Join Eagle Harbor Books on International Workers’ Day – May 1st
at 3pm – for a tribute to iconic folk musician Woody Guthrie.
Seattle KEXP music radio DJ Greg Vandy will talk with Seattle
Symphony bassist Jonathan Green about Vandy’s new book, “26 Songs
in 30 Days”. It’s the story of Woody Guthrie’s songs to honor the
hydroelectric and irrigation projects of the Northwest’s largest
river system, the Columbia, and the heroic workers and visions that
transformed our region in the 1930s and 1940s.
In 1941, Woody Guthrie wrote 26 songs in 30 days — including
classics like “Roll On Columbia” and “Pastures of Plenty” — when
he was hired by the Bonneville Power Administration to put to song
the benefits of affordable hydroelectric power, irrigation, and the
building of the massive Grand Coulee Dam.
Today, Bonneville is still the northwest’s main provider of
low-cost, clean and renewable power, as was mentioned in
a recent BCB podcast about the Island Power movement currently
active on Bainbridge Island.
“26 Songs In 30 Days” plunges deeply into the historical context
of the transformative vision and the progressive politics that
embraced social democracy during an era that led America out of
the severe suffering of the Great Depression.
For further information about Greg Vandy and events to
commemorate the 75th Anniversary of Guthrie’s songwriting about the
Columbia, see Greg’s website at
http://www.americanstandardtime.com/about/greg-vandy/
Credits: BCB host, audio editor and social media publisher:
Barry Peters