Welcome to Woody Sed, a new play about the life and times of Woody Guthrie and the songs he sang about them. This play was born out of the sheer astonishment I experienced learning about Woody's life and the relevance I saw in his work and his story to the world we live in today. Woody Sed is loaded with songs both well known and obscure and each song is framed in a theatrical context. Woody Sed is a 90-minute show with a minimalist set as it is, in essence, a memory play. It is illuminated with a full lighting design. Woody Sed has also been presented in shorter versions and thrives in venues both formal and casual.
Featuring 19 songs, Woody Sed offers a cascade of 25 colorful characters, all bundled up in a true to life tale. Woody was a prolific and provocative writer, the father of the 1960's folk revival and, according to Billy Bragg, the first 'alternative' musician
"All you can write is what you see."
Well, Woody Guthrie saw it and wrote about it - from the dust bowl of Oklahoma to the towers of New York City and from Hobo Jungles to the Merchant Marine. Woody Sed takes you there charting Guthrie's rise to fame and his struggle to escape a harsh and predestined fate. It is both the biography of a seminal American musician and an epic drama of Greek proportions. Woody wrote it and sang it as he saw it and Woody Sed reflects that by telling the story in his own words.
Woody Sed was featured earlier this year at Vancouver's International PUSH Festival and is currently booking dates for the fall of 2012.
"Woody Sed is pure magnificence." "... his performance is absolutely unforgettable."
- 5 stars - Tom Eremondi, Saskatoon Star Phoenix
"Woody Sed is a powerful piece delivered by a powerhouse talent. 'A'."
- Uptown Magazine, Winnipeg
"Jones is a natural storyteller who peoples his tales with vibrant portrayals of Guthrie and his friends, switching characters as smoothly as he changes chords on the guitar... the engaging Jones summons back the genial spirit of ol' Woody for one more concert."
- 5 stars MACLEAN, Edmonton Sun
Woody Sed is adaptable to Music Festivals and Events. Each song in the show has a short scene or speech attached, gleaned from Woody's own writing and from first-hand accounts of events in his life. It is focused on songs and stories. Any version of the show can be done informally in a lo-fi fashion, without technical support. Woody Sed is built with an intermission but it has been performed in one act at both 75 minutes and 60 minutes long. Woody Sed has the flexibility to be abridged and excerpts have been presented at various events. It is also available in an adaptation for Young Audiences.
Woody Sed encourages sing-alongs and gives context to Woody's classic and timely songs. It's an opportunity to rekindle the flame in older fans by profiling Woody, a folk music pioneer, while simultaneously introducing a new generation to a great creative force in songwriting history. Like Woody's music, Woody Sed brings people together and breaks down barriers. You don't have to look very far to see that songs like "Do Re Mi" and "Ain't Got No Home" are as resonant with audiences today as the day they were written.
The issues that Woody addressed read like a laundry list of the problems that our societies face today: corporate abuses, the rights of workers, environmental disaster, corrupt politics, inequality, racism, fascism, abusive bankers, migrant workers. Woody saw it all and told these stories through his music. That was his great gift, and that's why his songs live on.
Woody Sed offers the modern audience an opportunity to hear Woody speak about his experiences in his own words, creating a deep layer of appreciation for Woody's music.
Here is a list of the songs in the current version of the show.
|
Woody's Songs
|
| Reuben James | Ramblin’ Round |
| I ain't got no home | Union Maid |
| Howdido | Do Re Mi |
| Bound for Glory | So Long, It’s been good to know you |
| Why oh why? | Ain’t gonna be treated this way |
| This land is your Land | Woody and Lefty Lou theme |
|
Older songs/ influences: Woody’s unpublished songs:
|
| Goodnight Irene (Leadbelly) | California Stars (Mermaid Avenue) |
| California Blues (Jimmy Rogers) | I ain’t dead |
| Rye Whiskey | |
| Greenback Dollar | |
| A picture from life’s other side | |
