Albany Symphony Virtual Launch Party May 21 Celebrates Woody Guthrie

NEW YORK – Earlier this month, Naxos released “This Land Sings: Inspired by the Life and Times of Woody Guthrie,” the world-premiere recording of composer Michael Daugherty’s musical tribute to the singer-songwriter and political activist Woody Guthrie.

Maestro David Alan Miller will host an online celebration to honor the release 7 p.m. on Thursday, May 21, at: Facebook.com/albanysym/live. Daugherty will also be at the event to answer questions about this album.

The album features performances by the Albany Symphony’s new music ensemble Dogs of Desire led by Miller, with vocal soloists, soprano Annika Socolofsky and baritone John Daugherty. For this release, Daugherty collaborated with producer Silas Brown, to create a recording which re-creates a vintage Capital Records 1950s soundscape. 

 “Traveling America from coast to coast with his acoustic guitar and harmonica, Woody Guthrie performed folk songs of love, wandering and social justice, including his famous anthem “This Land Is Your Land,” at Workers Union gatherings, on radio stations and street corners, and in farm fields and concert halls during the Great Depression and the Second World War,” writes Daugherty in his introduction to the album. 

To prepare for his musical tribute to this Dust Bowl troubadour, the composer drove for several weeks along the dusty backroads of Oklahoma and Texas where Guthrie once roamed, while listening to just about everything the singer-songwriter recorded during his brief lifetime (1912–1967). The composer also spent time at the Woody Guthrie Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, researching his fascinating life and wide-ranging artistic output. “The music I composed gives haunting expression, ironic wit and contemporary relevance to the political, social and environmental themes from Woody Guthrie’s era.”