Woody Guthrie was a folk singer and is perhaps most famous for his song, "This Land is Your Land." Born in Oklahoma in 1912, he traveled throughout his lifetime, "collecting" and popularizing folk music from around the United States. Folkloric studies, including the study of folkways throughout history, tells us what people believed or did, but not necessarily what truthfully happened. Folksong may reflect localized or folk belief, but we can also study it in terms of creation and re-creation of artistic themes through memetics.
For any academic work, if you plan to reference Woody Guthrie's work, it is best to do so with the understanding that he shared the attitudes and expressions of the people he met. For example, his album Dust Bowl Ballads describes the thoughts, feelings, and experiences of people he met during the Dust Bowl in California. As a folklorist, Woody Guthrie may be considered an accurate historical resource concerning the thoughts, feelings, and experiences of the people he met during his travels.
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