We are excited to welcome a very special guest to the World of Bob Dylan. Anna Canoni, President of Woody Guthrie Publications and Woody’s granddaughter, will kick off the conference on Thursday, July 24 with an opening keynote address.
“When Bob Met Woody: Hey, Hey Woody Guthrie, I Wrote You a Song” is a new and entertaining multimedia program. Canoni delves into the personal and professional relationship between Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan. Through photos, archival items, rare home movies, and stories passed down through the Guthrie family, we’ll explore the deeper creative impact Woody had on Bob Dylan in his early days. Bob Dylan said, “You could listen to his songs and actually learn how to live. The songs themselves had the infinite sweep of humanity in them.” In this program, we’ll discuss what Bob meant by that!
Following in her mother and grandmother’s dancing footsteps, Anna Canoni graduated from college with a degree in Theater and Modern Dance. At WGP, she has worked side-by-side with Nora, her mother, at major tributes to Woody Guthrie, including Hard Travelin’: The Life & Legacy of Woody Guthrie, tribute concerts at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Severance Hall in Cleveland. In 2003, she worked on Woody Guthrie’s 90th Birthday Celebration at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium and, in 2012 she was part of the organizing team for the 14-month celebration marking Woody’s centennial.
Anna has worked on recent projects and new releases including the books Woody Guthrie ArtWorks, My Name Is New York, House of Earth, and Woody Guthrie’s Wardy Forty. She has also worked on new albums complete with original compositions to previously unpublished Guthrie lyrics, most recently This Machine Still Kills Fascists, Okemah Rising by the Dropkick Murphys, and three Grammy-winning projects—The Live Wire: Woody Guthrie in Performance 1949; Wonder Wheel; and Woody At 100. She was one of the voices on Folkways: A Vision Shared and Woody’s 20 Grow Big Songs. She also worked extensively on Woody Guthrie: Songs and Art – Words and Wisdom, scouring her family archive for treasures to include in this anthology of Woody’s works.
Anna’s talk will be Thursday, July 24 at 11 a.m.
Register today to join us for this talk as well as dozens of other sessions featuring keynotes, artist conversations, roundtable discussions, musical performances, and much more. The conference will be held on the University of Tulsa’s campus, as well as various locations in the Downtown Tulsa Arts District.