The Storyteller

Arlo Guthrie was born on July 10, 1947, in Brooklyn, New York; the son of legendary folk artist Woody Guthrie and Marjorie Mazia Guthrie, a professional dancer with the Martha Graham Company and founder of the Committee to Combat Huntington's Disease. Arlo grew up surrounded by renowned folk musicians: Pete Seeger, Leadbelly, Cisco Houston, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee, and the Weavers.

 

Since his first public performance at the age of 13, Arlo became absorbed in the music that was shaping the world. By the age of 20, Arlo was touring overseas. He was attracting and surprising audiences all over the world with his unique folk style. Arlo is a natural-born storyteller as well as an accomplished musician playing the piano, 6-string and 12-string guitars, and harmonica. He offers a great selection of old and new, original and traditional songs that are as varied as his audiences. 

 

Arlo's career soared with his debut of "The Alice's Restaurant Massacree" at the Newport Folk Festival in 1967. Later that year, Arlo was nominated for a GRAMMY Award in the "Best Folk Performance” category for the studio version of the song on his debut album, Alice’s Restaurant. The album went Gold (1969) and then Platinum (1986), and was adapted into a film by director Arthur Penn and released a few days after Arlo performed at the original Woodstock Festival in 1969. Arlo went on to release 18 acclaimed studio albums and has appeared in notable TV shows and movies throughout the following decades. 

 

Although he had not performed "Alice's Restaurant" for years, Arlo put it back on the menu for the Alice's Restaurant Massacree 40th Anniversary Tour (June 2005 - May 2006). Arlo toured with members of his family for the Guthrie Family Legacy Tour (June 2006-May 2007) bringing together the best of the Guthrie songs and stories from Woody, through the four generations of his children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren (depending on mood and availability). 

 

In January 2015, Arlo put “Alice’s Restaurant" back on tour to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the actual events that led to the song. The tour made 132 theatrical stops across the USA. The live show was filmed for PBS in Pittsfield, Massachusetts on May 21, 2015 at The Colonial Theater. PBS aired the concert the following November 2016. Due to the overwhelming success of the road tour, the show was updated and took out again this time billed as the “Alice’s Restaurant - Back By Popular Demand” tour, which played 90 venues in the USA and overseas from October 2018 to November 2019.

 

Guthrie’s 2020 road shows began as usual, but after only 10 shows the tour was cancelled in March due to the coronavirus pandemic and the closing of venues nation-wide. Guthrie sold his home in Sebastian, FL in May 2020 and moved in with his long-time girlfriend, Marti Ladd who had her own home nearby. In June 2020, they returned to Guthrie’s farm in Massachusetts to wait out the pandemic. Arlo recorded a number of shows with his band at The Church (The Guthrie Center) and also released a music video premiered via Rolling Stone Magazine of Stephen Foster’s “Hard Times Come Again No More,” a co-production with famed pianist, Jim Wilson. 

 

In October 2020, Guthrie announced his retirement from the road. Arlo and Marti were married in December 2021, and by July 2022, they formed a new business Gut3 Productions. Guthrie had enough of being retired, and the couple created a series based on a new format “In Conversation with Arlo Guthrie” for his much-anticipated return to the stage. 

 

The new show is officially titled “Arlo Guthrie - What’s Left Of Me - A Conversation With Bob Santelli.” Unscripted, unrehearsed and under no illusions but his own, Arlo Guthrie returns to venerable venues as a man who has seen it all, and lived to tell the story. Those stories may be coming to a theater near you beginning in April 2023.