Nora Guthrie believes America 'needs' Bruce Springsteen amid political turmoil

Nora Guthrie believes "bold and visionary" Bruce Springsteen is exactly what America "needs" right now.

The Born to Run singer has been an outspoken critic of US President Donald Trump and the 76-year-old daughter of folk legend Woody Guthrie has been particularly taken with how he has embraced the political messaging of her late father and taken his songs Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos) and This Land Is Your Land to an even greater level.

Speaking to BANG Showbiz, Nora said: "Look at Springsteen, he’s my age and rocking.

"He just opened up his museum in New Jersey [ Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music]. He has a brilliant, brilliant museum and he did three nights of shows and he rocked the house with Deportee, which is kind of going rounds these days because of what’s happening in America.

"He did Deportee and he sang with Kenny Chesney and they did This Lland is Your Land, but when he does it, he takes you to god he’s like a preacher.

"He takes This Land to a whole other sphere.

"Now when we need that song in America. Because other people are trying to take our country away from us. He is bold and insistent and visionary and charismatic. Big band, big voice, big rocker.

"I only work with people in Trump’s unfavour. I have a list!"

In April 2013, the The Woody Guthrie Center opened in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Nora explained it was important to locate the museum in an area which "needed" Woody's messages and she's delighted at how his liberal attitudes have been embraced in the "reddest state".

She said: "We built a museum in Oklahoma. We built a museum in the reddest state because they need us in Tulsa. Not New York, it doesn’t need Woody Guthrie. LA doesn’t need Woody Guthrie, but Oklahoma needed a safe space and we reated a may pole, a metaphorical may pole for people to dance around and the circle gets bigger and bigger.

"First we built the Woody Centre, then the Woody Park, the archives, we built galleries and theatres. I want to say we’re a major part in creating the downtown Tulsa scene."

Nora was speaking in a joint interview with David Lutken ahead of the opening of the critically acclaimed musical Woody Sez: The Life and Music of Woody Guthrie at Underbelly Boulevard Soho in London.

Created and performed by Lutken alongside three actor-musicians playing more than 20 instruments, the show draws directly from Guthrie’s own words, letters and songs to trace the life of the American folk icon through the Dust Bowl, the Great Depression and the political movements that shaped 20th-century America.

Maintaining a long-standing relationship with Woody Guthrie Publications, Lutken has worked closely with Woody’s family for decades, and Woody Sez: The Life and Music of Woody Guthrie is created and performed with the support of the Guthrie estate, continuing to introduce new audiences to his timeless songs while preserving the communal spirit and live musicianship at the heart of the American folk tradition.

The show runs until September 19 and tickets and information are available at https://underbellyboulevard.com/tickets/woody-sez-the-life-music-of-woody-guthrie/.

Watch the full interview at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVh1ZCDzdZE