Check out our new essay on Substack, “A Humble Bridge: Representing Woody Guthrie in A Complete Unknown.” We explore the relationship between Woody and Dylan on the big screen and much more.
Year in Review
The Collective had a busy year, attending numerous conferences and folk festivals. Here’s a few highlights from 2024:
- Launched Folk Matters: A Podcast about Music & Activism
- Presented at Woody Fest
- Joined the American Song Archives Education Advisory Committee &
- Consulted with the Woody Guthrie Center on the Ballads of Sacco and Vanzetti
We have much more in store for the coming year, beginning this February with a roundtable session at Folk Alliance International in Montreal on teaching Indigenous folk artists in the classroom. We also have some exciting announcements on the way so stay tuned …
Here’s to keeping Woody’s hoping machine alive in 2025!
Aimee Zoeller and Gus Stadler facilitated a conversation with Stephen Walden and Natalie Jaser at Woody Fest 
Michele Fazio, Daniel Ouimet, and David Amram at Folk Alliance 
Newport Folk Festival Lineup 
Michele Fazio with Linqua Franqua at Newport Folk Festival 
Billy Bragg at Newport Folk Festival 
Poetry reading by Joan Baez at Newport Folk Festival 
Aimee Zoeller with Joan Baez
Aimee Zoeller and Gus Stadler facilitated a conversation with Stephen Walden and Natalie Jaser, high school teachers from Tahlequah, at this year’s Woody Fest in Okemah, Oklahoma. Walden, Jaser, Stadler, and Zoeller shared specific course curriculum across three disciplines – English, sociology, and history. Walden shared using “Pastures of Plenty” to teach about the Depression and World War Two. In Jaser’s creative writing class, students analyze “This Land is Your Land” and then create their own poem, short story, or essay. Guthrie’s journey to anti-racism is explored in Zoeller’s Protest Music in the U.S. course through the song “The Blinding of Isaac Woodard.”
They also shared the purpose, barriers, and opportunities of Guthrie’s work and were primarily concerned with advancing the role of music in creating stories and ideas that connect us in uncertain times. Critically, the panel discussed negotiating issues of equity and justice and aligning disciplinary convictions with external legal and political constrictions.
Hanging out in Tulsa …
The Collective met all together in person for the first time at the 10th anniversary of the Woody Guthrie Center to give a talk, “We All Work Together: Creating Curriculum for ‘People Are the Song’ and Beyond.” Here’s a few photos of the group in action. Next up: talking about Woody at The World of Bob Dylan 2023 conference!
The Collective is heading to Tulsa!
The Collective is heading to Tulsa to celebrate ten years of the Woody Guthrie Center! There’s a full weekend of events scheduled May 5-7th featuring musical performances by Ramblin’ Jack Elliot, Jonatha Brooke, The Secret Sisters, and Pussy Riot, the honoree of this year’s Woody Guthrie Prize, as well as a poetry reading by U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo and talks by Anna Canoni and Douglas Brinkley. We’ll be leading a discussion, “We All Work Together: Creating Curriculum for ‘People Are the Song’ and Beyond.”
