As part of Arlo Guthrie’s 50th anniversary “Alice’s Restaurant” tour which hits Kalamazoo State Theatre tonight, Sarah Lee Guthrie is enjoying her family time on the road. The Local Spins interview.
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Sarah Lee Guthrie has been around music her whole life, but it wasn’t until she hit the road with her father Arlo Guthrie on Furthur Fest tour in 1997, that she began to take a shine to folk music.
Sarah Lee, now 39, grew up more of a punk music enthusiast, but after spending that summer rubbing elbows and having laughs with members of The Grateful Dead, moe. and The Black Crowes, she accepted an invitation from Black Crowes front man Chris Robinson to move to Los Angeles and soon after embarked upon her own musical career.
Within a matter of weeks, she met her future husband and fellow musician Johnny Irion, who she spent years collaborating with until they made the decision a few years ago to pursue their own musical endeavors. And while they did team up on a children’s album in 2017, and have another on the way, both are enjoying a bit of success on their own, and Sarah Lee is expecting to release her first solo folk album in 2019.
When it comes to touring, the third-generation Guthrie songstress has spent much of the past couple years on the road with her father. Out together now, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the movie “Alice’s Restaurant” — based on her father’s famed song, “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree” — father and daughter will make a stop at the Kalamazoo State Theatre tonight. Tickets are $35-$125 and available online at kazoostate.com. The show starts at 8 p.m.
Local Spins writer Ryan Boldrey had the opportunity to separately interview both Arlo and Sarah Lee Guthrie about their upcoming show, the family business, the importance of folk music and more. This is Part 2 on the Guthrie family. Read the Local Spins interview with Arlo here: Arlo Guthrie still gets everything he wants with ‘Alice’s Restaurant’
Local Spins: So how did you begin as a punk rock teenager and wind up following in the family tradition as a folk singer?
Sarah Lee: It was really Johnny’s influence on me. We were playing country/folk rock, that’s how we generified ourselves. But it wasn’t until later, say 10 years into my career of playing music that I began appreciating the music that I grew up around like Pete Seeger or Ramblin’ Jack (Elliot) or even my grandfather (Woody Guthrie). It was really a combination of things at that point … going over to Europe and realizing what the Guthrie family meant to people all over the world and slowly realizing what I could do and what I could represent. I began seeing how important folk music is, especially in today’s political climate. I don’t want to lose that. I want to make sure our next generations know that music is not just for entertainment, but that it brings people together and helps movements of people build and rebuild community.
Local Spins: You mention the political climate that we are in, what do you feel your role and responsibility is as a folk singer in this climate?
Sarah Lee: As folk singers, we have so much to do now to remind people to use their voices, and to join their voices together and unite them. This is what Pete did in the Civil Rights Movement and Joan Baez did and still does. I look to them for how to act and what to do in these times. So yeah, I do feel a great sense of responsibility now to bring people together through our collective voices, but it doesn’t mean you have to be chanting at political rallies. One of my favorite quotes of Woody’s is “right wing, left wing, chicken wing,” I like that a lot and the idea of bringing people together and not dividing them. It’s hard though, especially in times when it’s “this is just so wrong,” and “how can you feel this way” and “how could you accept both sides.”
Local Spins: You’ve mentioned your grandfather a couple times now. He and your father, without question have both played significant roles in the history of American folk music, and you aren’t the only “third-generation Guthrie” now involved in music. Are there more Guthries in the musical pipeline? Someone ready to take the torch?
Sarah Lee: Oh goodness, I don’t know. There’s definitely another generation doing it, but who knows what is going to happen in the eyes of the world. I don’t pressure them at all. I actually go the opposite way and I think my dad used to do that with us too. He’d say, ‘Don’t Do it! Don’t be a musician! You don’t want this!’ And of course, we all became musicians (laughs). … As far as my kids, because I toured with Johnny, they were all raised on the road. They feel it so deep that it is like second nature to them. My 16-year-old is pushing it away as far as possible, because she is carving out her own identity, whereas my 11-year-old just played a show with me in Oklahoma. She loves playing the ukulele. Abe’s kids are both super talented. He has a daughter at Ithaca College. Her voice is better than all of ours put together so if she decides to go for it, watch out. And his son plays eight days a week up in Vermont.
Local Spins: While we are discussing family, how meaningful is it for you to be able to get out on the road and play with your dad?
Sarah Lee: It’s totally why I do it. There are nights where I can’t hold back tears. I lost my mom six years ago and it puts everything into perspective in terms of how fragile life can be, and how important dad has always been in our lives. I didn’t really grow up around him, because he was always on the road, so to get to be out on the road and spend time with him and learn what he has been up to all this time is special. But also, as a young performer wanting to watch and learn, not by him telling me how to do it, but by example, I just soak it up as much as possible. He’s just so generous to let me share the stage with him and allow me to take it over at times.
Local Spins: What should one expect on Friday night?
Sarah Lee: Arlo will open the show, so don’t be late. He’ll hand it off to me and then close it down. It’s a bit of an Arlo sandwich. He’ll come out and plays a little with me and I’ll play with him, so yeah, it should be a great time. Expect to hear a lot of the classics.
VIDEO: Sarah Lee Guthrie, “I’ve Got to Know”
VIDEO: Sarah Lee Guthrie, “When I’m Gone”
Copyright 2018, Spins on Music LLC