Krishna Guthrie: Honoring legendary roots, and forging his own path
Krishna Guthrie, descendent of American music pioneers Woody and Arlo Guthrie, has forged his own career path in Vermont but also stays close to his roots. (Chris Lillie Photo)
Not surprisingly, Krishna Guthrie’s childhood was steeped in music. He remembers being backstage as a young child, hanging out while his family toured. His famous grandpa, Arlo, would leave the stage briefly after concerts, and come back to be with the fans.
“The show would finish and he’d walk off-stage and maybe get a beer or something, but then he’d just come back on stage and sit there, and wait and talk with everybody who wanted to have a conversation or get something signed. And me, as a little kid, I loved that, I decided I would do that, too, even though nobody knew who I was. I was like, ‘Does anyone want an autograph from me?’”
Years later, he would join those tours, too, at age 15. Of course Arlo was there, and also Krishna’s dad, Abe — who has been joining Arlo on-stage since his teenage years.
Fast-forward from there, and today, Krishna, 29, has a growing musical career of his own, but his deep roots running back to the earlier days of folk music are never far behind. Rock, blues and other influences drive the music of his group, the Krishna Guthrie Band, and the Woody Guthrie classic “This Land Is Your Land” shows up, too. Krishna just puts it to a reggae beat, a style that better fits the high-energy rock his band thrives on, and still gets the tune’s hopeful message across. Always a fitting way to wrap up an evening of music.
“I’ve tried to bring a lot of those songs with me,” Krishna said. “I’m very proud of where I come from.”
That said, it took a bit of time for young Krishna to get familiar with those substantial family roots. During those long tours, at about age 19, he got curious about what his grandfather was up to when he was his age. Luckily, his grandmother was prolific in taking video footage of the early days of Arlo’s career, which Krishna viewed. There was that awe-struck moment of discovering his family's legendary place in music history. But it also became a calling to carve out his own career from the ground up, rather than follow the footsteps of his world-famous relatives.
"I don't think it's a bad path to follow, by any means, but I don't want to look back one day and say, 'Oh, I play all these theaters just because I'm this guy's grandson, or this guy's great-grandson, or whatever the case may be," Krishna said.
He has indeed walked a journey all his own. Originally from the small town of Washington, Mass., he played gigs on the side in Massachusetts, while also working at a store. He later accepted an invitation from a friend to play music in Killington, Vermont — that led to Krishna’s decision in 2014 to move to the Green Mountain State, where he’s made a living performing live in southern Vermont and beyond. He would eventually form the Krishna Guthrie Band, teaming up with Bobby Maguire (fiddle), Nicky Fitz (drums), Josh LaFave (bass, vocals) and Josh Cote (guitar, vocals).
Krishna’s virtuosic guitar skills, wide-ranging solos and bluesy vocals richly express his deep passion for music. Most of his own songs line up with some kind of personal experience, such as “Milfoil Blues”, sparked by his old job uprooting Eurasian milfoil in Addison County’s Lake Dunmore for two summers. Those brutal, eight-hour shifts in scuba gear couldn't be left to the past.
"It needed a song," as he simply put it. He would spend daytime on the lake, and then perform at night until 2 a.m., followed by a few hours’ rest. It was challenging, but there are worse things, he said. “As far as a day job goes, being on a lake every day isn’t the worst thing in the world.”
But there are other topics in Krishna’s music, too.
“I love the idea of alternate realities and questioning what we’re living in,” Krishna said, noting 20-30% of his songs are along that line. For example, “Blue Pill” is based on a central idea from the movie “The Matrix,” where choosing to take a red or blue pill lands an individual either in reality, or a fake simulation blissfully ignorant of the real world.
When performing, Krishna also pays homage to the wider world of rock and blues. At his shows, listeners will find a mix of originals and covers, but they aren’t the covers you might expect — and he brings an original twist to those you would. Case in point: Pink Floyd.
“I do play ‘Breathe’ and ‘Another Brick in the Wall’, but I do it way different than other people do,” he said.
Now that the region has entered the pandemic recovery phase, more venues — and therefore more gigs — have opened up, and Krishna’s weekends are booked out through July and August.
“It’s really nice to be able to get out and play again in an almost ‘normal’ world,” he said. “People are very appreciative to have live music back.”
And there’s a festival on the horizon — Krishna and his band will perform at the Mountain Music and Arts Festival in Warren, New Hampshire, on Aug. 14. That performance will come exactly a month after Woody’s birthday, when Krishna took to Facebook, as he often does, to share a tribute to his great-grandfather and his music. The song Krishna played July 14, a Billy Bragg & Wilco tune, "At My Window Sad and Lonely", was written with Woody’s words — out of a treasure-trove of his lyrics discovered some years back.
Billy Bragg & Wilco crafted many other tunes from Woody’s lyrics, contained in the epic three-volume “Mermaid Avenue”. These songs will keep making appearances at Krishna’s shows, along with his own music and some Guthrie favorites, like “This Land Is Your Land” with its new, lively reggae beat.
“It’s a nice, light, fun feeling, and just the style conveys the type of message I like to leave: ‘We’re all in this together,’” he said. “It’s kind of an uplifting thing.”
— Gareth Henderson
