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.

John Prine Covers (Duets)

This video was shot during Farm Aid 1985 at Memorial Stadium, University of Illinois. I thought I recognized the South Farms, and so I looked up where Farm Aid 1985 was staged to be sure. This was after I was there so I did not see this in person. Here Bonnie Raitt and Rickee Lee Jones perform "Angel from Montgomery".





From Scotland, here is a video of Natalie Merchant and Michael Stipe doing "Hello In There". I was not there either.





Finally, a more contemporary video of "That's the Way the World Goes Round", performed by Norah Jones and Richard Julian.

Homemade Jamz

The Homemade Jamz' Blues Band consists of 3 young siblings from Tupelo, MS. Ryan Perry, 17 yrs. old, Kyle Perry, 15 yrs old, and Taya Perry, 10 yrs. old. You have to see them to believe it. Plus they have a guitar and a bass made out of car mufflers.



Here is a performance of "Time for Change".



And here they are performing with the one and only BB King.