“A songwriter should more or less be the recording machine for other people’s worries, blues, mix-ups, and fights. Not only in small personal senses, but broad social ways and in the broader esthetic ways. To squeeze the kernel of useable good out of all his experiences… and then to report by written word what good is to be had in the worst of things and what bad is in the best.” - Woody Guthrie
woody at home, vol 1 & 2
written & performed by Woody Guthrie 1951-1952
Woody at Home is a two-volume secret treasure trove of Woody’s home recordings—recordings that Woody was unable to release in his lifetime, a life cut short by Huntington’s disease. Never intended for commercial release, these raw and intimate home tapes were recorded in 1951-1952 at the family’s apartment in Beach Haven, Brooklyn. Woody made them as his musical introduction to his new publisher. Now, thanks to the leaps made in technology, Woody’s voice, ideas, and recordings are a guiding and candid voice. Woody sings about historic events, stories of the disenfranchised and ignored, love, and of course, the fight against fascism.
This brand-new collection contains 22 unreleased recordings, including 13 new Woody Guthrie songs. Tracks include never before heard recordings of This Land is Your Land, I’ve Got to Know, Pastures of Plenty and the only Guthrie recording of DEPORTEE (PLANE WRECK AT LOS GATOS) with new music. All tracks originally written, performed, recorded and engineered by Woody Guthrie on a one microphone reel to reel analog tape recorder at 3 3/4 IPs and now fully restored and released for the first time ever. Available everywhere August 14, 2025!
Song List
VOLUME 1, SIDE A
1. This Land Is Your Land (Woody’s Home Tape) (3:00)
2. Biggest Thing That Man Has Ever Done (2:53)
3. Howie, I’d Like To Talk To Yuh (spoken word) (2:25)
4. Deportee (Woody’s Home Tape) (3:47)
5. Great Ship (2:53)
6. Pastures of Plenty (3:11)
VOLUME 1, SIDE B
7. Jesus Christ (4:39)
8. I’m a Child Ta Fight (2:23)
9. Innocent Man (3:32)
10. I’ve Got To Know (4:17)
11. Backdoor Bum and the Big Landlord (3:18)
VOLUME 2, SIDE A
1. I Just Want To Tell You Fellers (spoken word) (0:55)
2. Peace Call (4:11)
3. Ain’t Afraid To Die (3:35)
4. Buoy Bells from Trenton (3:54)
5. Einstein Theme Song (with spoken word) (1:19)
6. One Little Thing An Atom Can’t Do (3:35)
VOLUME 2, SIDE B
7. Forsaken Lover (4:15)
8. My Id & My Ego (3:20)
9. Lifebelt Washed Up (5:17)
10. Funny Mountain (1:57)
11. You Better Git Ready (2:42)
DEPORTEE (WOODY'S HOME TAPE)
AVAILABLE NOW!
The only Woody Guthrie recording of "Deportee" is the lead single off Woody At Home, Vol 1 &2. Previously unreleased, this is version includes Woody's own music as he originally conceived it.
"Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)" was originally written in 1948 in response to a New York Times article about a plane crash in Los Gatos Canyon, California New Mexico that killed 32 people including 28 migrant farm workers. As historian, Tim Z. Hernandez adds, “On January 28, 1948, a plane deporting 28 Mexican workers crashed down in the agricultural hub of California's San Joaquin Valley, in a place called Los Gatos Canyon. Not a single soul survived. News reports named the four American crew members but referred to the Mexicans simply as "deportees," after which they were buried anonymously in "the largest mass grave in California's history," while the remains of the American crew members were sent home to their families.
Woody understood that to be nameless in death was an injustice of the highest order, and within days of the crash he sat down to pen what would become one of the major protest songs of the last century, perhaps even more relevant today than it was nearly eighty years ago. To finally hear these words in Woody's own haunting voice, is to hear a prophetic voice from the grave, warning us about where we've been, who we've become, and where we are headed.”