Arlo Guthrie and Family

This season I've had the privilege of taking in the entire American Heritage series at the Mondavi Center in Davis and it has been amazing. Being able to see Merle Haggard for the first time was a treat and to add to my firsts this year, last night I had the pleasure of seeing Arlo Guthrie and his family. Opening the show Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion played a few songs and really warmed the room up. There was literally an entire family up there with sometimes 10 and 15 people being on stage. Between each one of the songs Arlo told a story and I'm not sure if it was part of the shtick but the kids and adults would sit down on the edges of platforms on the stage as if they were really listening to story time with grandpa Arlo.

When people from the audience began to request Alice's Restaurant Arlo made a comment about the movie Groundhog Day, and what it would be like for groundhog day to be half an hour long. I can't blame him for not wanting to do that song, it is from many many many years ago and I can only imagine how many times he's played it by now. I was happy that he played the motorcycle song, I dare you to listen to it and not smile. Everyone from the family contributed to the show in some way, some of the kids I would guess are only 2 or 3, it was cute. Most of the songs were unrecognizable to me but it certainly was a pleasure to see a folk legend like Arlo Guthrie in the flesh.

To see the rest of my pictures click here.