Arlo Guthrie - (American Folk Music and Musicians) by Hank Reineke (Hardcover)

About the Book

Arlo Guthrie revisits Guthrie's fifteen-year ride as a recording artist. With a look at Guthrie's life and times before and after this prolific period of his career, this biography is a goldmine of information on the Guthrie family's legacy to American music, the countercultur...

Book Synopsis

Arlo Guthrie revisits Guthrie's fifteen-year ride as a recording artist. With a look at Guthrie's life and times before and after this prolific period of his career, this biography is a goldmine of information on the Guthrie family's legacy to American music, the counterculture of the 1960s, and the record industry of the 1970s.

Review Quotes

Arlo Guthrie: The Warner/Reprise Years is a comprehensive, fact-based and cross-referenced account of Guthrie's career as a stage and recording artist for the Reprise and Warner Bros. labels from 1967 to 1982.

In this unauthorized study of Arlo Guthrie, Reineke (Ramblin' Jack Elliot: The Never-Ending Highway) documents the musician's 15 years of recordings on the Warner/Reprise label (1967-82). Guthrie, son of legendary folksinger Woody Guthrie, began his career singing at concerts with his father's friends. He made his own break with the clever and politically charged song-story "Alice's Restaurant" in 1967. In the next 15 years, Guthrie played at Woodstock, toured extensively with his friend and mentor Pete Seeger, and produced 14 albums. Throughout his career, Guthrie has frequently played at Woody Guthrie tribute concerts and events. Reineke uses extensive interviews, album reviews, and concert reviews and has compiled a thorough discography, covering Guthrie's entire career, which will be extremely useful to fans and newcomers to the music. VERDICT This well-researched work is recommended for anyone interested in the Guthrie family and American folk music. It may be of special interest as Woody Guthrie's centennial birthday nears in July 2012.


In Hank Reineke's book, Arlo Guthrie: The Warner/Reprise Years, he pulls together a narrative from extensive source materials that tracks Arlo Guthrie during his most prolific period as a songwriter, performer, traveller, and activist of enormous skill. The book keeps pace with 11 studios albums, 2 live albums, and constant touring over the course of 15 years. . . .Reineke is smart in not trying to re-contextualize Arlo Guthrie artistically or renegotiating his place in music history. Instead, he provides a thorough companion to a canon of under-appreciated records that are playful, thoughtful and wise. The Warner/Reprise Years does a nice job of reminding us that there's a lot more going on in Arlo Guthrie's work than just littering.

Reineke details the recording and release of the thirteen albums Guthrie made for Warners over a fifteen year period before his contract was terminated and he began releasing his albums on his own label. . . .Reineke fills the book with details about songwriting and recording and folk music in general.

Serious fans of American popular music will enjoy reading this book whether or not they are interested in Guthrie's music. Reineke is a skilled biographer who animates his chosen subjects, effectively balancing a wealth of details with a range of broader insights.

The book is rich in touring history, records made, who played what instrument on what song, chart positions and what Arlo said to interviewers back when he spoke to interviewers. Albums are analyzed, songs are dissected, so the book is rich in fact and detail. If you're reading it for academic reasons or are doing research on Arlo Guthrie, you'll find it valuable.

This is a very readable account of Arlo's life and a clear-sighted analysis of his development as a person, artist and a musician. Reineke deserves thanks for undertaking such a mammoth task.

About the Author

Hank Reineke has written about folk, blues, and country music for publications such as the Aquarian Arts Weekly, Soho Arts Weekly, Downtown, East Coast Rocker, Blues Revue, On The Tracks, ISIS, and The Bridge. He is the author of Ramblin' Jack Elliott: The Never-Ending Highway (Scarecrow, 2010).