A bootleg wire recording of a Woody Guthrie performance in New Jersey surreptitiously made by a young fan has been called “one of the most significant recent finds in folk music history.” Until this discovery, it was thought that Guthrie had never been recorded live.
The Woody Guthrie Foundation has produced a restored version, and packaged it with a 72-page book with lots of goodies. The new release is available from the foundation for $30.
The CD has even been nominated for a Grammy.
Here's the AP story from today's Oklahoman about the historic and fortuitous find.
The story quotes Woody's son, Arlo: “This isn't somebody who set out to record with the permission of the family or whoever was putting on the event. This is a guy maybe holding up a microphone in the back of the room.