Older and More Alive

Each father lives in the shadows cast by his father's life ... and death.

Arlo Guthrie, father of four, who turns 60 next Tuesday, July 10, is son of folksinging archtype Woody Guthrie. The elder Guthrie died at age 54 of Huntington's (as his mother did), a hereditary disease that usually appears between ages 30 and 50 and then progresses without pity to destroy the areas of the brain controlling emotions, intellect and movement.

From 40-plus years of playing, the younger Guthrie is probably best known for the Thanksgiving radio staple "Alice's Restaurant" and "City of New Orleans" (his only Top 20 hit, a cover of Steve Goodman's song). He has gotten old enough to be freed from the usual fear of dieing as one's father did, but he remains connected in popular imagination by the folk tradition and his own passions. His current Solo Reunion Tour, plays the Woody Guthrie festival in Okemah, Okla., beginning July 14, and he plans to include his fathers work (both lyrics and mixes involving both their voices) when he performs there.

** The arc of the father is from living under a shadow to casting one. **