Original image by There Stand the Glass.
Suggesting that an aged work of political art is as relevant as ever is a tired trope. Yet these are exhausting times. Woody Guthrie died in 1967, but he was never far from my mind in 2025. Essential anthems including “Deportee,” “Pastures of Plenty” and “This Land Is Your Land” mirrored unwelcome headlines.
A set of Guthrie’s home demos was among the year’s most essential reissues. Contemporary folkies such as the duo of Haley Heynderickx and Max García Conover upheld Guthrie’s legacy. Three Guthrie covers are included in Bob Dylan’s October release Through the Open Window: The Bootleg Series, Vol. 18.
Speaking of Guthrie’s most famous acolyte, I was pleased to see that a heartrending portrayal of a debilitated Guthrie bookends A Complete Unknown when I got around to watching the 2024 Dylan biopic a couple months ago.
I made a pilgrimage in July to Woody Fest in Okemah and The Woody Guthrie Center in Tulsa in July. The trip made the icon the incontrovertible choice as the There Stands the Glass Artist of the Year.
Amid a downpour, I commandeered a complimentary shuttle bus to deliver me to the original Guthrie digs in Okemah. I was devastated to discover that he literally ain't got no home in this world anymore. Yet Guthrie’s legacy doesn’t require sacred ground or holy relics. His work is embedded in my soul.
Honorable mentions: Gerald Clayton, Sylvie Courvoisier and Wadada Leo Smith. Previous recipients of There Stands the Glass’ Artist of the Year designation are Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (2024), Hilary Hahn (2023), Joyce DiDonato (2022), Pat Metheny (2021) and Bad Bunny (2020).
