Woody Guthrie Center

Tickets for all performances in the Common Chords concert series are on sale to the public now.

Learn more and get tickets at woodyguthriecenter.org/commonchords

We’re excited to announce five unforgettable nights of live music, each spotlighting a performer whose sound is rooted in the folk tradition while bringing something uniquely their own.

Learn more about the 2025 Common Chords series' featured performers: woodyguthriecenter.org/commonchords/

Only one week remains to apply for this year's Phil Ochs Fellowship.

Learn more and apply by Sept. 15, 2025: woodyguthriecenter.org/archives/phil-ochs-fellowship

Just two weeks left to apply for this year's Phil Ochs Fellowship.

Learn more and apply by Sept. 15, 2025: woodyguthriecenter.org/archives/phil-ochs-fellowship

Just three weeks remain to apply for this year's Phil Ochs Fellowship.

Learn more and apply by Sept. 15, 2025: woodyguthriecenter.org/archives/phil-ochs-fellowship

Photo: Woody Guthrie, NYC, 1943. Photograph by Robin Carson.

“There is just one way to save yourself, and that’s to get together and work and fight for everybody.” – Woody

[Text: Woody quoted in “Woody Guthrie: A Life,” Joe Klein, 1980, Alfred A. Knopf.]

Photo: (Untitled illustration), by Woody Guthrie, NYC, December 1942. © Woody Guthrie Publications, Inc. Courtesy of the Woody Guthrie Archives.

"All of you workers everywhere, you will see, you will know, who’s on your side, who’s working and fighting for you." – Woody

[Text: Quoted in “Woody Guthrie: A Life,” Joe Klein, 1980, Alfred A. Knopf.]

Photo: Woody Guthrie’s Dust Bowl Ballads. RCA-Victor Records, Camden, NJ. ©Woody Guthrie Publications, Inc. Courtesy of the Woody Guthrie Archives.

Not everyone believed Woody was a real "hill billy." One radio listener wrote in: “I don’t enjoy that faked hill billy language that you give us, Woody… I come from the hills myself but I never heard any talking quite so bad as yours.”

[Collected in “Woody Guthrie: A Life,” Joe Klein, 1980, Knopf.]

“Burning Flags,” an exhibit by legendary photographer Glen E. Friedman, opens at the center on 9/19. Its first showing in the U.S. after a popular run in Europe, brings Friedman’s iconic imagery of early hip-hop, hardcore punk and skateboarding to Tulsa.

woodyguthriecenter.org/exhibit/burning-flags

the enduring photographic legacy of the passionate, iconoclastic individuals I respected and have created with, since 1976 — radical skateboarders, revolutionary musical and cultural icons that inspired me- communities of resistance and integrity these originators helped build are here to stay.

U.S. premiere of my Burning Flags tour will take place in America’s heartland, at the Woody Guthrie Center, the home of an artist who spent his life fighting against fascism, and for the rights of ordinary people. honored to have the appreciation of the American Song Archives to make this possible

Photograph by Lester Balog. Courtesy of the Woody Guthrie Archives.

"Of course, even when I’m gossiping about gossipers I realize that I’m a-gossiping myself, but I sorta figure that the only real gossiping that needs to be done is about gossipers." – Woody

[Text: Quoted in “Woody Guthrie: A Life,” Joe Klein, 1980, Alfred A. Knopf. Photo: Woody Guthrie, 1940.]

In case you missed it: Applications are now being accepted for this year's Phil Ochs Fellowship.

Learn more and apply by Sept. 15, 2025: woodyguthriecenter.org/archives/phil-ochs-fellowship

Applications are now being accepted for this year's Phil Ochs Fellowship.

Learn more and apply by Sept. 15, 2025: woodyguthriecenter.org/archives/phil-ochs-fellowship

In case you missed it, the submission window for a chance to perform as part of Common Chords, a new concert series hosted in our intimate 59-seat theater, is now open.

Artists learn more and apply now: woodyguthriecenter.org/commonchords

#ThrowbackThursday to when the mural of Woody Guthrie went up on the outside of the center back in April 2013. It took Aaron Whisner from Clean Hands three days to hand paint it and it's been a staple of the Tulsa Arts District for over 12 years now.

Photo: Woody Guthrie performing on “Back Where I Come From” Radio Show, WABC-CBS. NYC, 1940. Courtesy of the Woody Guthrie Archives.

“War is a game played by maniacs who kill each other. Locate the man who profits by war and strip him of his profits—war will end.” – Woody

[Text: Woody Guthrie in “Woody Sez,” Grosset & Dunlap, 1975.]

Photo: Woody Guthrie, by Al Aumuller. Mar 8, 1943. New York World-Telegram and the Sun Newspaper Photograph Collection (Library of Congress). No known restrictions.

“Every living song I’ve ever made up is a hard times song of protest.” – Woody

[Text: Collected in “Woody Guthrie: Art Works,” Steven Brower and Nora Guthrie (2005), Rizzoli.]

Photo: Woody Guthrie, NYC, 1943. Photograph by Robin Carson

"This is because we stand around and let them draw all kinds of crazy boundary lines in between us and betwixt us. Somebody way up in a big high office has drawed a boundary line around every one of us and it keeps all of us cut off apart." – Woody

Text: Found in "Born to Win," ed. Robert Shelton

The American Song Archives — the home of the archives of Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie, Phil Ochs, Tom Paxton, Cynthia Gooding and many other archival and library collections — is currently hiring an Education and Merchandising Coordinator.

Apply today: woodyguthriecenter.org/job-openings

Photo: (Dustjacket) Bound For Glory, by Woody Guthrie, E.P. Dutton, NYC, 1943. ©Woody Guthrie Publications, Inc. Courtesy of the Woody Guthrie Archives.

“The note of hope is the only note that can help us or save us from falling to the bottom of the heap of evolution, because, largely, about all a human being is, anyway, is just a hoping machine...” – Woody

Text: Collected in “Pastures of Plenty,” ed. Marsh & Leventhal.

It’s a busy day in the Tulsa Arts District! Tulsa Tough is happening all day and Woody is watching over the start/finish line. We hope everyone has a great time racing and spectating today. We're open until 6 p.m. so you can visit between races while you're in the neighborhood.

Join us on Sunday, July 13 for an evening honoring the life and songs of Joe Hill, whose fiery advocacy for workers’ rights laid the groundwork for generations of protest music and influenced iconic figures like Woody Guthrie.

Learn more: https://woodyguthriecenter.org/event/joe-hill-road-show/

Photo: The Corncob Trio (L to R) Matt Jennings, Woody Guthrie, Cluster Baker. Pampa, TX, 1931. Courtesy of the Woody Guthrie Archives.

"Today you're a better songbird than you was yesterday, 'cause you know a little bit more, you seen a little bit more, and all you got to do is ... haul off and write down some way you think this old world could be fixed ..." – Woody

[Text: Collected in “Pastures of Plenty,” ed. Marsh & Leventhal.]

Photo: Woody Guthrie in New York City, 1943. Photograph by Al Aumuller. Courtesy of the Woody Guthrie Archives.

“If my balladsongs do bother your thievering robbery soul & conscience that bad… you’re welcome to histe it up and leave.” – Woody

[Text: Woody Guthrie quoted in Will Kaufman, “Woody Guthrie: American Radical” (University of Illinois, 2011).]

Digital vs Film of the @woodyguthriecenter.bsky.social in Tulsa, OK.

📸: #sonyrx100 & #minoltamaxxum7000

#photography #filmphotography #digitalphotography #streetphotography #oklahomaphotography #fujifilm200

[Photo: Woody Guthrie, NYC, 1943. Photograph by Robin Carson. Text: “Woody Guthrie: Songs and Art • Words and Wisdom,” by Nora Guthrie and Robert Santelli (Chronicle Books, 2021).]

Photo: Woody Guthrie, NYC, 1943. Photograph by Robin Carson.

"Some people liked me, hated me, walked with me, walked over me, jeered me, cheered me, rooted me & hooted me, & before long I was invited in & booted out of every public place of entertainment in that country. But I decided that songs was a music and a language of all tongues." – Woody

[Text: “I Was There And The Dust Was There,” from “The Live Wire: Woody Guthrie in Performance 1949.” Photo: Dust storm approaching Stratford, Texas. Dust Bowl surveying in Texas. April 18, 1935. George E. Marsh. Public Domain.]

Photo: Dust storm approaching Stratford, Texas. Dust Bowl surveying in Texas. April 18, 1935. George E. Marsh. Public Domain.

“I just happened to be in the Dust Bowl. I mean, it wasn’t something that I particularly wanted or craved, but since I was there, and the dust was there, I thought, well, I’ll write a little song about it.” – Woody