‘Woody Guthrie and The Ghost of Tom Joad Today’ Set To Air On PBS This Summer
Rosanne Cash narrates Woody Guthrie and The Ghost of Tom Joad Today, a new documentary film set to air on PBS this summer. Cash: “I was proud to narrate this beautiful film about a timeless artist.” Twelve Guthrie classics are included as is Springsteen’s epochal “The Ghost of Tom Joad.”
(From the film’s press release) “In the 1930s, as the Great Depression deepened, tens of thousands of families in Texas and the Midwest fled poverty and the Dust Bowl for the promise of jobs in California. Many of these refugees, failing to find steady work, were herded into migrant camps. A famous novelist, John Steinbeck, author of The Grapes of Wrath, and a little-known folksinger, Woody Guthrie, would soon become friends and allies in exposing the horrific conditions. The new documentary explores for the first time those conditions and the chain of events that brought these two American icons together in 1938.
“Steinbeck and Guthrie would both be involved in the classic movie based on the Steinbeck novel, starring Henry Fonda, and appeared together at migrant camps and rallies. Woody would compose one of his most famous songs named for the lead character in “The Grapes of Wrath”—Tom Joad.
“The film reveals numerous surprises, such as the amazing full story of Woody’s years in Los Angeles and how he came to write `This Land Is Your Land’ which was not the song’s original title. It closes with words and images that reveal echoes of 1930s conflicts in conditions and debates today.”
The film was directed by author Greg Mitchell—who wrote The Campaign Of The Century and Tricky Dick and the Pink Lady—and has written and directed numerous PBS films. It was produced by Lyn Goldfarb, a longtime documentarian whose work includes A Taste Of Freedom (1991) The Great Depression (1993), People In Motion (1995) The Great War (1996), The First Attack Ads (2022) and Memorial Day Massacre (2023).