Woody Guthrie's love letter to the Columbia Basin rolls on 75 years later
Jeannie Yandel speaks with Greg Vandy about his new book, "26 Songs in 30 Days: Woody Guthrie's Columbia River Songs and the Planned Promise Land in the Pacific Northwest."
In 1941, the federal government needed someone to sell farmers living near the Columbia River on a huge public works project, the Grand Coulee Dam. So they hired Guthrie. He spent the whole month of May 1941 traveling around Washington and Oregon and writing songs for a government-made documentary about the river, the farmers and how the dam would make life better.
If you'd like to hear more of the music, there will be a tribute concert at Benaroya Hall on May 26. There'll also be a free concert and laser show May 28 at the Grand Coulee Dam.
Or, you could check out a Seattle Sounders home match.
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Jeannie Yandel
Special Projects Editor
Jeannie Yandel is a special projects editor focusing on podcasts and broadcast shows. She created and co-hosted the KUOW podcast Battle Tactics For Your Sexist Workplace and ran and edited KUOW's podcast about local curiosity, SoundQs. She also co-created and co-hosted KUOW's YouTube interview series, Are We Going To Be OK?. Previously, she was senior producer for The Conversation and KUOW Presents, and was Executive Producer for The Record.
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Matt Martin
Podcast Producer
Matt Martin is a podcast producer who has worked on many different show for KUOW. He pitched and created THE WILD with Chris Morgan, a rich and experiential podcast about ecology and conservation. Matt also produced the Seattle music history podcast Let the Kids Dance and the award-winning Ghost Herd. Before moving to the on-demand side of the station, Matt worked as a producer on The Record, KUOW's local news show. He has also worked as a general assignment reporter and host for public radio stations in upstate New York and rural Alaska. Matt got his start in media as an intern with StoryCorps and Aljazeera America.
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