Chronicling some from the point of view of one of the twentieth century's most influential musicians, Woody Guthrie's Bound for Glory includes an introduction by Joe Klein, author of Primary Colors, in Penguin Modern Classics.
'Now I been here an' I been there,
Rambled aroun' most everywhere'
Bound for Glory is the funny, cynical and earthy autobiography of Woody Guthrie, the father of modern American folk music. He tells of his childhood running wild in an Oklahoma oil-boom town, the tragedies that struck his family and of life on the open road during the Great Depression - hell-raising and brawling in boxcars, all while singing to raise a dime for his next meal. But above all, this is a song for the America that Woody saw from his lonesome highway, as he travelled from one end of the country to the other with guitar in hand and the songs that made him a legend drifting out over the Dust Bowl. Adapted into an Oscar-winning film starring David Carradine, Bound for Glory is the moving true story of America's greatest folksinger.
Woody Guthrie (1912-67), the son of a cowboy, was born in rural Oklahoma. When the Depression arrived, Woody hit the road and travelled round America. He became a folksinger, guitarist, actor, artist and broadcaster, and is best remembered for songs including 'This Land is Your Land', 'Roll On, Columbia, Roll On' and 'Worried Man Blues'.
If you enjoyed Bound for Glory, you might like Jack Kerouac's On the Road, also available in Penguin Modern Classics.
'Wild as a train whistle in the mountains, a scrumptious picture of fighting, carousing, singing, laughing migratory across America'
The New York Times
'One of the patron saints of American rebelliousness'
Joe Klein
'Even readers who never heard Woody or his songs will understand the current esteem in which he's held after reading just a few pages . . . always shockingly immediate and real, as if Woody was telling it out loud . . . A book to make novelists and sociologists jealous'
The Nation