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This is a clip from “The Columbia”, a documentary film in which Woody Guthrie was commissioned to write folk songs promoting the ambitious Public Works projects on the Columbia River in the late 1930’s. His 26 Songs in 30 Days would promote the concept of Public Power and the delivery of electricity to rural areas of Oregon and Washington for the first time. His classic “Pastures Of Plenty” was written during this song cycle in 1941, a ballad forever linked to his legend and a song that brought to light the issue of migrant workers (Okies), and lent hope to Dust Bowl families looking for a brighter future in the Pacific Northwest. Woody supported the idea of a New Deal in which the government could do something to reform America and create programs (and dams) that would help common people in the form of lower electrical rates, land reclamation for independent family farmers, and ultimately change our reliance on private power companies who controlled our natural resources (rivers). This resonated with Woody Guthrie who not only eventually wrote “This Land Is Our Land” (he was working on it while driving around The Columbia Basin), but how our “Pastures Of Plenty” must always be free and that opportunity should be afforded to all people. His Columbia River Songs were hopeful ballads of a better place after 10 years of economic depression and hardship. It’s still heavy after all these years.
*SIDENOTE- this version you are hearing is the lost minor-key version of the song which only appears on the movie soundtrack which eventually was released in 1949. Guthrie later recorded the song for Moe Asch of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings but changed it to a major-key, which sounds very different. A very scratchy copy exists in poor fidelity, but is nearly unlistenable. It’s a long story…. read the book!
Woody Guthrie Center Billy Bragg Pickathon The Alan Lomax Archive appreciation societyLight In The Attic Records
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