In two of the final concerts in their landmark tour, the first family of American folk music appears at the Napa Valley Opera House April 19 and 20.

The Guthrie Family Legacy Tour features the son and grandchildren of balladeer Woody Guthrie in a program of favorite songs and stories from the past 60 years.

“We’ve had such a great time together,” said Arlo Guthrie, whose son, Abe, daughter, Sarah Lee, and son-in-law, Johnny Irion, will perform at the Opera House with him. Granddaughter, Olivia, 5, may also make an appearance on ukelele or fiddle, “depending on how much fun she’s having backstage,” her grandfather said.

Voice of Woody will be heard

Woody Guthrie — who gave the American songbook “This Land is Your Land,” “Oklahoma Hills” and “Do-Re-Mi,” among many others — died of Huntington’s disease in 1967, the same year his son Arlo released the talking-blues narrative “Alice’s Restaurant.”

Young people — and more than a few who wanted to keep up with the young — purchased the LP for its 18-minute, shaggy-dog title tune; but “Alice’s Restaurant” also included the enduring “Motorcycle Song,” which Arlo Guthrie still performs in concert alongside his later hits.

Fans of Arlo the raconteur won’t be disappointed at the Napa shows, but the focus of the tour is on his father, whose works have recently been rediscovered by younger musicians including Billy Bragg and the band Wilco.

“That’s the whole idea of it — to find out more about Woody,” his son said. “It started off with the idea of doing some of the better-known songs of my dad, because some people were not familiar with them, and then adding some of the newer material that’s been found over the years.”

Some older material has also turned up: Napa audiences will hear Woody Guthrie himself, in an unissued wire-spool recording from around 1940.

“They’re actually going to hear a live performance,” Arlo Guthrie said. “It’s newly discovered, and the whole thing is coming out on CD July 14,” his father’s 95th birthday.

The next generations

Arlo’s children have followed the family craft by different paths. Abe, who plays keyboards and sings backup, started his career at age 15 as David Bromberg’s guitar technician, and is now working on his second album with the band Xavier.

In contrast, Sarah Lee waited to start her musical career until after high school, first as her father’s tour manager when he emceed the late-1990s Further Festival of jam bands, and now as a guitarist and singer with the Guthrie Family Legacy Tour.

Johnny Irion, Sarah Lee’s husband and performing partner, and veteran multi-instrumentalist Gordon Titcomb round out the group appearing at the Opera House.

After the tour ends next month, the Guthrie family members will go their separate ways, Arlo said: “We’re not going to see the likes of it for a while, so we are just savoring it.

“Right now, we are just having the time of our lives.”



The Guthrie Family Legacy Tour

Napa Valley Opera House

April 19, 20, 8 p.m.

Tickets: $50

Box office: 226-7372