Minstrelsy for Today In Saratoga Last Night

by Tom Slayton, Rutland Daily Herald, June 29, 1968

Two kinds of modern-day minstrels played a program of modern-day music to an enthusiastic crowd of modern-day kids here Friday night.

But the result was as old as man – communication.

Folksinger Arle Guthrie and Judy Collins played for about two hours at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center.

Guthrie and Miss Collins are perhaps as different in style as two artists could be, and still be lumped in the same category.

But both are topical of the new kind of minstrelsy that is growing increasingly important on the current musical scene.

Both, in their own way, are saying that “popular” music is better than ever before, more complex, more meaningful – and just plain more musical, too.

Guthrie, son of epic-American balladeer Woody Guthrie, is a wispy-looking elf with shoulder-length hair, who plays his music straight and sings it straight. He is directly in the tradition of such American folksingers as his father, Mississippi John Hurt, Cisco Houston, and Pete Seeger.

His “tell-It-like-It-ls” brand of straightforward humor is also very American in style, even though he would blush to have me say so. Understatement, wild exaggeration, and constant improvisation are the hallmarks of the Guthrie style.

He uses the comic monologue to best effect in his talking blues – “Wanna Ride On My Motorcycle,” and the now legendary “Alice’s Restaurant.”

Playing a simple blues melody on his acoustic guitar, Guthrie delivers his monologues in a purposely flat, high baritone.

“I wanna tell ya how I wrote this song,” his guitar rippling along in the background. “I was ridin’ m’motoroycle down this mountain road one day … (more guitar) … about 150 miles an hour … (guitar still going) … playin’ the guitar …”

Guthrie builds from this into one of his typically wild, madly detailed epics, of which “Alice’s Restaurant” is only the prototype.

His style, like Bob Dylan’s, is as much literary as musical, but Guthrie also demonstrates rich musical talent in his “Highway in the West.”

If Guthrie is the modern bard-with-guitar, Miss Collins is our day’s poetess-with-band. She, like Guthrie, has a tale
to tell and songs to sing, but her approach is entirely different.

There is less of folk and more of art in her approach. Where Guthrie has continued his search for simplicity, Miss Collins has progressed along her personal musical way by making her music and her style more complex.

Backed up by a three-piece amplified band, Miss Collins’ style has grown more lush since her own guitar solo days. It gives off a rare, mystical, and highly romantic beauty.

Miss Collins sang songs composed by the late Richard Farina Dylan, by herself, and by others.

The two singers have different styles and are both following intensely personal artistic roads. But both roads have meaning, and both of these young singers are contributing much to today’s music.

They speak to their audiences directly, on a level “serious” music hadn’t done for a long time. And, If their music isn’t
classical in quality yet, have patience – it’s getting there.

The Saratoga audience Friday night applauded both singers loudly, and with gusto. There was communication here. If you ignore it, you’ll miss a lot. Comedian Victor Borge will play at the Performing Arts Center Saturday at 8:30 p.m. and Sunday at 3:30 p.m.