26 Songs in 30 Days: Woody Guthrie's Columbia River Songs and the Planned Promised Land in the Pacific Northwest

by Greg Vandy, Daniel Person

A fascinating portrait of icon Woody Guthrie, the Pacific Northwest, and folk music—all set against the backdrop of a tumultuous moment in American history 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 promote the benefits of cheap hydroelectric power, irrigation, and the Grand Coulee Dam. Now, KEXP DJ Greg Vandy takes readers inside the unusual partnership between one of America’s great folk artists and the federal government, and shows how the American folk revival was a response to hard times.26 Songs In 30 Days plunges deeply into the historical context of the time and the progressive politics that embraced Social Democracy during an era in which the United States had been severely suffering from The Great Depression. And though this is a musical history of a vibrant American musical icon and a specific part of the country, it couldn’t be a better reminder of how timeless and expansive such topics are in today’s political discourse.

Genres: Music, History, Nonfiction

208 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 19, 2016

Reviews

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I belong to a 2-person book Pacific Northwest Book Club. We try to meet once a month, but more often it's whenever we have time to read a book and then get together. Each of us gets a turn to choose the book and this was my partner's choice.

I had never realized that Woody Guthrie had anything to do with the Pacific Northwest. After all, he is always portrayed as a Dust Bowl Okie (except that he was Texan.....). It had never crossed my mind that songs that had the word Columbia in the title might actually refer to the Columbia River, in my neck of the woods. So it was fascinating to learn that Guthrie had been hired by the Bonneville Power Administration to write songs for a movie it planned to produce on the benefits of publically-owned utility companies. The company was building the Grand Coulee Dam for the government which would then link people to the system for nearly half the cost of what they were paying the local private companies for electricity. For some reason, it was a hard sell. The project was truly "for the people" with no strings attached. The government planned to use the dam to provide electricity to areas of the country (at least in the Pacific Northwest) that were totally ignored as too inaccessible to the private providers. All at a cheaper cost.

So, in spite of the fact that this was a government project, Woody Guthrie signed on. It was a project "for the people" as he realized, something to help the poor. People would get cheap electricity and eventually the water collected from the Columbia would also be used for irrigation opening up thousands of acres for small family farms. The people who lost everything in the Dust Bowl could find it all again in the Pacific Northwest.

He was paid to write a song a day for 30 days. It seems that this would put a cramp in an artist's style, but this was actually the most productive period of Guthrie's life and resulted in some of his best known works.

Vandy gives an excellent overall picture of how Guthrie, the Columbia River and the government all came together for success. He gives a brief but thorough biography of Guthrie, a historical perspective on the Dust Bowl and the 1930s in the US (FDR's actual words are used in many cases to show exactly how much he was for the little man even though he was the farthest thing from one), and the actual project itself.

It's a small book but it packs a huge punch. It's easy to read and has a large collection of wonderful pictures to illustrate the times. Guthrie is seen in all his "glory" - the man who drove him around to the various sites on the Columbia for his research drove with all the windows down because of the intenseness of Guthrie's body odor; Guthrie made a down payment on a car and never paid another cent but used it heavily until it was repossessed; he left his first family, wife and three children, alone various places around the country (from New York to California) while he pursued his own interests. But his inimitable style is also easily on display. Varny includes Guthrie's typed lyrics to most of the songs in this cycle as the beginnning of each chapter.

Being a child of the 60's, I have always known the name of Woody Guthrie and sung many of his songs over the years, but it wasn't until I read this book that I discovered that he was not really famous in his own days. He never had very successful records released and rarely did large concerts. He was his own man and didn't suffer fools so he didn't stay in many "regular" jobs long. His fame came after his actual career. It started growing and the demand for recordings and concerts came just as he was experiencing the first wave of Huntington's Disease.

There's a lot here. Woody, the Columbia, the 3os, the New Deal, the plusses/minuses of man's control over nature. All in fewer than 200 pages.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

In 1941, Woody Guthrie was hired by the BPA to spend some time in Washington and Oregon and write some songs about Grand Coulee Dam and its benefits, for use in a movie about the same topic. Not all the songs were recorded, but many of those that were, are classics. This book tells the story, both of how Guthrie came to be hired, and what he did and where he went (though not a lot is known of that). It also tells the story about what happened to the movie and the songs (many tapes and films destroyed during the red scare). It's a good book with a lot of research and good photographs. Recommended.

[Rob · Rating 5 out of 5]

Picked up a remaindered copy as both Woody Guthrie and early times in the Pacific Northwest interest me. An excellent read and led me to find more of Guthrie's recordings, including the works done during the period this book covers. It's an ideal length and provides a decent biography of Guthrie as well as a history of development by the BPA of Columbia River Dams. Moves at a good clip without getting exhaustive with details. Highly recommended.

[Sherri · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one dug deep into a story about the great songwriter Woody Guthrie. His involvement with the Columbia Dam project was an interesting story and any diehard fan would appreciate the research these authors completed and shared. The images included in the book enhanced the storytelling and brought in primary documents that are great to look at while reading.

[Charles Bookman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Folksinger Woody Guthrie once took a government job, writing songs to promote public power in the Columbia River Basin. Songs such as “Roll on, Columbia” have become part of our national story. The authors bring this improbable tale to life. The book is well researched and includes a wealth of first-person material as well as illustrations from the time. read more at bookmanrader.blogspot.com

[Abby · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick, informative and engaging read about the genesis of Guthrie's Columbia River songs and their legacy. I knew "Roll On, Columbia" before reading this book, but had no idea that Guthrie had written that song and 25 others as an employee of the federal government. KEXP radio host Vandy traces Guthrie's path to the Bonneville Power Administration in Portland, OR and his travels in the Pacific NW region that inspired these songs, and provides relevant and fascinating historical context in accessible and absorbing prose. Much of the history of the Dust Bowl and Roosevelt's WPA programs were familiar to me, but I didn't know that much about the history of the Grand Coulee & Bonneville dams and their intended role as water sources for planned agrarian communities for farmers displaced by the Dust Bowl (a vision that was never truly realized). Who knew that public utility districts could be so interesting?

Vandy is clearly a huge Guthrie fan, but he doesn't gloss over the more problematic aspects of his personality (such as his abandonment of his wife & kids and the racist lyrics of an earlier iteration of "Roll On, Columbia"). He also addresses the negatives effect that the dams had on native tribes in the region and the decimation of the wild salmon runs.

The book itself is beautifully designed and illustrated, including reproductions of Guthrie's original manuscripts for some of the songs. Definitely worth checking out if you are a fan of American folk music and interested in Pacific NW history.

[Sandra Hacker · Rating 4 out of 5]

I began reading this book in hopes it would assist me in integrating some music/art into my 3rd grade classroom. We cover a great deal of geography and "what is culture" into our social studies and Woody Guthrie seemed a great tie in. The book is a pretty straight forward telling of not just the Guthrie connection to the "selling" of the building of the dams but also how it was marketed to America. Some good new information to me. Guthrie is depicted in what would seem to be a very honest light. He isn't shown as the icon of purity/simplicity we may think of him as, with the folktale singer title under his name, but rather shows multiple aspects to this complicated person. Interesting and entertaining.

[Josh Gering · Rating 5 out of 5]

it's not often that I get through a book in 1 week. This is a great read. Filled with interesting political and musical history, as well as the history of the Grand Coulee Dam.