Various Artists - Note of Hope: A Celebration of Woody Guthrie (Album)
Dylan called him poetic, rough and rhythmic. He received a letter of thanks from Lennon and is counted by no less than Bono, Bruce Springsteen and Joe Strummer as a key influence on their work. He is the late Woody Guthrie – the folk icon that would’ve turned 100 next year.
Guthrie was one prolific artist, leaving behind many unfinished masterpieces. His son, Arlo, has said that his father was a terrible dinner guest because once the inspiration struck he just had to write, even if it meant all over the walls. Wilco and Billy Bragg have already turned some of the unreleased work into the “Mermaid Avenue” albums. The latest compilation of songs inspired by Guthrie is “Note Of Hope,” a project spearheaded by his daughter, Nora.
Across 12 tracks a number of idiosyncratic artists – some may say kindred spirits with the legend – have taken his words: diary entries, poems, short stories, essays and extracts and created their own pieces. The result is a dozen very different songs with the only thing linking them together – aside from the words – is the superb bass playing by Rob Wasserman. Guthrie’s lyrics – like the diverseness found in the genre choice – take in everything from protests to love; profiteering and life in the depression; to moments of sheer silliness. It is essentially a chronicle of his life spent in New York City during the 1940s and 50s with the free-form style and narration to some of the material making it sound like a beat poet wired for sound.
The inspiration for Guthrie’s lyrics came from listening to people as he traveled around the country because this proved the best way to capture the innate, unschooled wisdom he felt we all possess. It could have been by eavesdropping on public transport; listening to a waitress taking an order; the profound yet unhinged ramblings of a hobo; or an up-close and personal with a stranger in a bar, the world really was his oyster. These moments all have their time and place and what could have seemed transient and not worth capturing has often wound up sounding rather meaningful, almost as if Guthrie had ripped into the listeners’ heads and hearts and spilled out the contents to create one ragged mess of beautiful waste.
The tribute is an affectionate one but thankfully there are no vanilla covers in sight. This could be because no timeframe or deadline was imposed on the contributors. It works in our favour though, because this is why we have music produced by the late Chris Whitley and Studs Terkel with “The High Lonesome” and “I Heard A Man Talking,” respectively, and these ultimately prove fine epitaphs for each of these great men.
The collection begins with a big orchestral piece, “The Note Of Hope” by Van Dyke Parks. It’s based on a similar concept to one that Pete Townshend has grappled with; about one note being so pure that is has the ability to save and offer hope. It is an embellished and grandiose piece but something to be expected from the producer of the Beach Boys’ magnum opus, “Smile” and Silverchair’s “Across The Night”.
Madeleine Peyroux offers some smoky jazz in “Wild Card In The House,” keeping her title of chanteuse well in check. But the same cannot be said for Tom Morello who has never sounded so mellow. On “Ease My Revolutionary Mind” he lacks the grunt and arsenal of electric guitars that permeate his work in Rage Against The Machine and Audioslave. Instead, he offers a fiery protest number that has hints of the Wild West. The aforementioned artists are also in good company as excellent contributions from the likes of Ani DiFranco, Lou Reed and Pete Seger complete the record.
Guthrie once described the acoustic guitar as a “Machine that kills fascists”. If that’s the case each one of these loaded guns is powerful but that doesn’t mean that they all hit the metaphorical bullseye. “Union Love Juice” by Michael Franti is plain creepy with some wacka-wacka porno sounding guitars and scratched vinyl noise combined with lyrics like: “I am the meat and the flower of sex”. Ewwww.
At least Jackson Browne’s “You Know The Night” isn’t about singing with your dick in your hand. Instead, it’s about the love that overpowered Guthrie when he met his second wife for the first time. It starts off nicely enough; heck, it could even be a Chris Isaak number. But to listen to this for the full 15 minutes does prove rather taxing, especially when you consider that you could’ve had at least two smokeos in that time.
“Note Of Hope” is a deliciously messy collection featuring the rambling wit and wisdom of Guthrie reinterpreted by some creative minds that love their bass twisty and their voice – as in lyrics – gritty. It’s amazing to think that the words were written decades ago because they still ring true today. It seems that Guthrie could see the future in the then present and could tell that neither were gonna pretty. But instead of being overwhelmed by this, he offered pockets of promise and notes of hope with his unconventional writing and unashamed honesty. So with the 2012 centenary approaching, not to mention the Mayan promises of an apocalypse at least we can rest safe in Guthrie’s observations that it isn’t 1984. Yet.
