Joel Underwood brings Woody Guthrie and Hank Williams to the islands

Published 1:30 am Tuesday, April 14, 2026

Submitted by event organizers.

Historian and folk singer Joel Underwood comes to Lopez to perform his touring lecture/concert, “That Ribbon of Highway: Woody Guthrie in the Pacific Northwest,” on Friday, April 17, at 7 p.m., at Lopez Center for Community and the Arts. This event is free and sponsored by Lopez Library and Lopez Center. Underwood will bring his Hank Williams performance to Odd Fellows Hall on Orcas, April 19, at 2 p.m. (by donation).

Currently on the history faculty of Pierce College in Western Washington, Underwood is the 2022 recipient of the Woody Guthrie Fellowship and was granted access to the Guthrie Archives in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to research Guthrie’s time in the World War II Merchant Marines while writing his graduate thesis. A Humanities Washington speaker in their most recent cycle, Underwood travels far beyond his Olympia home, throughout the Pacific Northwest, with his performances.

Woody Guthrie composed 26 songs in 30 days while riding along the Columbia River and touring the Grand Coulee Dam Project in 1941. With his unique, authentic voice, he chronicled both the grandeur and the perils of what he called “The Greatest Thing That Man Has Ever Done” as an employee of the Bonneville Power Administration. His time here in the Pacific Northwest inspired a swell of patriotism that led Guthrie to enlist in the U.S. Merchant Marine in World War II, after which he returned home to fame and notoriety, but also to tragedy and tremendous personal loss. Underwood’s evening features such beloved tunes as “Roll On, Columbia,” “Rueben James” and, of course, “This Land Is Your Land” while relating the stories behind the songs.

Underwood describes his evenings as “part folk music concert, part history lecture, and part theater performance.” He says, “It’s been an incredible gift to do these nights all over, from the San Juans down to Portland, and Ilwaco over to Richland. And the best part is discovering all these hidden treasures in between; the vibrant smaller communities with art centers, libraries, and museums that serve as focal, unifying points for their public’s good. They give you hope.”

Noting that Guthrie himself would rather have performed in a local library or transient encampment than Carnegie Hall, Underwood points out that the folk singer once even refused to sing for the Spokane Chamber of Commerce because he didn’t agree with their policies and values. “Woody believed in going where people were, and where they could afford. And we need Woody Guthrie’s voice right now as much as we ever have, maybe more.”