Labor Day - Woody Guthrie

The obvious choice for Labor Day is Woody Guthrie, so that is what I will do.

There is very little film of Woody Guthrie performing. Here, in some of the rare footage, Woody Guthrie joined by Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee performs the song "John Henry". This is a traditional song, not one written by Woody.



In this video Odetta and Tennessee Ernie Ford perform three songs. The first, which Odetta sings, is the Woody Guthrie song "Pastures of Plenty". Tennessee Ernie Ford then sings "Nine Pound Hammer", which us credited to Merle Travis. Then together they sing "I Was Born About Ten Thousand Years Ago", which I think is a traditional song.



My favorite lyric by Woody Guthrie is "God's Promise". The original music to this lyric no longer exists, but here is Ellis Paul performing the song with music he wrote.