Credit: Far Out / Library of Congress

Who was Woody Guthrie? The legacy of Bob Dylan’s ultimate idol

Tue 4 February 2025 8:00, UK

Woody Guthrie is one of those figures whose name many people know, but not as many know his music. It’s a devastating fact, given that Guthrie’s entire artistic ethos was putting his art above himself, using music for a greater good and wanting his words and music to lead the way rather than any sort of celebrity. It’s easy to see why Bob Dylan, a man infamously uncomfortable with his own fame amidst his desire to be celebrated for his work, holds Guthrie’s impact close as his ultimate icon.

On Dylan’s debut album in 1962, Columbia Records mostly wanted him to sing covers of other people’s songs. That’s the way it was done in folk and country music back then. Similar to the jazz world, the idea of a ‘standard’, or a beloved song covered over and over by different artists, was the way to go. Especially for a new artist, there was the idea that they had to prove their worth by singing known songs before a label or their audience would take a chance on new material. Largely, Dylan obliged. But he demanded that two original compositions be included.

One was ‘Talkin’ New York’, his humorous yet somewhat scathing take on his newly adopted home city. But the other was ‘Song To Woody Guthrie’, his ode to his idol who had not only encouraged him to make music but had coaxed him out of his small town and into the big city.

Dylan’s story begins when he moved to New York and got involved in the Greenwich Village folk scene. But that only happened because the young singer felt he had a pilgrimage to make, to visit a sick Woody Guthrie at the Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital in New Jersey. However, even before he met and befriended the singer, Dylan was a devout follower. “I said to myself I was going to be Guthrie’s greatest disciple,” he said, declaring the musician to be “the true voice of the American spirit.”

‘Song To Woody Guthrie’ was written before that first meeting as a gift and homage to his hero. “Hey, hey Woody Guthrie, I wrote you a song,” he sings, clearly doing his very best to make him proud. But really, it was the years that would follow during Dylan’s early career as a protest singer that would have impressed Guthrie most.

How did Woody Guthrie start writing songs?

Like Dylan, Guthrie travelled far from his home to make things happen. Born and raised in Oklahoma, he left for California to find employment as well as to make music. But really, the music thing came second. While it was his passion and purpose, Guthrie didn’t care about fame – he cared about saying what he had to say. Songs, therefore, became a conduit for his message reaching the masses.

That was the spark for a unique career. Guthrie wrote hundreds of songs, ranging from classic folk and country tunes to children’s lullabies and ballads. His 1940 album Dust Bowl Ballads, especially, is considered to be one of the most influential folk and country records ever made, as countless other legends cite it as essential. Alongside Dylan, people like Johnny Cash, Bruce Springsteen, Pete Seeger, Donovan, Jerry Garcia and more all hold Guthrie up as a deeply influential force, despite him never really hitting what one would consider as ‘the big time’.

But that’s likely due to what Guthrie was singing about. The folk singer’s career clashed with the era of McCarthyism, a period where Hollywood and the entertainment industry were being attacked by the government due to growing fears about communism. People were being spied on, figureheads were being pressured to turn their friends in or were growing paranoid about whether they could trust people around them. Any slight suggestion of left-wing politics could lead to someone being blacklisted by the entire industry, with figures like Charlie Chaplin, Albert Einstein, Arthur Miller, Jean Seger and more being impacted.

Pete Seeger was another victim, as his group, The Weavers, were blacklisted. Part of the reason why can be traced back to Guthrie as the band recorded a cover of his song, ‘This Land Is Your Land’, which was a kind of alternative national anthem that took an anti-nationalist stance.

But that was only really the tip of Guthrie’s political iceberg. His music worked on the themes of socialism, anti-fascism, social justice and much more. He rallied against politicians on both sides of the divide if he ever thought they were working for selfish interests rather than the good of the people. His music was always a vehicle to address issues, and his art had the power to change things. As he humbly said, “All of my words, if not well put or well taken, are well meant.”

All of this makes perfect sense when considering Dylan’s early works. Following Guthrie’s teaching of using words for a greater good, defying the need for extravagance and complexity to get that point across, and working prolifically at your work for a purpose, that’s the blueprint for early-era Dylan.

“You’ll find God in the church of your choice / You’ll find Woody Guthrie in Brooklyn State Hospital,” Dylan sings on ‘Last Thoughts On Woody Guthrie’, his farewell to his idol written as Guthrie was dying. Likening the folk star to God, it’s clear that to Dylan, they were one and the same.