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Will Kaufman's WOODY GUTHRIE: HARD TIMES AND HARD TRAVELIN' is a captivating "live documentary" that sets the songs of Woody Guthrie in the context of the American 1930s - the Dust Bowl, the Depression, the New Deal and the state of popular music itself. Such hard-hitting Guthrie songs as "Vigilante Man", "Pretty Boy Floyd" and "I Ain't Got No Home" are brought into conversation with other relevant songs - from Joe Hill's "The Preacher and the Slave" to "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?". Altogether the show highlights the blending of music and radical politics that marks Guthrie's most powerful work.


"No one can understand the American people without listening to Woody Guthrie. Will Kaufman's doing important work here." 
                                             - Tom Paxton

"I thank Will Kaufman for introducing a new generation of Europeans to 'the other America'. It's a wonderful job he's doing."
                                                                                - Pete Seeger

Will presents this exhilarating show in the fastest hour and a half you are likely to witness when you consider the breadth and depth of his subject. He performs Woody’s songs with great skill and understanding, playing the guitar with enviable panache and brio. His presentation is accomplished with great musicality, wit, honesty, and compassion. I was deeply moved by the whole show and grateful to Will for reminding me once again of the debt I owe to Woody and the admiration I have for his music. You have done Woody proud, Will! I urge everyone to see the show and find out more about the man who inspired so many.

Thank you, Will.
                               - Ralph McTell

                                                 "Vigilante Man" (Guthrie)

A freewheeling excursion into the music and social vision of one of the most important of American singer-songwriters. Woody Guthrie's songs are brought back to life by Kaufman's virtuoso performance.
                                - Prof. Martin Halliwell, Leicester University
 
The politics and culture of the Great Depression come alive in Will Kaufman's vibrant rendition of Woody Guthrie songs. 
                                - Prof. Simon Newman, Glasgow University

A brilliantly entertaining and informative musical tour around Woody Guthrie's America. With sparkling humour and excellent musicianship Kaufman charms his audience and makes Guthrie's work come alive.
                                - Prof. Nick Selby, University of East Anglia

Throughout the hour and a half (which passed in no time at all) the audience were spell-bound. I never heard anyone utter a word or do anything other than listen intently to the music, the songs and the talk. I’d like to think that I’d get the chance to see this again. I’d thoroughly recommend Woody Guthrie – Hard Times and Hard Travelin’ to anyone looking for a crowd pleaser that is quite unique, at their festival; and I would hope that Will may consider bringing ‘Woody’ to smaller platforms - such as folk clubs – in the not too distant future.
                                     - Folk and Roots Reviews


                                                                         "I Ain't Got No Home" (Guthrie)


Will Kaufman is a singer, multi-instrumentalist and Professor of American Literature and Culture at the University of Central Lancashire, England. He has given his Woody Guthrie presentations at such major events as the Glastonbury Festival, the Bath International Music Festival, the Chester Literature Festival, the Big Session, the Whitby Folk Festival and the Piacenza Literature and Blues Festival in Italy. He has also performed at countless European and American universities, trades clubs, folk clubs and union halls. 

Will has written a number of books on American culture - American Culture in the 1970s (2009), The Civil War in American Culture (2006) and The Comedian as Confidence Man (1997). In 2008 Will was awarded the Woody Guthrie Research Fellowship from the Broadcast Music Industry Foundation and the Woody Guthrie Foundation, which enabled him to write the first political biography of Guthrie, Woody Guthrie, American Radical (2011).

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To watch a (slightly shortened) performance of  Woody Guthrie: Hard Times and Hard Travelin' - filmed in New York for C-Span's Book-TV program - click here.


To hear Will on San Francisco's NPR station, KQED, talking about Woody and singing on Michael Krasny's Forum program, click below.


To hear Will on Pasadena's NPR station KPCC, talking and singing some of Woody's songs the Patt Morrison show, click here.

To see Will on Ray Naylor's UStream TV Show, Artists You Should Know About (Philadelphia), click below.
Will Kaufman's Woody Guthrie, American Radical is published by the University of Illinois Press

Buy it on Amazon: click here

For booking and other information contact Will on

 wkaufman@uclan.ac.uk