Sarah Lee Guthrie & Johnny Irion

Exploration

2005-03-09

This one's got its feet planted deep in history.
Sarah Lee’s the daughter of Arlo and the granddaughter of Woody. Johnny’s her husband. Johnny had “solo” records before they realized that they could maybe market the whole Guthrie thing (or perhaps before she was ready to flaunt her stuff). So there’s that.

The other hook here is the angular harmonies that Sarah and Johnny achieve. Their pairing is reminiscent of Gillian Welch and David Rawlings - though, those two are masters. If you’re looking to blend disparate yet complimentary voices, who might you hire to produce?
I bet Gary Louris wouldn’t be a bad choice, as his best records with The Jayhawks featured he and Mark Olson working out their differences. Gary adds guitar and many of these songs hark back to The Jayhawks so hard I almost wept quiet tears. Okay, not really.

Johnny’s the primary songwriter and so far I’m enjoying his work. Sarah’s coming right along, too. The big keeper here is the Pete Seeger song “Dr. King” which features The Mammals and, of course, Pete’s grandson Tao Rodriguez.

Another fine development in the history of Cosmic Americana.
Linus.

Quick Links:

More reviews tagged #Folk

  • reviewed 06/2011

    DAVE ALVIN
    ELEVEN ELEVEN

  • reviewed 06/2014

    TRUE NORTH
    Elsebound

  • reviewed 01/2008

    Sam Kenny
    See ThroughThe Storm

  • reviewed 05/2008

    The Brass Kings
    Washboard Rope Guitar

  • reviewed 07/2017

    Jennifer Vazquez
    Rediscovering Me

  • reviewed 03/2017

    Wyatt Easterling
    Divining Rod

Compiled by the WYCE Journalism Club

The opinions expressed in these reviews are those of the individual volunteers that submitted the article and do not necessarily reflect the views of WYCE or GRCMC; nor its staff, donors, or affiliates.