Dust Bowls and Jewish Souls: Another Side of Woody Guthrie

Much is known about Woody Guthrie–the iconic folksinger who wrote “This Land is Your Land,” and influenced Bob Dylan (as seen in the recent film A Complete Unknown). Less known is the role that Jewish culture and tradition had a hand in shaping his private life and career.

In this delightful and eye-opening documentary, filmmaker Steven Pressman (The Levys of Monticello, TJFF2022) explores Guthrie’s second marriage to Marjorie Greenblatt in New York, and his moving relationship with his mother-in-law, prominent Yiddish poet Aliza Greenblatt, and the impact she had on his songwriting. Using revealing interviews—including children Arlo and Nora Guthrie—and rich archival footage and audio recordings, Dust Bowls and Jewish Souls meticulously links the story of American Yiddish creativity with Guthrie’s art as rooted in the Oklahoma Dust Bowl of the 1930s.