I have a second hand connection to Woody Guthrie that I would lkie to share. When I was very young, I had a children's record with Woody on it singing "LITTLE BOXES". It was my favorite song and I played it over and over again on my little cardbord box record player (great-grandfather of the iPod). My mom got tired of hearing the song over and over so she sent me to my grandparents' house. I brought the record and played it on Grammaw's console stereo. When she heard it, she ran outside and got Grampaw and made him come and listen to it. "Do you know who that is?" she asked. Grampaw listened for a minute, then he said, "Guthrie! Well, I'll be damned." And they both fell out laughing. I was too young at the time to know from Woody Guthrie at the time. I just knew he was the man who made my favorite song. When I asked Grammaw how they knew him, she said, "Aw, he's just some young feller from back home in Oklahoma. He went traveling all over the country trying to call himself a musician. We never thought he would ammount to anything. He couldn't sing worth a damn."

I later learned that my grammaw's brother, Randolpn D. Burchfiel used to hang out and play music with Woody and his friends back in the 1930's in and around the area of Haskell, Oklahoma, before Woody went to New York. At least, this is the information I have from my kinfolks. All of my dad's family is from Eastern Oklahoma, expecially around the area of Haskell. My great-grandfather opened Marston Mill there in 1906.

I know this is a long story, but it leads me to an amazing discovery. If the information from my family is correct. A few years ago, somebody had a theory that there were 6 degrees of separation between everybody in the world. Well, if there is any truth in the information I have, it seems that I have only 4 degrees of separation from Arlo:
1. My grammaw
2. Her brother who played music with Woody
3. Woody
4. Arlo - Once upon a time, Arlo recorded a song called "UKELELE LADY", which brings the circle back aroun to me. I write songs and play an antique banjo ukelele exactly like the one my uncle played when he reportedly hung out with Woody.

Is there anybody out there in Arloland that can help me to confirm my information or correct the my errors if I'm wrong?

Interesting stuff, Peggy. Unless the folkslinger himself weighs in on this, or you have a way of contacting Woody's biographer, Joe Klein, I would go here if I were you:


http://www.woodyguthrie.org

Welcome to the site! That is a neat story. I bet Woody was an interesting person to meet...