University of Florida Performing Arts

Featuring Abe Guthrie and The Burns Sisters 

There will be a pre-performance discussion with The Burns Sisters at 6:45 p.m.

Sponsored by JMAJ LLC, 92.5 / 95.5 / 107.9 WIND-FM THE CLASSIC ROCK STATION and WMYG-TV MY11

About Arlo Guthrie
Arlo Guthrie was born in Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York in 1947. He is the eldest son of legendary folk pioneer, Woody Guthrie, and Marjorie Mazia Guthrie. His mother was a professional dancer with the Martha Graham Company and founder of The Committee to Combat Huntington’s Disease. He grew up surrounded by dancers, musicians and philosophers: Pete Seeger, Ronnie Gilbert, Fred Hellerman and Lee Hays (The Weavers), Leadbelly, Cisco Houston, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGee, all of whom were significant influences on Arlo’s musical career.

Arlo gave his first public performance at age 13 and quickly became involved in the music that was shaping the world during the 1960s. Arlo witnessed the transition from an earlier generation of ballad singers to a new era of singer/songwriters. He learned something from everyone and developed his own style, becoming a distinctive, expressive voice in a crowded community of singer/songwriters and political-social commentators.

Arlo Guthrie’s career exploded in 1967 with the release of his album, Alice’s Restaurant, whose title song premiered at the Newport Folk Festival and helped foster a new commitment to social consciousness and activism among the ’60s generation. Arlo went on to star in the 1969 Hollywood film version of Alice’s Restaurant, directed by Arthur Penn.

Though Arlo’s definitive rendition of Steve Goodman’s City of New Orleans may have been his only “hit” song in the traditional sense, he has never the less achieved international stature. The 18 minute 20 second Alice’s Restaurant, while too long for radio airplay, has become an American classic. The song Coming into Los Angeles, though banned from many radio stations when first released, had become a favorite by the time he played it at the 1969 Woodstock Festival and it remains a favorite today.

Over the last four decades Arlo has toured throughout North America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia winning a broad and dedicated following. In addition to being an accomplished musician—playing the piano, six and 12-string guitar, harmonica and a dozen other instruments—Arlo is a natural-born storyteller whose hilarious tales and timeless anecdotes are woven seamlessly into his performances.

In 1983, alongside his thriving performing career, Arlo launched his own record label, Rising Son Records, which holds his complete catalogue. Over the years, the RSR catalogue has grown to include works by Abe’s band, Xavier, Sarah Lee’s self-titled debut album, Johnny Irion’s recording, Unity Lodge, and Sarah Lee and Johnny’s joint projects, Entirely Live and Exploration. His daughters Cathy (Cathyaliza) and Annie head the business office in Austin, Texas, and the main office in Washington, Massachusetts. Together they provide the business and logistical support for the various Guthrie family enterprises. Arlo and his family are also heard alongside the voice of his father, Woody Guthrie, on the 1997 release of Grow Big. The album won several awards and a Grammy nomination for Best Musical Album for Children.

Not to be confined to the world of folk and rock, Arlo created Arlo vs. The Symphony, a program of symphonic arrangements of his own songs and other American classics. Between 1998 and 2004, Arlo performed over 40 concerts with 27 different symphony orchestras throughout the United States. The show at Boston’s Symphony Hall, conducted by Keith Lockhart, was recorded and aired on PBS’ Evening at the Pops. In 2001, the Fourth of July celebration with the Pops was broadcast live by A&E and attracted an audience of over 750,000.  On July 10, 2007 Arlo released In Times Like These through Rising Son Records, which is a dynamic collection of his orchestrated works, in which he collaborated with the University of Kentucky Symphony Orchestra. 

In 2006 Arlo toured with his family in the Guthrie Family Legacy Tour. And last year he took to the road by himself on The Solo Reunion Tour: Together at Last. This was the first time he performed solo since his early days.

Rising Son Records has not limited itself strictly to members of the Guthrie family. Arlo and Hans Theessink co-produced Banjoman as a tribute to their late friend Derroll Adams, enlisting the help of Donovan, Dolly Parton, Billy Connelly, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott and others.

Arlo’s diverse artistic endeavors have included acting roles on the ABC series Byrds of Paradise and the USA network series Renegade. He has written and published a popular newsletter, The Rolling Blunder Review, since 1986 and is the author of an award-winning children’s book, Mooses Come Walking, illustrated by Alice May Brock.

Other projects include the November 2003 Tribute to Harold Leventhal at Carnegie Hall with Arlo and family, The Weavers (Pete Seeger, Ronnie Gilbert, Fred Hellerman and Erik Darling), Peter, Paul and Mary, Theodore Bikel and Leon Bibb, which was released to theaters in late 2005.

The Guthrie family was featured in the November, 2007 issue of Vanity Fair as part the Music Portfolio Series on Folk Legends. The series features leaders in different musical genres.

Guthrie’s undertakings include community projects as well as artistic pursuits. In 1991, Arlo purchased the old Trinity Church—the very location where events took place on Thanksgiving 1965 that inspired Arlo to write the song Alice’s Restaurant. The church is home to The Guthrie Center, named for his parents, and The Guthrie Foundation.

As part of a Guthrie Foundation sponsored tour, Arlo and his family rode the Amtrak City of New Orleans train in December 2005, from Chicago to New Orleans, stopping along the way to perform benefit concerts. Arlo Guthrie & Friends, Ridin’ on the City of New Orleans (Benefiting Victims of Katrina) has raised over $140,000.

The Guthrie Center is a not-for-profit interfaith church foundation dedicated to providing a wide range of local and international services. Programs include everything from providing HIV/AIDS services to baking cookies with a local service organization, from an HD walk-a-thon to raise awareness and money for a cure for Huntington’s Disease, to simply offering a place to meditate. The Guthrie Foundation is a separate not-for-profit educational organization that addresses issues such as the environment, health care, cultural preservation and educational exchange.