Radar Report

Family Trip

On record and on the road, husband and wife duo SARAH LEE GUTHRIE and JOHNNY IRION honor tradition and explore new ground

To some folk purists, it might boggle the mind that the granddaughter of Woody Guthrie and the daughter of Arlo Guthrie spent most of her young adult life without once picking up the guitar. Sarah Lee Guthrie explains: "Music had been a part of my life for so long, I just never thought about it. It was something that my Dad did."

Working at a department store in Los Angeles, Guthrie met Johnny Irion, a transplanted songwriter from South Carolina. Like many songwriters that head to L.A., he was on a musical quest. Little did he know that it would lead him back to his roots – and roots music.

As he tells it: "I grew up listening to 70's am radio. But I eventually branched off and got into heavy punk rock such as the Dead Kennedys. But in the 90's I got into Robert Johnson and Doc Watson and Elizabeth Cotten. Meeting Sarah Lee in L.A., I also got turned on to a lot of old Pete Seeger records and other socially conscious music."

For Guthrie, meeting Irion inspired her to take a fresh look at her musical legacy. He taught her how to play guitar and turned her on to country music, from George Jones to Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris. It wasn't long before Guthrie began to perform with her father, Arlo, as part of his touring act, and began to write her own material. Johnny continued to write and develop his own singer-songwriter voice.

The two married in 1999, moved back to Irion's birthplace in Columbia, South Carolina, and each released solo albums on Arlo's Rising Son label. They then hit the road performing together, averaging about 180 shows a year. The decision to make an album together was natural. They had developed a live act that blended their songwriting sensibilities, not to mention a beautiful vocal blend that recalled other classic singer-songwriter duos, such as Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris and Mark Olson and Gary Louris of The Jayhawks.

In fact, when it came time to pick a producer for their first recording together, Louris was on the top of their wish list.

"We had always been fans of The Jayhawks," says Johnny. We saw all the early tours and loved how Mark and Gary sang together. You never really knew who was singing what. And that was what Sarah Lee and I were looking for vocally, to have that tight Everly Brothers, Louvin Brothers thing."

Fortunately, Gary Louris's dance card was just opening up. The Jayhawks had officially retired from the road and Louris, one of the most acclaimed songwriters of the past 20 years, was looking to explore other musical projects. He agreed to co-produce with fellow Minnesotan Ed Ackerson before his schedule filled up again (He has since released a new album, Another Fine Day, with his illustrious side project, Golden Smog, toured with his former Jayhawks partner Mark Olson, created music for the documentary Wordplay and co-written four songs with the Dixie Chicks that appear on their new hit album).

Making the transition from songwriter to producer was natural, says Louris: "As long as you get the right combination of producer and artist, it works," he says. It's kind of like getting married to somebody and having to discuss if you both want kids or not. You really should lay some groundwork ahead of time. flew to South Carolina and spent a couple of days with Sarah Lee and Johnny, and it was very helpful in establishing what kind of record we wanted to make. The songwriting thing is universal as long as you all know what kind of songs you are looking for. Sarah Lee and Johnny had a lot of songs, and stylistically they were very diverse, so there was a lot to choose from."

Sarah Lee and Johnny recorded their album, Exploration (New West), with Gary and Ed in Minneapolis in roughly 12 days. They were joined in the studio by an extended "musical" family that included Louris's Jayhawks bandmate Marc Perlman, Son Volt veterans Dave Boquist and Eric Heywood, as well as Irion's childhood friend Zeke Hutchins (who also drums for Tift Merrit). The result is an exhilarating collection of folkrock songs that brim with gorgeous harmonies, thought-provoking lyrics and inspired performances by a group of musicians playing with both a sense of purpose and a sense of fun.

Exploration is a proud new chapter in the Guthrie musical story. Sarah Lee and Johnny are currently playing material from the album on the road as part of The Guthrie Family Legacy Tour, which celebrates four generations of Guthrie Family music. The tour features Arlo and extended members of the Guthrie family performing classic Woody songs as well as new material. Having traveled across large parts of the country already this summer, the tour picks up again and continues throughout the fall.

Sarah Lee says that joining her dad on the road has provided her and Johnny with a valuable lesson: "There are different reasons for playing music. It started with why Woody played music. It went through Arlo and it continues on with Johnny and me: It's music with a social conscience but it's still good music. It's not on the radio and it's not a fly-by-night thing. It's something that is going to be there always."

— Erik Philbrook

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