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When you're playing "Union Made" and other old, very traditional folk songs "Roman Candle" can sound like Sonic Youth. -Johnny Irion |
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The Family
 Woodie Guthrie |
It's not often one marries into a cultural phenomenon but Irion did just that when he joined the Guthrie clan. Spend a little time with the man and his music and you see it's a natural fit but just mention Arlo Guthrie and his name has a connotation in our culture that's way different than saying Ted or Bob. Being a Guthrie means participating in a legacy that Woody started in the 1940s.
"If it had not been for this family I don't know what I'd be doing in my life. I think all this happened for a reason. Sarah Lee is everything to me. It changed my life meeting her. I fell in love, and I never thought about having a family. That was the furthest thing from my mind when I moved out to L.A. in 1997. Meeting her is the best move I ever made. I think it's fate," offers Irion, his voice achingly sincere.
"I'd always had that socially conscious thing that makes you want to say something but you don't know how. Woody and Pete [Seeger] taught me how to do it without being too preachy-teachy," adds Irion.
"As far as the legacy now, well, even people who book us say, 'We were looking for something a little more rockin'.' Well, did you listen to the records? It's a dull edge sword. You constantly feel you're proving yourself to those kind of people. We like it all. We play Rhodes piano. Is that folk? Is that rock? We like to sit down and play acoustic. We like to play with bass and drums. We might even throw on a drum machine, and it's like Dylan plugging in."
"I would hope if people have any preconceptions they'd put them aside. Some people think they know who Woody is - the guy who wrote 'This Land Is Your Land' - but they don't really know. He was also an unbelievable artist. He wrote books, he wrote freakin' plays and he wore it on his sleeve and he really cared. That's been a huge inspiration to believe you can do anything you want with hard work. He tells us, 'You can do what you want to do and who says you can't?'"
 Johnny Irion |
That indomitable spirit infuses Irion's decision to make the sophomore solo album he wanted and put it out himself. "We've had to really do it ourselves. We'll see how this one goes, guinea pig ourselves on this one. And who's to say this was the proper one to do that with," laughs Irion.
In defiance of this vinyl killing age, they just released a 7" single of "She Cast Fire" b/w "Eyes Like A Levee," which should be a staple of every jukebox in every honky tonk if there's any justice.
"This music thing is a crazy thing," muses Irion. "We've been building a house, and building a house is a lot like producing a record. We picked a really good crew, and we were able to come up with some money [pause] from the bank [laughs]. Though with construction you can actually see where the money's going [laughs]. It's an obtainable goal but for me, solo, it's a long road. It's not the easiest thing in the world to do but most things worth doing usually aren't."
I know our goals were all mixed up
Its hard to drink from an empty cup
The way it was we knew we couldn't last
But now there's nothing that we can't get passed
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