Barry Ollman

Hello, friends...

Well, it's summer and I'm still working on those songs. I've written several new tunes that I feel really good about. I do seem to go pretty slowly when it comes to the recording process and I guess that's just the way it is for me. Dave Beegle and I are pretty picky with everything we do together in the studio and we have a nice sort of telepathy once we get going. When I try to capture a sound that I hear in my head or some elusive feeling that I feel for a piece of music, it's great to work with someone that I don't have to explain much to...

As soon as I feel these songs are ready for prime time, I'll put them up here for your listening pleasure.

I'd also like to thank my friend, the great pianist and accordionist, Radoslav Lorkovic for playing accordion on one of my latest songs, The Old Country. Rad passed through Denver a while back and I asked him to record on this particular track about certain childhood memories of mine, coming of age in the sixties in Milwaukee. If you've ever seen Rad perform, you know his music is uniquely emotional. The final mix isn't quite done yet but I love the feeling we caught in the studio that night! Coming soon...

I also want to thank my dear friends Liz Clark and Tessa Perry for their sweet harmonies on yet another song you can't hear yet! Soon... Love to you both and safe travels!

JULY EVENTS
Guthrie Gathering... Denver, Colorado, July 30 and 31, 2010!

After 2 long years of hard work and brainstorming to create this event, my good friends at Swallow Hill and I have finally put together our own Woody Guthrie Festival subtitled "Weaving The Threads". (with special thanks to Scott Kinnamon for the original concept of "Weaving The Threads"!) We'll have two fine nights of music with Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion, Tao Rodriguez-Seeger of The Mammals and others, on Friday the 30th, and Jay Farrar, of Uncle Tupelo and Son Volt fame, along with other great acts, on Saturday the 31st.

Earlier that Saturday we'll have a fascinating symposium with presentations from the Woody Guthrie Foundation and Archives in New York. Another of Woody's granddaughters, (Sarah Lee is Arlo's daughter for those of you who haven't yet had the pleasure of seeing her perform...) the delightful Anna Canoni, and Archivist extraordinaire, Jorge Arevalo Mateus, will make presentations, as will I, with my "Collecting Woody" talk, all of which, taken together will help give a fuller understanding of Woody's vibrant role in today's world of thought and music. We've had serious help from Lisa Abendroth and her very inspiring Communications and Design students at Metropolitan State College of Denver, The Tattered Cover Bookstore, Twist & Shout Records, (Denver treasures, all!) and the upcoming Biennial of the Americas. A rare opportunity for those of you within reach of Denver...

Read Barry's new interview with Twist and Shout owner Paul Epstein in anticipation of our "Weaving The Threads" event.

Did I See Ya' in Okemah?

The 13th Annual Woody Guthrie Free Folk Festival, aka WoodyFest, is now in the bag and my guess is that the thousands of people who traveled to Okemah, Oklahoma from all over the world to celebrate Woody's 98th birthday, had a blast. It's become a sort of pilgrimage for many musicians and fans alike. Musicians play for free and fans pay nothing, which sets a different sort of festival tone, right off the bat. This was my fourth WoodyFest and I can honestly say, it just gets better and better each year.

Ask anyone who's been there and you're likely to hear that on the last day they immediately start counting the weeks until next July. So what if it hit 107 this year? At least the humidity was high...

A special thanks to Deana and Bill McCloud, Shari Parks, Mary Jo Edgmon Guthrie, Dee Jones, Mike Nave and all the other amazing volunteer members of the Woody Guthrie Coalition. They work hard all year long and somehow when everyone piles into Okemah, they make it look easy. How do they do that?

I also want to mention that I had the opportunity to give my "Collecting Woody" presentation and this year I had a star studded audience which included Woody's beautiful sister Mary Jo Edgmon Guthrie, his charming sister-in-law Ann Guthrie, archivist at The Woody Guthrie Archives, Tiffany Colannino, Woody scholar Guy Logsdon and his wife, Okemah native Phyllis, extraordinary singer/songwriter and Woody collaborator Ellis Paul, and festival favorite Rad Lorkovic who did a stellar reading of an unpublished Woody composition, cutting through the darkness of my slide presentation with a borrowed miner's headlamp!

I felt a little like a musician who gets up on stage, looks out at the audience, and sees Dylan, McCartney and Prince looking up at him...

Relax!

Singer, Songwriter, Guitarist

Last year I recorded three new songs which are available for free download in the music section of this site. They feature my longtime friends Nick & Helen Forster of the beloved national radio program Etown, guitar wizard Dave Beegle, and the incomparable David Amram. Hope you like what we're up to!

Collector of Rare Letters, Interesting Autograph Material, First Editions

Over the last 30 years my collection has taken on a focus of American social movements from 1920 to 1970 with particular interests in the handwritten papers, letters, art works, and ephemera of Woody Guthrie, Leadbelly, Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan, as well as artists and musicians from the early days of rock and roll, and a wide variety of interesting literary and historical papers. Recent finds range from Otis Redding to J.R.R. Tolkien with Ralph Ellison, Ernest Hemingway, The Weavers and Ella Fitzgerald in between!

Articles on my collections:
*NEW!* Barry's Interview with Twisted Spork
Rock History For Sale
Wild About Woody

Contact

Feel free to contact me at