Outlasting the Blues

By the late 1970s, Guthrie had lost his father Woody Guthrie to Huntington's chorea, and all four of his older siblings had also died, including two sisters who died of the same disease in their 30s. As he approached an age when he would find out whether or not he would develop the disease and similarly face an early death (he would not and remains alive and well several decades later), he spent much of his time in serious introspection searching meaning and a way forward. Guthrie, who had been raised in the Jewish faith of his mother, converted to Christianity as a Roman Catholic. Outlasting the Blues consists of several songs in which his newfound faith figures prominently.[1]

In a 2004 interview, Guthrie spoke about spirituality and the role it plays in his life and on Outlasting the Blues.

I'm not a big fan of overly happy spirituality ... Life ain’t happy all the time. For me, spirituality is not about being happy. It's about what to do when times are tough, not just for you personally but for everybody. There are times when disasters strike ... So, for me, spirituality is what to do about that, and then what to do in your own personal life when you're confronting things that hurt, things that ain't fun. Outlasting the Blues was about that. It was not about preachin', it was not about telling people what's right, although there's a little bit about what I found was right.[3]

Most of the songs on Outlasting the Blues were written and recorded during the first three months of 1979.[4] Guthrie and producer John Pilla, who had produced Guthrie's successful album Amigo, decided not to record in Los Angeles with session musicians, which had been the approach taken on the artist's previous albums. Instead, Outlasting the Blues was recorded and mixed at Long View Farm Studios in North Brookfield, Massachusetts, close to Guthrie's home. For the recording sessions, Pilla drew upon the talents of Guthrie's touring band, Shenandoah, and members of a local string orchestra.[4] Recording needed to be complete by the end of March in time for Guthrie's upcoming European tour in the spring.[4]

Outlasting the Blues was released in the United States in June 1979.[5] Unlike his recent albums, which were released with relatively little promotion, Outlasting the Blues was aggressively marketed by Warner Bros., who arranged numerous interviews with high-profile media outlets in the first months after the release.[6] On July 20, Guthrie and his touring band Shenandoah performed a concert in West Hempstead, Long Island, New York, which was broadcast live in its entirety on WLIR-FM.[7] The following night, July 21, they performed at the Dr. Pepper Music Festival at the Wollman Rink in Central Park in New York City—a concert that was broadcast live by WPLJ-FM to more than a million radio listeners.[7] During these shows, Guthrie performed several songs from his new album, including "Prologue", "Which Side", and "Sailing Down My Golden River".[8]

The cover of Outlasting the Blues has a black and white photo in sepia tone of Guthrie dressed in a flannel shirt and jeans, standing in profile, holding a saxophone, and looking out toward the camera. The title of the album is presented in capital letters along the right side of the cover.[9] The original uncropped photo was used in promotional material distributed to the music press, magazines, and newspapers.[10] The back cover has a photo of Guthrie's touring band, Shenandoah, gathered near an open doorway, showing Steve Ide (seated), David Grover (standing), Dan Velika and Carol Ide (standing in the doorway), and Terry A La Berry (partially hidden in shadow).[9] The white album sleeve contains the song lyrics and album credits.[9]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
Christgau's Record Guide	B[11]
The Christian Science Monitor	Positive [5]
Rolling Stone	Positive [5]

Upon its release in June 1979, Outlasting the Blues received mostly positive reviews. In his review for Rolling Stone magazine, Dave Marsh wrote, "Guthrie finally resolves the tensions between folk and rock, meaning mostly that he has put together some tough music ... to complement some of his most unsettling songs ever".[5] Marsh concluded that Outlasting the Blues was "among the finest records ... [Guthrie] has ever made".[12] The music critic for the Christian Science Monitor wrote, "In a world of cloned Top 40 hits ... every song on this album has the unusual quality of sounding distinctive."[6] In his review for Rolling Stone magazine, Ken Tucker, while criticizing Shenandoah's "bar-band instrumental support", felt the album was a "small masterwork of writing and programming".[6] The album also received some negative reviews at the time. The Montreal Gazette criticized Guthrie's "wretched, grating wailing on most cuts".[6]

In his review for AllMusic, Brett Hartenbach gave the album a mixed review, noting that while the production lacked the vitality of producer John Pilla's earlier Guthrie effort, Amigo, much of the material is "first rate" and that "the first five songs are among Guthrie's best".[1] The central themes of the album are mortality, fate, and the power of religious faith.[1]

He was also approaching the age where he would discover whether or not he would be struck with Huntington's chorea, the hereditary nerve disease that killed his father. Outlasting the Blues deals with this sense of mortality, as well as faith, family, and time gone by. Guthrie refuses to ignore his possible fate, while examining the way things are, were, and should be.[1]

Hartenbach concluded that "despite its flaws, there's plenty to admire about Outlasting the Blues, which, at its best, is about as honest and mature as folk or pop songwriting gets".[1] The album received four out of five stars on the AllMusic website.[1]

In Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981), Robert Christgau wrote:

These reflections on God, love, and death are substantial and obviously earned, but too often they're just not acute. The problem isn't his religious overview, either ... Guthrie simply goes soft aesthetically at crucial moments, and although most of the material is creditable enough, only once [on "Epilogue"] is the enormous emotional potential of the project realized.[11]

All tracks are written by Arlo Guthrie, except where noted.

Music

• Arlo Guthrie – vocals, guitar, saxophone, string arrangements
• Peter Adams – steel guitar
• Terry A La Berry – drums, marimba, vocals
• Thomas Austin – cello
• Dave Brooks – violin
• John Culpo – accordion
• David Darling – cello
• Mic Gillette – violin
• David Grover – banjo, guitar, string arrangements, vocals
• Helen Huybrechts – viola
• Carol Ide – guitar, percussion, vocals
• Steve Ide – guitar, trombone, vocals
• Gordon Johnson – bass, string section leader
• John Pilla – cymbals, finger cymbals, guitar, vocals
• John Sauer – organ, piano
• Ann Saughnessy – violin
• John Saver – keyboards
• Ron Sloan – harmonica
• Dan Velika – bass, guitar, vocals
• Paul Yarbrough – viola

Production

• John Pilla – producer, photography
• Les Kahn – engineer
• Jesse Henderson – assistant engineer

• Official website