January 24, 2009—July 31, 2009

"And there on the Texas plains right in the dead center of the dust bowl, with the oil boom over and the wheat blowed out and the hard-working people just stumbling about, bothered with mortgages, debts, bills, sickness, worries of every blowing kind, I seen there was plenty to make up songs about. . . . I never did make up any songs about the cow trails or the moon skipping through the sky, but at first it was funny songs or songs about what all's wrong, and how it turned out good or bad. Then I got a little braver and made up songs telling what I thought was wrong and how to make it right, songs that said what everybody in the country was thinking. And this has held me ever since."
-Woody Guthrie

This exhibit will illustrate how the years Woody Guthrie spent in Pampa, Texas, from age 17 formed the foundation of a life that was to influence the folk music genre for the generations to come. Family tragedy, the Depression and Dust Bowl years, and picking up a guitar and giving a voice to the plight of the American worker were the driving forces that guided Woody throughout his prolific, but too-short career.

Don't miss Woody Guthrie: Words and Music of the Working Man April 17-20. A symposium of public lectures, educational programs, and live music.

Photos used by permission from the Woody Guthrie Archives

This project was made possible in part with a grant from Humanities Texas, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
The exhibit is also sponsored by the Distinguished Lecture Series Committee and the Guest Artist Series Committee funded by the students at West Texas A&M University.