Woody Guthrie Way (Brooklyn)
Present name:Mermaid Avenue
Location:Between West 35th Street and West 36th Street
Honoree: Woodrow Wilson Guthrie (1912-1967) was an American folk musician who wrote hundreds of songs, including "This Land Is Your Land," "So Long, It's Been Good to Know You," "Grand Coulee Dam," "I Ain't Got No Home" and "Dust Bowl Refugees." During the Great Depression, he lived on the road, hitchhiking and riding the rails across the West and Midwest, singing songs to anyone who would listen. In 1934, he published his first book of original songs and shortly after moved to Los Angeles, where he hosted a radio show on KFVD. In 1940, he moved to New York where he performed on network radio, wrote a column for the Communist newspaper The Daily Worker, performed at strikes and rallies, and recorded songs for the Folkways label. From 1943 until 1945, he was with the U.S. merchant marine on vessels carrying troops and supplies to the United Kingdom, Italy and Africa. He died in 1967 from Huntington's Disease. In 1988 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and was honored with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2000. (Treyger)
LL:2019/24