Growing up Arlo Guthrie was surrounded by renowned artists like Pete Seeger, Lee Hays, Ronnie Gilbert, Fred Hellerman (The Weavers), Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee, and Rambliní Jack Elliott, to name a few.
This is the sixth episode of Caffe Lena: 60 Years of Song. Each week, we advance a year as we hear significant artists who played the Caffe that year, followed by a recent discovery. Thank you to Sarah Craig at the Caffe for her help compiling of the lists of artists and songs.
In 1965, a teenaged Guthrie performed a friendly gesture that proved to be fateful. Arlo was arrested for littering, leading him to be deemed not moral enough to join the army. He attained international attention at age 19 by recounting the true events on the album Alice's Restaurant in 1967.
Since the first time he performed in public in 1961 at the age of 13, he remains a road warrior, touring almost constantly for almost 60 years. Arlo Guthrie has been known to generations as a prolific songwriter, social commentator, master storyteller, actor and activist.
Carrying on the tradition of using folk music for change, Caffe Lena continues to introduce us to unchained creative spirits.
Peter Mulvey has been a songwriter, road-dog, raconteur and almost-poet since before he can remember. Like Arlo Guthrie, Peter has made a name as an activist and used his songs to effect social change.
Eighteen records, an illustrated book, thousands of live performances, a TEDx talk, appearances on NPR, an annual autumn tour by bicycle, emceeing festivals, hosting his own boutique festival, Peter Mulvey never stops.
He lives for collaboration and the eclectic and the vital. Everything he encounters gets blended into his work: poetry, social justice, and scientific literacy. Peter's never ending humanism is embedded in his music and everything he does.