Music You Can't Hear on the Radio

Woody Guthrie’s full name was Woodrow Wilson Guthrie. Born on July 14, 1912, the rambling musician, writer and activist’s 100^th birthday is being noted this year with concerts, new recordings including several that set some of his writings to music for the first time, and other tributes and appraisals.  It’s also led me to wonder why a couple, living in Okemah, Oklahoma, chose to name their son for the then-governor of New Jersey.

Had his parents been fans of the President at the time, William Howard Taft, the man who wrote “This Land Is Your Land” might be remembered as Billy or perhaps Howie. He could have been Lee Guthrie if they had looked to their own governor that summer, a Democrat named Lee Cruce whose first major success, according to Wikipidea, was establishing Oklahoma’s Department of Highways. Instead, they were drawn to the Governor working in Trenton, a state capital Mapquest calculates as 1,487 miles from their home in Okemah.*

While Woody’s father Charles was politically active and had been elected District County Clerk in Oklahoma, the names he and his wife Nora selected for their other children – Roy, Clara, George and Mary Josephine – had no known political associations. So why name their middle child for Wilson?

In July 1912, though he had been Governor of New Jersey for less than two years, Woodrow Wilson had received some national notice as an effective, reform-minded, progressive leader. But what must have elevated his name in the consciousness of the very expectant parents in Oklahoma was the drama of the Democratic Party’s national convention that only 12 days earlier had selected Wilson as its Presidential nominee.

Held in Baltimore from June 25^th through July 2^nd, the frontrunner among half a dozen candidates going into the convention was the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Champ Clark from Missouri. Clark received 440 votes on the first ballot to Wilson’s second-place tally of 324 but because Democratic party rules in 1912 required support from two-thirds of the delegates Clark was well short of the 694 he needed to secure the nomination.

As voting continued in subsequent ballots, it seemed that Clark would get to the magic number and Wilson prepared a concession statement. But when Clark picked up New York City’s delegation controlled by Tammany Hall, it cost him the backing of William Jennings Bryan who until then had then been neutral. Bryan, still popular despite having been the party’s unsuccessful nominee in three of the previous four elections (hard to imagine today), endorsed Wilson in a speech  that denounced Clark as a candidate of Wall Street and helped move enough delegates to eventually enable Wilson to gain the nomination on the 46^th ballot.

And now 100 years later, Charles and Nora’s baby, born less than two weeks later, is known and celebrated around the world as Woody Guthrie.

Wilson went on to be elected President in November with 42% of the popular vote and 82% of the electors, defeating President Taft and former President Theodore Roosevelt, as well as Socialist Party candidate Eugene Debs and Eugene Chafin of the Prohibition Party, while his namesake began a life that became defined by both incredible personal tragedy and lasting musical contributions and cultural influence.

Coincidentally coinciding with Guthrie’s 100^th birthday is the unlikely but oft-mentioned possibility that the hundred-year anniversary of that election in 1912 might also include an open, multi-balloted party convention. If indeed no candidate wraps up the Republican nomination before August when the party convention opens in Tampa, perhaps the resulting excitement will lead some young 21^st century parents to bring into the world a baby Mitt or Newt or Rick or Ron. Or, if history truly repeats itself (maybe if Stephen King gets to write it)  and the convention goes to 46 ballots and then once again chooses the first-term Governor of New Jersey, there’s always cute little Christopher.

*My sources for this far from exhaustive research are not only Wikipedia and Mapquest, but also Joe Klein’s wonderful 1980 biography, Woody Guthrie; A Life (Alfred A. Knopf),  “Challenges of a New Century: Woodrow Wilson and the Progressive Era,” a chapter by  John Milton Cooper, Jr in A Legacy of Leadership: Governors and American History, edited by Clayton McClure Brooks and published by the University of Pennsylvania Press in 2008, and an interesting piece of historical fiction called Memoirs of a Texan: Empire by Tim Murray, published by FastPencil.com.

Tonight’s show is likely to include music from the new album by The Chieftains, songs about Hard Times & Hard Cheese, songs and Animals, music from Ukeleles  & Cliff Edwards, some Yodeling, and music from Guy Davis, The Neville Brothers, Black 47, Deborah Holland & The Refugees. Listeners welcome from 7:00-10:00 pm on WPRB at WPRB.com and 103.3 FM. For info about almost-podcasting the show, see  thehomepage of this website.

This week’s show will include the song recorded by The Chieftains together with The Rolling Stones referenced in the Sunday New York Times Arts Section.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/05/arts/music/stones-chieftains-beach-boys-and-el-gran-combo-turn-50.html?pagewanted=1

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Pete Labriola and John Weingart seem to be alternating hosting the show this month. Pete, who was in on the first of the year, will return on January 15th while John who did the show on January 8th will return on January 22nd and 29th.

Also on January 29th, Beppe Gambetta will be performing live in the studio in advance of his concert with John McEuen on February 4th in the Sanctuary Concert Series at the Presbyterian Church in Chatham, New Jersey (http://www.sanctuaryconcerts.org/).

Christmas Day – A Worried Waltz rendition of Music You Can’t Hear On The Radio begins at 6:00 pm immediately following Jon Solomon’s annual 24-hour Christmas music marathon.

New Year’s Day – Pete Labriola is the guest host.

January 8th – John Weingart returns as the non-guest host.

TONIGHT – Christmas songs will be sprinkled – perhaps heavily – through tonight’s show including some old favorites like “Christmas Time On The Big Bayou” and Joseph Spence singing “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town. Also music new and old more related to some of the other 364 days of the year. Suggestions welcome in either category.

GIFT IDEAS – Great folk music-related CDs and DVDs are listed in the recommendations section of this website.(http://veryseldom.com/) Also, if you’re looking for a  gift for a guitarist, space is still available in Beppe Gambetta’s two-day workshop in Stockton, NJ on January 14-15. Contact fedcalv@tin.it.