Tulsa's Woody Guthrie Center celebrates 10th anniversary: What you need to know

Woody Guthrie once advised, "Watch the kids. Do like they do. Act like they act. Dance the ways you see them dance. Sing like they sing. You'll be healthier. You'll feel wealthier. You'll talk wiser. You'll go higher, do better, and live longer!"

It's the kind of philosophy that Tulsa-based musician, educator and father Symon Hajjar can get behind.

"I love the way that he is able to convey messages that are meaningful and do it simply. I think there is a profound childlikeness to folk music, because we're using basically the same chords and sometimes even similar melodies, and yet the hooks that draw you in are nuanced. And the messages are meaningful and deep and storylike," said Hajjar, who has 6- and 8-year-old sons.

In honor of Woody's 110th birthday: 10 highlights of Tulsa's Woody Guthrie Center

"Since they asked me to play I've been devouring his music with my kids in the car, and his song 'Why, Oh Why' is a big one for us. It's something that has been my experience of kids since having them and being a teacher, that question 'why.' I love how he just really summed up that."

Hajjar, who performs as Hot Toast Music Co., is among the musicians, poets and scholars who will come together May 5-7 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Woody Guthrie Center, which over the past decade has become a key landmark in the burgeoning Tulsa Arts District in downtown Tulsa.

"What I've noticed is that you never walk away without learning something new. Every single time, every day on the floor, I see something that I didn't know or experience before. His work was so prolific. ... as we rotate exhibits, we rotate objects, there's always something new to look at and to learn from," said Cady Shaw, who was named the center's executive director last fall.

Who was Woody Guthrie?

Woodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie was born July 14, 1912, in Okemah, which has hosted for 26 years the annual Woody Guthrie Folk Festival. The music icon also is permanently enshrined in his home state at the Woody Guthrie Center, which opened in Tulsa in 2013. 

The 2006 Oklahoma Hall of Fame inductee wrote more than 1,000 songs, including "So Long (It's Been Good to Know Yuh)," "Oklahoma Hills" and the iconic "This Land Is Your Land," which many consider an unofficial national anthem.

Guthrie is best remembered as an influential folk singer-songwriter, but he also was an artist, writer, newspaper columnist, radio show host and activist.

Although the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer died more than half a century ago — the folk troubadour was only 55 when he succumbed to the hereditary neurodegenerative condition Huntington's disease on Oct. 3, 1967 — his songs, art and commitment to social justice continue to reverberate. Evidence of his ongoing influence can not only be found throughout the Woody Guthrie Center but also inside the year-old Bob Dylan Center nearby.

"Woody Guthrie ... is as formative a figure in American music and culture as one could possibly be," Steven Jenkins, director of the Bob Dylan Center, told The Oklahoman in a 2022 interview.

"Dylan responded very positively to not only Guthrie's music — which remains extraordinary — and the indelible songs he wrote, but I think to that figure of the folk singer, the truth teller."

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What can people see and hear at Tulsa's Woody Guthrie Center?

With its mission to preserve and promote Guthrie's music and message of social justice, the center's highlights include an interactive map and timeline to guide visitors through the singer-songwriter's journey from Okemah to Pampa, Texas, and eventually "From California to the New York island"; Guthrie's circa 1930s May Bell guitar; and the 13-minute exclusive film "The Woody Guthrie Legacy: Made for You and Me."

Visitors also can explore a lyric writing station; a massive curved wall displaying dozens of his drawings; the special exhibitions “Woody Guthrie: People Are the Song” and "John Mellencamp and Woody Guthrie"; Woody's Music Bar, where people can listen to many of his recordings; and memorabilia from Guthrie disciples like The Flaming Lips, Pete Seeger and Tom Paxton.

Along with recordings and lyric sheets of Guthrie's songs, the center's Dust Bowl section includes an excerpt of Ken Burns' PBS documentary, artifacts like toys, clothes and a quilt and an immersive virtual reality experience that takes visitors inside a dust storm, which Shaw said is one of the landmark's most popular attractions.

"That is a story that most Oklahomans know. A lot of our native Oklahoma families went through this, but just go, 'Oh, grandma's talking about the Dust Bowl again.' But this really puts you in that place and helps you to understand how impactful that was to see your life blowing away, to be sick from the blowing dust and to really understand the apocalyptic landscape for what it was at that time. And Woody was in the center of it in Pampa, Texas, on Black Sunday, and it really affected him," Shaw said.

Both literally and metaphorically, the heart of the Woody Guthrie Center is the carefully preserved original handwritten lyric sheet for “This Land is Your Land." 

"Lady Gaga sang 'This Land Is Your Land' at the Super Bowl a few years ago. The Dropkick Murphys (are about to release) an album called 'Okemah Rising,' which is a lot of his work and influence," Shaw said. "He is still very relevant, and his legacy is active today."

More: Woody Guthrie still inspiring Oklahoma Music Hall of Famer Tom Paxton

What is planned for the Woody Guthrie Center's 10th anniversary?

The 10th anniversary weekend festivities start at 7 p.m. May 5 with Woody Guthrie Center Night with the Tulsa Drillers at nearby ONEOK Field. The game will include a special sing-along of "This Land Is Your Land."

"It's probably a world record, but we don't know for sure. ... We want to have the whole stadium singing along together," Shaw said. "His granddaughter, Sarah Lee Guthrie, will be leading that, and another of his granddaughters, Anna Canoni, will be throwing out the first pitch."

Admission will be free to the Woody Guthrie Center from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. May 6 as the celebration continues inside the landmark with panel discussions and a screening of the 2000 documentary "The Ballad of Ramblin’ Jack" followed by a Q&A with folk legend Ramblin’ Jack Elliott and his daughter, Aiyana Elliott, the film's director.

The festivities will spill out onto the nearby Guthrie Green from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. May 6, with food trucks, a makers' market and free concerts by Hot Toast Music Co., Jonatha Brooke, Jake Xerxes Fussell, Margaret Glaspy and The Secret Sisters.

Also, the Russian activist and performance art group Pussy Riot will receive the 2023 Woody Guthrie Prize and perform at 6 p.m. May 6 at Tulsa's iconic Cain's Ballroom.

The celebration on May 7 will include noon and 4 p.m. tours of the exhibit “Woody Guthrie: People Are the Song” with Canoni, plus a 2 p.m. People's Poetry event featuring former U.S. Poet Laureate and native Tulsan Joy Harjo, Emily Hoffman and Alyssa Brown. The festivities will culminate with a sold-out concert for center members at 7 p.m. May 7 at the LowDown featuring Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Sarah Lee Guthrie and Robert Carradine.

More: Bob Dylan Center opens to public in Tulsa near OKPOP Museum, Woody Guthrie Center

Originally from upstate New York, Hajjar, who entertains as Hot Toast Music Co., has been based in Tulsa for about 20 years and embraced Guthrie has a musical influence in that time. His summer plans include doing songwriting workshops based on the work of Guthrie and other Oklahoma musicians.

"Kids are such an amazing audience, because they are so engaged. They're curious. When you go to an adult concert, everyone's listening and taking in the music, which is beautiful in its own way; when kids go to a concert, they're like part of the band just naturally. So, it's really transformed the way I think about music ... because we could sing about a rock, we could sing about a cloud," Hajjar said.

"And I think he got that. ... I'm not an expert on Woody Guthrie, but in my experience with his music, I think he's a storyteller. And I think you have to be in touch with your childhood to approach the world like that."

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Tulsa's Woody Guthrie Center celebrates 10th anniversary