26 Songs in 30 Days

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Woody Guthrie's Columbia River Songs and the Planned Promised Land in the Pacific Northwest

by Greg Vandy with Daniel Person

A fascinating portrait of icon Woody Guthrie, the Pacific Northwest, and folk music—all set against the backdrop of a tumultuous moment in American history

In 1941, Woody Guthrie wrote 26 songs in 30 days—including classics like “Roll On Columbia” and “Pastures of Plenty”—when he was hired by the Bonneville Power Administration to promote the benefits of cheap hydroelectric power, irrigation, and the Grand Coulee Dam. Now, KEXP DJ Greg Vandy takes readers inside the unusual partnership between one of America’s great folk artists and the federal government, and shows how the American folk revival was a response to hard times.

26 Songs In 30 Days plunges deeply into the historical context of the time and the progressive politics that embraced Social Democracy during an era in which the United States had been severely suffering from The Great Depression. And though this is a musical history of a vibrant American musical icon and a specific part of the country, it couldn’t be a better reminder of how timeless and expansive such topics are in today’s political discourse.

Apr 12, 2016 | Price: $24.95

Since 2000, Greg Vandy has been the host of The Roadhouse on Seattle’s KEXP radio where he brings a world of folk, blues, and roots-inspired music to listeners in the Pacific Northwest and around the world.

“I can’t get enough of Woody Guthrie, and Greg Vandy reveals him afresh in the context of a project that piques the best in Woody, and maybe the best in America. Read, learn, enjoy—and sing.”
—Robert Gordon, author of Respect Yourself

“26 Songs in 30 Days is a valuable addition to the Woody Guthrie library, not to mention a great read.”
—Robert Santelli, author of This Land Is Your Land: Woody Guthrie and the Journey of an American Folk Song

"Greg Vandy, known for his engaging KEXP roots-music show, “The Roadhouse,” lovingly unravels that tale in this cleanly written, handsomely designed and liberally illustrated book about Guthrie’s month-plus tenure based in Portland in 1941."
—The Seattle Times

". . . a fascinating glimpse of the musician's life as well as the social politics of the time."
—Largehearted Boy

"Knowing the story behind these songs enriches them, but the real value and enjoyment of 26 Songs is the surprisingly relevant connections between past and present political issues it offers you to make through the lens of Guthrie’s music."
—The Stranger

“One of KEXP’s most noted DJs explores the relationship between Guthrie and the Bonneville Power Administration that yielded timeless folk songs.”
—Shelf Talk, The Seattle Public Library

“26 Songs in 30 Days... [is] the revelatory history of Guthrie’s work as a commissioned songwriter for the Pacific NW...”
—Northwest Music Scene

“26 Songs In 30 Days plunges deeply into the historical context of the time and the progressive politics that embraced Social Democracy during an era in which the United States had been severely suffering from The Great Depression. And though this is a musical history of a vibrant American musical icon and a specific part of the country, it couldn’t be a better reminder of how timeless and expansive such topics are in today’s political discourse.”
—The Columbia Riverkeeper

"26 Songs in 30 Days is powerful. Vandy and Person do expansive justice to their narrow subject, swerving outside their coffee table book lane and crucially, big-upping Guthrie while filleting the notion of his unassailable musical-ethical integrity. This is a book that raises philosophical, artistic and ethical questions."
—Seattle Review of Books

“[The story of] Guthrie’s fertile 30-day sojourn in the Pacific Northwest, when he road-tripped throughout the Columbia River basin...”
—Acoustic Guitar

"Moving, inspiring, and uplifting, the songs of Woody Guthrie took the rural grassroots to the entire nation through folk music – and, as a result, warmed up their hearts and minds, respectively, in unity."
—Heed the Hedonist