Woodrow Wilson Guthrie is born in Okemah, Oklahoma to Charley and Nora Guthrie. He is named for the man recently nominated for president by the Democrats.
During an argument with her mother, Woody's sister Clara burns to death. The OKEMAH LEDGER reports the fire as an accident.
Oil is discovered near Okemah. New business sharks move into town and Charley Guthrie can't compete; he loses most of his money.
Nora Guthrie hurls a kerosene lantern at Charley, burning him severely. She is committed to a mental hospital. Charley goes to live with a sister in Pampa, Texas.
Woody goes to Texas to be with his father. An uncle teaches him to play guitar.
Woody, Cluster Baker, and Matt Jennings form a band: the Corncob Trio. Woody learns to paint and does odd jobs, including fortune telling and sign painting. Nora Guthrie dies at age 44.
Woody marries Mary Jennings, band-mate Matt Jennings's younger sister.
A daughter, Gwendolyn Gail, is born. A historic dust storm in Pampa inspires Guthrie to write his first great song, "Dusty Old Dust (So Long It's Been Good to Know You)."
Woody travels with his guitar, developing a repertoire of songs from all over the country. He connects deeply with the people he meets, identifying their tragedies with his own.
Woody is joined by his wife and children in California, where a second daughter, Sue, is born. He appears on radio station KFVD and receives 1,509 fan letters in one month.
Sets out on the road again after his radio show ends. Writes political songs while touring the Dust Bowl region and sings at his first Communist rally.
Writes "The Ballad of Pretty Boy Floyd." A son, Will Rogers, is born. Woody moves his family to Texas, then continues alone to New York.
Writes "This Land Is Your Land" and performs in the "Grapes of Wrath Concert" in New York. Records DUST BOWL BALLADS for RCA Victor. Appears on weekly radio shows and forms the Almanac Singers with Pete Seeger.
Writes songs for a documentary film about dams along the Columbia River. Records two albums and tours with the Almanac Singers. Pearl Harbor is attacked; Woody re-tools several songs to support the war effort.
The Almanac Singers appear on a pro-war radio show, but are later blacklisted as Communists. Woody meets and falls in love with Marjorie Greenblatt.
BOUND FOR GLORY, a memoir, is published to excellent reviews. Marjorie gives birth to Woody's daughter, Cathy Ann.
Records hundreds of songs for Moe Asch. Joins the merchant marines; his ship is torpedoed.
Woody is drafted into the Army on V-E Day. He marries Marjorie at City Hall, and joins her in Brooklyn after he is discharged. Records an album of children's songs for Cathy Ann.
Disc Records releases SONGS TO GROW ON: NURSERY DAYS. Cathy Ann dies in a fire. Son Arlo Guthrie is born. Woody travels to Chicago for the first People's Songs convention.
Son Joady Ben is born.
Woody writes "Deportees," which some consider his last great song. Pete Seeger forms The Weavers and crosses over to pop music success, making several of Woody's songs popular.
Daughter Nora is born.
Woody seems to be falling apart throughout the early '50s. He is often drunk and is undependable to an extreme. He travels to California, Florida and Oklahoma but is often unwelcome.
Incorrectly diagnosed with schizophrenia at Bellevue Hospital, Woody is later diagnosed with Huntington's disease, a hereditary degenerative nervous disease. He returns to California.
Divorced from Marjorie. Marries 20-year-old Anneke Marshall, who is pregnant.
Records for the last time in New York. Anneke gives birth to Lorina Lynn. Woody and Anneke separate; he returns to Brooklyn State Hospital.
A benefit concert is held in New York for Woody's children. Woody is interned in a psychiatric hospital, where he remains for five years. Charley Guthrie dies.
Bob Dylan visits Woody in the hospital. Articles appear in various national publications, heralding a second wave of the folk revival. Woody becomes a role model for this movement.
Woody dies on October 3. Marjorie helps found the Huntington's Disease Society of America.
