songs, including ‘Grand Coulee Dam’ were not only some of Guthrie’s most powerful, reflecting his clear adoration of the United States (despite his political quarrels with some of its policies), but the tracks also provided the songwriter with some well-deserved compensation for his work. Even if he was never rewarded handsomely for his tireless work, which has contributed to the cultural fabric of the United States on a colossal scale, Guthrie’s pioneering folk music continues to live on into the modern day. For a songwriter, you cannot ask for a greater reward than people continuing to resonate with your writing decades after you have passed on.
