Happy birthday, Woody Guthrie! Celebrate the folk legend's centennial with a week of events

By Robin Edwards Sun., Sep. 16 2012 at 3:00 PM

Categories: Arts and Culture

Legendary folk singer Woody Guthrie was born a hundred years ago, and a century later, he's left quite a legacy. David Amram, a legend in his own right who met Guthrie in 1956 and was commissioned by the Guthrie family to write a symphony piece based on "This Land Is Your Land," will be in town for a series of musical events and film screenings that pay tribute to Guthrie. "He was way more than just a folk musician," says Amram. "He was a musician and a person for all our folk."

Here are the Guthrie-related events in Denver over the next week:

David Amram Quartet at Dazzle Restaurant and Lounge (Monday, September 17, 7-9 p.m., $18)
Dazzle will be the site of a special show by the David Amram Quartet, which includes Tony Black, Hugh Ragin and Artie Moore. This is a great opportunity to catch Amram in his musical element, performing along with a quartet in the intimate setting of Dazzle.

Woody Guthrie-inspired ukelele lesson at the Denver FilmCenter/Colfax (Wednesday, September 19, 6 p.m., free)
Learn to play like Woody himself! Swallow Hill Music instructors will offer a free group lesson, teaching you how to play Guthrie's famous "This Land Is Your Land" before a screening of the documentary about the singer/songwriter. Bring your own guitar or ukelele (or simply your beautiful voice) and play or sing along to the folk staple.

Roll On Columbia at the Denver FilmCenter/Colfax (Wednesday, September 19, 7 p.m., $10)
This documentary captures the period in 1941 when Woody Guthrie was employed by the Bonneville Power Administration to write a song a day for a month; Guthrie ended up creating 26 songs during that span. David Amram and musician Josh White Jr. will introduce the film.