Today is the centennial marker of Woody Guthrie’s birth. An American troubadour, Guthrie wrote more than 3000 songs in his 15-year career, but recorded only 40 himself, most of which chronicle the experiences of poor, rural Americans during and after the Great Depression. Born in Rural Oklahoma, Guthrie traveled to California during the dustbowl to work as an itinerant farmer, a job that never suited him, but revealed his enthusiasm and gift for music with a cause. He used his songs to bring people together, to raise the spirits of the downtrodden–and set the stage for later protest folk musicians like Bob Dylan and continues to influence everyone from Bruce Springsteen to Wilco and Billy Bragg’s ‘Mermaid Avenue’, a 1998 album of previously unheard Guthrie songs.

Here’s a rare clip of Guthrie performing one of his songs:

Guthrie singing ‘Vigilante Man’ to footage from the Bonus Riots of 1932, San Francisco General Strike 1934, Republic Steel Strike 1937, General Motors Labor Strike 1937, and more.

We are all familiar with his song ‘This Land is Your Land’, but there’s more to it than most of us realize–it was written in 1940 as a critical response to Irving Berlin’s ‘God Bless America’, read more about it here.

The Smithsonian’s Folkways archive has put together a compilation of music and a book of material from the archive entitled Woody at 100, including images of his paintings and drawings. Check it out here.

Happy Birthday, Woody!