Woody Guthrie in Will Geer's apartment. Guthrie made his first recordings—several hours of conversation and songs recorded by the folklorist Alan Lomax for the Library of Congress—as well as an album, "Dust Bowl Ballads," for Victor Records in Camden, New Jersey. In February 1940 he wrote his most famous song, "This Land Is Your Land", as a response to what he felt was an overplaying of Irving Berlin's "God Bless America" on the radio. Guthrie thought the lyrics were unrealistic and complacent. He adapted the melody from an old gospel song, "Oh My Loving Brother", which had been adapted by the country
Woody Guthrie Folk Festival in May 2018 at the Bob Childers' Gypsy Cafe in Stillwater, Oklahoma - made her third festival appearance. Her winning song, titled "The Sidewalk Song", addresses homelessness. When Ken (whose name is short for McKenan) was in the 8th grade, she wrote a 9-minute song about Woody Guthrie for National History Day Contest that won both regional and state competitions, enabling her to also compete at the national level in Washngton, DC. "Woody Guthrie in general has always been a really influential person to me, especially because of his conversation topics in his songwriting,” said Pomeroy, 15, who counts the