Stoney LaRue playing Okemah’s Woody Fest Thursday

Posted by brandy, newsok.com

on July 8, 2009 at 1:25 pm

Stoney LaRue

From Wednesday’s Life section of The Oklahoman.

Stoney LaRue to pay tribute to his mentors
Red dirt musician to honor Woody Guthrie, Bob Childers

Stoney LaRue regards the late Bob Childers as a “musical father,” and if you trace his sonic ancestry further back, Woody Guthrie could be a sort of songwriting grandpa to the red dirt musician.

This year, LaRue, 32, will pay tribute to Guthrie’s important musical legacy with a solo acoustic headlining performance Thursday night at the Woody Guthrie Folk Festival in Okemah, birthplace of the legendary “This Land Is Your Land” troubadour.

“Bob Childers told me about it (the festival) about 10 years ago and I’ve been wanting to do it ever since. … You know, you just kind of get lost in your own thing, and then with the passing of Bob, I was just like, well, I’ve gotta do it this year,” LaRue said in a recent phone interview from an El Paso, Texas, tour stop.

“I don’t know if I’d say (it’s) a notch on the belt because it’s not like something that cuts to my pride or ego, but it’s really something that I’ve been wanting to play, just because of the attachment to the history of red dirt.”

The 12^th annual Woody Fest, as the festival is also known, starts tonight and continues through Sunday. Along with LaRue, this year’s lineup includes Jimmy LaFave, John Gorka, Jonatha Brooke, Ellis Paul and the Red Dirt Rangers. The event will include musical performances, a children’s festival, an open mike and special events such as a poetry reading, songwriting workshops and a tribute to LaRue’s mentor, Childers.

Known as the father red dirt music - an enigmatic amalgamation of folk, country and rock with its epicenter in Stillwater - Childers played Woody Fest every year until he died in April 2008. Last year’s festival included a Childers tribute, and another memorial is planned at 4 p.m. Thursday.

“As long as there’s a festival, he (Childers) will be remembered in some way,” said Woody Fest media chairwoman Karen Zundel. “We really miss him.”

A folk music pioneer, Guthrie’s songwriting forms part of the foundation for LaRue’s beloved red dirt music. LaRue sees parallels between his life and music and Guthrie’s, from their penchant for traveling far and frequently to the blue-collar, but hopefully universal, tone of their songs.

The singer/songwriter/musician said many people don’t comprehend just how influential Guthrie’s songwriting continues to be. He plays a bluesy rendition of Guthrie’s “Goin’ Down the Road Feelin’ Bad” every night and performed it on his 2007 album “Live at Billy Bob’s Texas”

“People don’t realize it’s Woody Guthrie until I say, ‘This is a Woody Guthrie song,’” LaRue said. “It’s a fun one for the band, it’s fun for me, it’s got a great message. People start dancing immediately. … A lot of it’s jamming, but ‘$2 shoes hurt my feet’ is touching to people because they understand that.”

The son of a struggling bass player and a nurse, LaRue was born in Taft, Texas, but raised in southeastern Oklahoma. He followed his passion for music to the red dirt hot spot of Stillwater, where he hung out with Childers, LaFave, Tom Skinner and others at The Farm, Childers’ old country home.

Over the past few years, he has become one of the top names on the red dirt/Texas music scene, playing with the likes of Lee Ann Womack, Gary Allan, Dierks Bentley, Cross Canadian Ragweed, Willie Nelson, Rodney Crowell and more. His jam-packed tour schedule includes a July 25 date at Eufaula Cove Amphitheatre with Joan Jett and the Blackhearts.

LaRue plays close to 300 shows a year and is working on the final touches on a new album, due out in fall. He, his wife and their three children recently moved to Edmond after living for five years in New Braunfels, Texas, where several red dirt/Texas music artists call home. His wife’s family hails from the Edmond area, so having their support helps as he is often gone touring.

Despite his busy schedule, LaRue plans to stick around during the festival to spend time with other musicians on the lineup, many whom he knows well.

“I’m making it a point. I need that Woody Fest kind of like the pumice to my soul to scrub it clean,” he said. “This music is my life, literally, and I love the mystery of it, I love how it’s happy and sad and I love how it picks you up. And I love that I get to be a part of helping people be lifted.”

He doesn’t know quite what to expect when he takes that Okemah stage at 10:30 p.m. Thursday, but that’s part of the joy for him.

“(With) all of red dirt music, you don’t plan it, it just moves you. And so that’s what I anticipate for the Woody Guthrie fest,” he said. “I’ve noticed that more often than not that whenever I try to plan something, it fails miserably. So you just let the spirit guide you … and I think that is the spirit of the music, that’s the spirit of Bob and Woody.”

Going on

12^th annual Woody Guthrie Folk Festival

When: Today-Sunday.

Where: Various venues in Okemah.

What: Musical performances, children’s activities, open mike, poetry reading, documentary screening, songwriter workshops and fundraisers for the state chapter of the Huntington’s Disease Society of America.

Festival admission: Free except for the opening show at 8 tonight, featuring Jonatha Brooke and SONiA, which costs $20 for general admission or $35 for Gold Circle seating.

Parking: Free for daytime events; $10 per car evenings at the Pastures of Plenty Stage.

Information: www.woodyguthrie.com.

-BAM