Tune up your banjos, re-string your guitars and get ready for
some good ol’ honky-tonk, red-dirt pickin’. 

Meacham Auditorium in Oklahoma Memorial Union will be filled on
Saturday with some of the best folk musicians America has to
offer. 

This folk hoe-down will be a benefit/CD release concert to help
raise money for the 7th annual 2004 Woody Guthrie Folk Festival,
held July 14-18 in Okemah, the hometown of folk legend Woody
Guthrie.

 The first purpose of the concert Saturday is to give
listeners a taste of the music to be performed at the Woody Guthrie
Folk Festival. All of the artists performing Saturday will also be
featured at the folk festival in July.

Performers at the benefit show are Bob Childers and Randy
Crouch, Karen Mal, The Red Dirt Rangers, Joel Rafael, Mary Reynolds
and the So & So’s, and Jimmy LaFave. 

  The second purpose of the show is to announce the release
of “Welcome Home, Woody: An Oklahoma tribute to Woody
Guthrie.” “Welcome Home, Woody” is a limited
edition recording of live performances from the 2003 Woody Guthrie
Folk Festival.

  “Our festival is such a popular event we’ve
decided to take it on the road to satisfy the demand of some of our
Woody fans and supporters who just can’t wait for our summer
event,” said Randy Norman, president of the Woody Guthrie
Coalition and organizer of the Woody Guthrie Folk Festival, in a
press release.

The benefit and CD sales allow entrance to the festival to be
free, Norman said.

“This concert is a nice sample of the positive spirit and
good-natured, family-friendly music spotlighted at our festival,
and the CD documents one of the festival’s favorite
events,” he said.

Every summer for the past seven years, folk artists and legends
from all over the world have converged in this small town to pay
tribute to one of the greatest folk singer/songwriters our country
has yet to know. 

Woody Guthrie’s influence on American folk music is one of
unprecedented proportions.

 As children, we remember him every time we sing the words
to his most famous song, “This Land is Your Land”.

Over time this song has grown from a popular campfire tune to a
cadence of American ideals.  

“Woody was the finest singer/songwriter
ever,” said John Cooper, of Oklahoma band Red Dirt
Rangers. “No singer/ songwriter can deny his profound
influence on American music.” 

He went on to say, “As Oklahomans, we often acknowledge
Will Rogers as the most famous Oklahoman, but nationally and
internationally, Woody Guthrie’s fame is much
greater.”
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