Okemah, Oklahoma’s first tribute for Woody Guthrie will be available on digital platforms worldwide on July 14, 2024. The first tribute took place on December 1, 1988 at the historic Crystal Theatre in Okemah. This album is a live recording of that event. It contains works by Guthrie, as well as songs collectively written by Larry Long and children of Oklahoma.
The event played before a full house which included Guthrie’s sister, Mary Jo Edgmon, who wrote, “I felt the warmth of my family all around me. Clara, Roy, Woody, George, Papa and Mama. They, too, all sat in this very theater many years ago. When the children came marching down the aisle and onto the stage, I swelled with pride and the tears came. I knew Woody was watching.”
Besides Larry Long and seventy school children from Okemah, Langston, and Davenport, Oklahoma there was banjo virtuoso Alan Munde, “Fiddlin’ Pete” Watercott, gospel pianist Shirley Davis, Woodrow (Wotko) Haney and Olen Edwards. This was not only the first time that an African American Choir had ever graced the stage of the Crystal Theatre, but that Woody Guthrie’s words were spoken in both the Seminole & Creek language.
As a result of Long’s work in Okemah, an organization known as W.O.O.D.Y. (Woody Guthrie Okemah Organization for Developing Youth) was born. Founding members included Okemah residents Carolyn Price, Dr. Larry and Vicki McKinney, Lois Tanner, Mark Smyth, Shari Parks, Bobby Massey, and Mike and Wilma Lambeth. The organization’s goal was to hold an annual event to not only honor Woody Guthrie, but to also raise funds for the education of local youth. This organization eventually transitioned into the Woody Guthrie Coalition Inc.
One of the featured songs on this collection, which was collectively written with Okemah youth, entitled “Okemah Waltz” became Okemah’s official town song on November 12, 2012 by a unanimous vote of the Okemah City Council.
Plans are presently in the works for Larry Long & the Children of Oklahoma to have a reunion in 2025 during the Woody Guthrie Folk Festival.
The entirety of It Takes a Lot of People can also be downloaded on Larry’s Bandcamp site.
