At this time, “Hard Times and Hard Travellin’” is fully booked. Please check back on Feb. 14 for updated availability. 

Make Reservation,  one person, per slot. 

“Woody Guthrie: Hard Times and Hard Travellin’” is a live documentary that sets Guthrie’s songs in the context of the American 1930s. The Department of Theatre and Dance presents this unique performance on Feb. 16 in the Della Davidson Performance Studio.

Created and performed by singer/guitarist Will Kaufman, “Woody Guthrie: Hard Times and Hard Travellin’” sets the songs of Woody Guthrie in the context of the American 1930s – the Dust Bowl, the Depression, the New Deal and the state of popular music itself. In the presentation, Will Kaufman brings such hard-hitting Guthrie songs as “Vigilante Man”, “Pretty Boy Floyd” and “I Ain’t Got No Home” into conversation with other relevant songs – from Joe Hill’s “The Preacher and the Slave” to “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?”. These renditions, buttressed by detailed historical commentary, exemplify the blending of music and radical politics that marks Guthrie’s most powerful and evocative work.  

“No one can understand the American people without listening to Woody Guthrie. Will Kaufman’s doing important work here.” — Tom Paxton

“I thank Will Kaufman for introducing a new generation of Europeans to ‘the Other America’. It’s a wonderful job he’s doing.” — Pete Seeger

“Woody Guthrie: Hard Times and Hard Travellin’” is free and open to the public. Please be advised that seating is limited, so please make a reservation online. 

Will Kaufman is a singer, guitarist and Professor of American Literature and Culture at the University of Central Lancashire, England. He is the author of Woody Guthrie, American Radical (2011), Woody Guthrie’s Modern World Blues (2017), and Mapping Woody Guthrie (2019).