Set to be released on September 10th via Parlophone, ‘Home In This World: Woody Guthrie’s Dust Bowl Ballads’ is a reimagined version of American folk icon Woody Guthrie’s ground-breaking 1940 album, ‘Dust Bowl Ballads’. Curated by the Grammy Award-winning music supervisor and producer Randall Poster (‘Skyfall’, ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’, ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’), ‘Home In This World’ is available to pre-order and is released with the endorsement of the Woody Guthrie Estate.
Cited as one of the first ever concept albums, ‘Dust Bowl Ballads’ rings true nearly four generations later as America faces a different kind of depression and looming climate crisis. Weaving together autobiographical and fictional vignettes of the Dust Bowl during The Great Depression, Guthrie spoke from the heart about his own experiences, stepped into the shoes of Tom Joad from John Steinbeck’s ‘The Grapes of Wrath’, and traced the journey of thousands out of the Midwest and Southern Great Plains to California under the promise of a better life.
Now celebrating its 81st anniversary, the record has been reimagined for a new era by a cross-genre collective of artists. Poster has assembled an all-star cast of everyone from Grammy Award winners Lee Ann Womack and John Paul White to grunge poet laureate Mark Lanegan and rising country and Americana star Lillie Mae, acclaimed folk duo Shovels & Rope, virtuosic mandolinist Chris Thile, celebrated Canadian cowboy Colter Wall, bluegrass phenomenon Watkins Family Hour, and indie stalwarts Waxahatchee.
Randall Poster commented, “Woody Guthrie’s ‘Dust Bowl Ballads’ is as relevant as ever. While profiteers exploit our natural resources, there is a growing sensitivity to the harsh farming practices that put our well-being at risk and a concerted movement toward regenerative agriculture that can reinvigorate the soil and push back on climate change.
I asked some of my favourite artists to help render these songs, hoping that this collection will reinforce the enduring power and prescience of Guthrie’s music and reveal the power of song. I tried to think of these songs as the soundtrack to a movie, building a narrative, a story where the world wakes up to the climate threats and unite to combat it successfully. It’s a great movie.
Nora Guthrie, daughter of the folk icon and curator of the Woody Guthrie Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, added, “WHAT A FEAST! Delicious… tasteful… spicy… & organic… all.”
Sharing aligned missions, ‘Home In This World’ will be released in partnership with Kiss The Ground, a non-profit on a mission to awaken people to the possibilities of regeneration and inspire participation in this movement through media, communications, education, workshops, immersive programming, and advocacy. Since 2013, Kiss the Ground has created societal awareness around the extraordinary potential of healthy soil, educating and activating millions around regeneration.
“I was thrilled when Randall first told me about this project and his vision for tying the album to Kiss the Ground’s mission,” adds Kiss The Ground Co-Founder, Educator and Policy Director, Finian Makepeace. “Music is a powerful tool for carving out a path to a regenerative future! By touching our hearts as they flow through our subconscious, these songs can work in tandem with Kiss the Ground’s efforts to awaken people to the possibilities of regeneration.“
