New Multitudes "My Revolutionary Mind"

We always joke about how we do a lot with a little, at mvyradio.

This was so true last weekend at Newport Folk, where our backstage production staff---which in past years has been as many as ten people---was just me and Barbara and Jess.

That meant we all wore many hats/traded hats quite a bit.  So at any given time, I might be working as an on-air host, or a technical director communicating with the DJs back at the station, or a social media maven, connecting to the folks following online.

But the most exhilarating and moving moment of my Newport Folk weekend, was when Jess handed me the station camera and asked if I could give her a break from taking pictures.

For most of the acts, they let photographers, even the amateur ones, down to a pit area in front of the stage for the first 3 songs of any performance.  So I was right up front for the New Multitudes set.

New Multitudes is the Woody Guthrie project put together by Jay Farrar, Jim James, Anders Parker and Will Johnson---Woody's lyrics with music by the foursome.

I was intent on not missing this, as I knew it would probably be the only chance ever, to see them.  The short tour was over and it's not like they are going to make a series of albums---this was a one-off project.

Taking advice from my wife, I shot photos at a furious pace, knowing that sometimes it takes 100 shots to get 1 or 2 really memorable keepers.  But I also tried to really enjoy the fact that I was right at the front of the stage, where I could soak up the energy and the joy of this performance.  I held my ground until security gave us the boot.

From there, I retreated out from under the tent, to the side of the stage, where I spied Nora Guthrie.  She was totally focused on the performance, her head bobbing to the music, with just a slight smile on her face.

I was just so moved by this idea of a message from beyond the grave.  The band was singing songs written by her father, who had scribbled these lyrics decades ago.  He had also passed away decades ago, but here were his words, his thoughts, brought to life in 2012.

We could all only hope to have such a message from the people we've lost.  It gave me goosebumps.


Hear "Changing World" followed by "My Revolutionary Mind" on Youtube.

New Multitudes "Hoping Machine"

I only took one CD with me during vacation last week. This was it.

"New Multitudes" is the album name (but I think it should be the band name, because calling them "Jay Farrar, Will Johnson, Anders Parker, Yim Yames" every time is a non-melodic mouthful).

This is another collection of Woody Guthrie lyrics, from what seems to be a bottomless well of writings that he left behind from the years he was too debilitated from Huntington's Disease to play guitar.

I had heard Barbara play this song on the air before I left for vacation. "Hoping Machine" so moved her, that she actually teared up on the air while talking about it.

I put it on my headphones as I left the island for vacation, and even with the heads-up that this could make me cry, well, it still made me cry.

I've joked about Jay Farrar's limited palette before. But damn, within his wheelhouse, his is the most beautiful, moving voice, with a tone that is both warm and cuts through absolutely everything.

Yeah, I cried on the ferry.

Beautiful.


Hear the song on Youtube.

Jackson Browne "You Know The Night"

I've got a box full of letters out in the garage. And another box full of journals.

Do you keep that kind of stuff?

What about your kids? Do they?

One of the weird changes that we're going through, that will have some interesting ramifications down the line, is that no one writes letters anymore.

Now believe me, I love email. I love how fast and easy you can connect with someone.

But tell me, do you save your emails? Do you save them in a way that future generations could read?

There is a new release coming out this month, called "Note Of Hope: A Celebration Of Woody Guthrie." And on it, artists perform some of Woody's writings.

Now, these are not songs that Woody wrote. They are songs made from letters and other writings of Guthrie's.

Woody wrote a ton. And much of it was saved for the ages.

What about you? Are you like me? Do you still have old letters you wrote or received?

And what about 50 years from now? Will projects like "Note Of Hope," or David Mccullough's "John Adams" or the like, be possible? Or will the writings that exist in electronic form have no hope of being archived for posterity?

How will we gain insight into out leaders and our celebrities, if there are no records of their less guarded thoughts and feelings?

It'll be a strange, slightly less interesting, future.


Hear the song on Youtube.