Dylan, Seeger and Woody Guthrie: A Tribute by Bucky Halker

On Saturday October 31 at 8:00 PM The Skokie Theatre presents AN AMERICAN TRILOGY,
THE MUSICAL LEGACY OF BOB DYLAN, PETE SEEGER AND WOODY GUTHRIE presented by an American original, the great BUCKY HALKER.

Ask for the Ageless discount at the door and get 2 tickets for the price of 1. You’ll save $25.00!

Bucky Halker (photo by Jim Newberry)

We asked Bucky Halker about this show and his music. To see his complete discography and listen to his albums (or buy them) click here.

Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger and Bob Dylan. What do you see as the connection between them?

Woody and Pete became very close friends after Woody moved the Greenwhich Village in 1939. They lived in the same area, along with Leadbelly, and they all hung  out together and played music.  Pete and Woody became musical, political, and personal comrades, a relationship that continued after Woody went into the hospital with Huntington’s Disease in the early 1950s. Pete recorded many of Woody’s songs and played them in concert helping to keep Woody’s music alive.

Dylan (left) and Woody (right)

While Woody was in the hospital, the young Bob Dylan left Minnesota and headed to NYC to seek his fortune.  Dylan made treks to visit Woody in the hospital and wrote “Song to Woody” in 1962. He clearly modeled himself after Woody, including his photo pose for his first record and his speaking patterns.

Did  you relate to Dylan’s music?
As a young kid growing up on Lake Superior (Ashland, Wisconsin) in a town like the one Dylan grew up in on the Iron Range, not far from me, I could relate to Dylan in terms of his alienation and also not wanting to just be like Woody or Pete.

When did you first go out on the road playing music? What was it like then compared to what it is like today?

When I was 13, I did my first road gig with a little rock band that played Kinks, Animals, Ventures, Stones, and Beatles songs. It’s much harder now. The songs are over-produced and harder for kids to play live. Plus Americans are jaded and cynical about their music. They take it for granted and shouldn’t.

Plus, there’s so much competition for entertainment dollars. Many people would prefer to go see a huge concert once a year or see a heavily hyped movie than go to a club and hear a live band.

We’ve devalued art in the USA and we’ll pay in the long run, but for thirty years it’s been all about big, big, and bigger. Look at Wall Street and the banking industry. They set the cultural tone, along with political leaders, for the larger society.

Memorable moments on tour?

My first tour of Germany after the Berlin Wall came down and getting five encores at a club. Everyone was happy that year.

I played a private concert this year for the new U.S. Consulate General in Munich and that was a great and beautiful night. Again, everyone was happy as we had a new president and hope was in the air with all the foreign guests from Germany, Indian, Turkey, etc. Former president Bush did not wear well around the world, though that seems obvious.

You are student of music history. Tell us about your work on Illinois, Wisconsin, and Labor songs.

I’ve been collecting songs of all sorts for 30 years now and writing for 40 years as well. I’ve been mostly interested in collecting labor and working class protest music, but also folk music in general. Illinois is perhaps the richest state in the USA for folk music because it’s so ethnically diverse and has been from the beginning. Illinois is a great spot for everything from hillbilly music to polka to Swedish fiddling and African-American blues.

Where did you find the music? The musicians?

I find music in archives, home recordings, LPs, CDs, museums, private collections, government-funded collections, and old 78s. This is not high art in the sense of classical music, but there’s so much of it that’s superb, and has been overlooked by intellectuals more enthralled with the American South, a bias I’m working to correct.

What surprised you about your research?

I’m constantly surprised at how many great musicians are out there; many of whom we’ve never heard of and who’ve spent their lives playing and are still working day jobs or playing small venues without recognition.

Great things don’t just come from the Kennedy or the Bush family, they come from little men and women we know little about. These people have created the great American music—blues, country, folk, bluegrass, jazz, etc.

You have performed and taught in Europe. Do you think the Europeans have a greater appreciation of the heritage of  U.S. Labor songs? Or is that a misconception?

I think Europeans appreciate the labor songs more because issues of “class” don’t freak them out. Americans get all worked up when you even mention a word like working class. Some of that I understand, but some of it is just because we’re educated to interpret the world through a lens where class in not important. That’s a big mistake.

Musicians also get paid better in Europe and treated much better. There’s no way around that. However, there are language problems at times and Europeans have their own biases and prejudices. You don’t see any Muslims in the French or German Parliament and you don’t see any Black people in public office either. They often take the high moral ground and don’t deserve to do so any more than we do.

We always try to avoid history in the USA, which can be liberating, and in Europe you just can’t escape it anywhere and it can weigh heavily on their views and their life choices. You won’t find many people “freelancing” or reinventing themselves in Western Europe.

Check out Bucky and friends singing a Woody Guthrie classic.

_____________________________________________________________
Join Ageless North Shore, and be a part of Sharon Rosenzweig and Aaron Freeman’s publishing project: