This Episode Kills Fascists: Woody Guthrie's Life & Legacy w/ Deana McCloud
The Road to Now
Benjamin Sawyer
4.8 • 628 Ratings
🗓️ 20 September 2021
⏱️ 48 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Most Americans know Woody Guthrie's "This Land is Your Land", but the song, much like the man who wrote it, is far more complex than many of us realize. Guthrie, who was born in Oklahoma in 1912, moved west during the Dust Bowl of the mid-1930s and witnessed the tragedy of the Great Depression first-hand. A self-proclaimed "common-ist," Woody dedicated his life to documenting the experiences of his generation and using his platform to advocate for the common worker. In this episode, Bob & Ben speak with Woody Guthrie Center Executive Director Deana McCloud to learn more about Woody Guthrie, his music, and his legacy.
This episode was recorded at the Woody Guthrie Center in Tulsa, OK. If you're ever in the area, we highly recommend you take the time to visit. A video of Bob's visit is available on our episode page and on The Road to Now's YouTube channel.
You can visit the Guthrie Center's website at woodyguthriecenter.org and follow on them at twitter at @WoodyGuthrieCtr. You can follow Deana McCloud on twitter at @DKMcCloud.
This episode is a rebroadcast of The Road to Now #94, which originally aired on May 1, 2018.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | I'm Ben Sawyer and this is the road to now. |
| 0:08.9 | Today's episode is a walk through the life of the great American musician Woody Guthrie. |
| 0:15.3 | Bob got a chance a few years back to go visit the Woody Guthrie Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma. |
| 0:20.3 | He got an incredible tour of the center by the executive director, who was Deanna McLeod. |
| 0:26.0 | And she really walked him through the life. |
| 0:27.9 | I mean, there's so much more than we could ever capture in one episode. |
| 0:31.5 | They hit on some amazing points, some amazing songs. |
| 0:34.0 | And if you enjoy this episode, I would say go check out the web page for this, and you can get there, |
| 0:38.9 | RTNpod.m.m.m. slash 94R, capital R. Because we've got the video posted there. |
| 0:48.3 | Some of the things that Bob talks about in this episode, they actually videoed while they were |
| 0:52.8 | there. Cracker Farm came along. Shout out to Cracker Farm. |
| 0:55.2 | Great photographer and videographer. So there's some really beautiful footage there, so check that out. |
| 1:01.4 | But this is just such a great episode, and it's one of the ones that we aired years ago. |
| 1:06.2 | And I feel like it's always good to bring these back out, to share, because Woody Guthrie's got, |
| 1:11.1 | what I think is a timeless message for Americans. The songs may be old, the music may be of a |
| 1:16.4 | different era, but the morality, the lessons, and the vision of someone like Woody Guthrie, |
| 1:22.1 | it really transcends our past and just the idea that we work and that they're suffering |
| 1:26.7 | and that we can find something |
| 1:28.9 | in it and move forward really key to him. So I hope you guys enjoy this episode. But before we |
| 1:35.2 | move on to that, I have to acknowledge our winners from Patreon trivia. It was a tense game, |
| 1:40.7 | but in the end, our friends and patrons, Ann Williams, Frank Edwards, Tim and |
| 1:45.0 | Caitlin Wells pulled off the W, and it was a blast. So thank you guys for coming. Thanks for |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Benjamin Sawyer, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Benjamin Sawyer and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.