My Name Is New York | Ramblin’ Around Woody Guthrie’s Town

One of America’s greatest songwriters, Woody Guthrie, called New York City home for 27 years. Over that time he wrote over 600 songs in The Big Apple including “This Land Is Your Land,” “Tom Joad,” and “Hard Travelin’.” To celebrate Woody’s connection with NYC, Woody Guthrie Publications will release My Name Is New York; Ramblin’ Around Woody Guthrie’s Town, a three-disc collection that offers an intimate portrait of Guthrie’s NYC life through storytelling and music, on September 23.

The new release was produced by Steve Rosenthal, Michael Kleff and Nora Guthrie -Woody’s daughter. Discs One and Two present an audio tour and stories that contextualize Woody’s New York featuring new interviews, song snippets and history narrated by Nora. The third disc contains music, including some songs which have never been heard before.

“Working on this project has been more than just a nostalgic walk down memory lane,” said Nora Guthrie in a press release announcing the new release. “It’s been a precious adventure, collecting the stories – and the voices -of my father’s NYC friends and family, many of them who are now gone. It’s been, at times, both a hilarious and tearful journey. And, just as for thousands of artists who have migrated here, you can see how New York City was absolutely critical in significantly chiseling my father’s destiny.”

My Name Is New York; Ramblin’ Around Woody Guthrie’s Town features new interviews with Pete Seeger (in one of his final interviews), Woody’s son Arlo Guthrie and Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, as well as other members of Guthrie’s world. The audio tour found on the first two discs take listeners on a virtual tour of the city as Woody experienced it through visits to 19 important locations in Guthrie’s time in NYC. Disc Three contains such gems as the first recording of “This Land Is Your Land,” two previously unreleased home demos Woody recorded in The Big Apple, the song that gave the sets its name and from five premieres of previously unpublished Woody lyrics as performed by a diverse set of artists including Billy Bragg & Wilco and the Del McCoury Band.

Here’s the tracklist for My Name Is New York; Ramblin’ Around Woody Guthrie’s Town:

Disc 1: February 16, 1940 — November 1942

01. 59th Street at 5th Avenue, Manhattan
02. 101 West 43rd Street, Manhattan
03. 57 East 4th Street, Manhattan
04. 31 East 21st Street, Manhattan
05. 5 West 101st Street, Manhattan
06. 70 East 12th Street, Manhattan
07. 130 West 10th Street, Manhattan
08. 430 6th Avenue, Manhattan
09. 148 West 14th Street, Manhattan
10. 647 Hudson Street, Manhattan

Disc 2: December, 1942 — October 3, 1967:

01. 74 Charles Street, Manhattan
02. 3815 Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn
03. 3520 Mermaid Avenue, Brooklyn
04. 49 Murdock Court, Brooklyn
05. 517 East 5th Street, Manhattan
06. Brooklyn State Hospital, 681 Clarkson Avenue, Brooklyn
07. 159-13 85th Street, Queens
08. Creedmore State Hospital, Queens
09. Final Resting Place: Atlantic Ocean, Brooklyn

Music Bonus CD Tracklist

01. “New York Town” (Woody Guthrie/Cisco Houston/Sonny Terry)
02. “New York Trains” (Del McCoury Band)
03. “Union Maid” (Almanac Singers)
04. “My New York City” (Mike + Ruthy)
05. “Tom Joad” (Woody Guthrie)
06. “Man’s A Fool” (Woody Guthrie (spoons)/Sonny Terry) home tape
07. “Vigilante Man” (Woody Guthrie)
08. “Union Air in Union Square” (Lowry Hamner)
09. “Round and Round Hitler’s Grave” (Almanac Singers)
10. “Jesus Christ” (Woody Guthrie)
11. “Beatitudes” (Reverend Billy & the Stop Shopping Choir)
12. “This Land Is Your Land” (Woody Guthrie)
13. “Go Coney Island, Roll On The Sand” (Demolition String Band)
14. “Howdi Do” (Ramblin’ Jack Elliott)
15. “My Name Is New York” (Woody Guthrie) home demo tape
16. “Go Down to the Water” (Billy Bragg & Wilco)

Thanks to Rolling Stone you can also stream the title track below.