Leon Jerry Guthrie, 13 November 1915, Olive, Oklahoma, USA, d. 15 January 1948, Livermore, California, USA. Leon (he was known as Jack later), the cousin of folk singer Woody Guthrie, grew up among both horses and music. Between 1924 and 1929, the family relocated to Texas but returned to Sapulpa, Oklahoma. He first learned to play guitar (his sister, Wava, claimed that Gene Autry taught him some chords) but later added fiddle. He had little education, Wava said ‘Mom would take him to school; he would go in the front door and straight out the back’. In the mid-30s, the family relocated to Sacramento, California. Here Guthrie, without enthusiasm for any, tried various jobs. He worked for the Works Progress Association (WPA), the Forest Service, as a truck driver and rode in rodeos. In 1934, he married Ruth Henderson, and they worked the clubs with an act that included songs and trick roping. He also used a bull whip to cut things from her hand and cigarettes from her mouth. (She soon tired of the scars and quit the act). In July 1937, after Woody also moved to California, the cousins briefly played KFVD Hollywood. The show did not pay and Jack quit to seek a living elsewhere. (Woody carried on singing with Maxine Crissman in The Woody And Lefty Lou Show). In the late 30s, still as Leon, he worked rodeos and performed in clubs as Oklahoma’s Yodeling Cowboy. He soon became noted for ‘Oklahoma Hills’, a song that Woody had started but rejected. Jack made variations and in October 1944, after first recording a demo, and with musicians that included Cliffie Stone (bass), he recorded it for Capitol Records. He had expected Capitol would have Wesley Tuttle record it but the label were impressed with the demo and gave Guthrie a contract. When the record was released, Jack had been drafted and was serving, in Iwo Jima, as a Special Services entertainer. He was still there, in 1945, when the record spent six weeks at number 1 on the country charts. The b-side ‘I’m Brandin’ My Darlin’ With My Heart’ also reached number 5. He remained in the Special Service but returned to Fort Lewis, Washington, in 1946. He played with Buck Richey And His K-6 Wranglers in Tacoma, Washington and his popularity at the Century Ballroom and on KVI, saw the publication of a Jack Guthrie songbook. He made further recordings for Capitol in 1946 and gained a further Top 3 hit, in 1947, with ‘Oakie Boogie’. Woody noted the success of ‘Oklahoma Hills’ and claimed ownership. Jack counter claimed that had he not amended and recorded it, the song would be unknown. The outcome saw the copyright varied to read Jack and Woody Guthrie.
In 1947, Jack’s health began to seriously fail and, on Wava’s insistence, he was examined by a Seattle doctor who diagnosed tuberculosis. The military which had failed to recognise this quickly discharged him on medical grounds. Refusing to believe the problem was serious, Guthrie organised a band, bought a stretch automobile and began touring. He impressed Ernest Tubb, guested on the Grand Ole Opry and toured with Tubb’s show. Soon afterwards, his health worsened and he returned to California, where Wava begged him to enter a sanatorium for a year (one sister had previously recovered from the disease by such treatment). He refused claiming ‘Right now, I’m hot and I’ve got to keep making personal appearances’. After his marriage broke up, he began to drink heavily but made a cameo film appearance inHollywood Barn Dance, singing ‘Oakie Boogie’. He was contracted to appear in a Russell Hayden B-Western but was too ill. He sold his car, disbanded and his mother persuaded him to join her in Sacramento. In July 1947, he entered the Livermore Veterans Tuberculosis Hospital, 85 miles from Sacramento. When the doctors told him he had no chance of recovery, he promptly left. Wava and her husband found him a home in a cabin in their garden. In October, at Capitol’s request, he recorded nine songs in Los Angeles. It was ironical that Guthrie, who gained much of his early inspiration from listening to recordings of Jimmie Rodgers, found himself in exactly the same condition as Rodgers. He was so ill he had to sit on a chair but somehow he completed the session. In November, he returned to Los Angeles to make some transcription recordings. Again he completed his task but this time, he was so weak that a bed was brought into the studio and, as with Rodgers, he had to lie down between recordings. Although it may be claimed that Capitol were being unfair, Jack knew he had not long and wished to make as many recordings as possible. (In all, Guthrie recorded 33 songs, in eight Capitol sessions. Six remained unissued until 1991, when Bear Family Records included them on a CD containing 29 of his Capitol sides). A month later he entered Livermore Hospital, where he died on 15 January 1948. In Iwo Jima, he was badly burned in an explosion while cleaning his uniform with petrol. It is probable that he was smoking at the time. There were later claims that his death was the result of this accident but medical evidence confirmed that he died from tuberculosis.
Source: The Encyclopedia of Popular Music by Colin Larkin. Licensed from Muze.
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Leon Jerry Guthrie, 13 November 1915, Olive, Oklahoma, USA, d. 15 January 1948, Livermore, California, USA. Leon (he was known as Jack later), the cousin of folk singer Woody Guthrie, grew up among both horses and music. Between 1924 and 1929, the family relocated to Texas but returned to Sapulpa, Oklahoma. He first learned to play guitar (his sister, Wava, claimed that Gene Autry taught him some chords) but later added fiddle. He had little education, Wava said ‘Mom would take him to school; he would go in the front door and straight out the back’. In the mid-30s, the family relocated to Sacramento, California. Here Guthrie, without enthusiasm for any, tried various jobs. He worked for the Works Progress Association (WPA), the Forest Service, as a truck driver and rode in rodeos. In 1934, he married Ruth Henderson, and they worked the clubs with an act that included songs and trick roping. He also used a bull whip to cut things from her hand and cigarettes from her mouth. (She soon tired of the scars and quit the act). In July 1937, after Woody also moved to California, the cousins briefly played KFVD Hollywood. The show did not pay and Jack quit to seek a living elsewhere. (Woody carried on singing with Maxine Crissman in The Woody And Lefty Lou Show). In the late 30s, still as Leon, he worked rodeos and performed in clubs as Oklahoma’s Yodeling Cowboy. He soon became noted for ‘Oklahoma Hills’, a song that Woody had started but rejected. Jack made variations and in October 1944, after first recording a demo, and with musicians that included Cliffie Stone (bass), he recorded it for Capitol Records. He had expected Capitol would have Wesley Tuttle record it but the label were impressed with the demo and gave Guthrie a contract. When the record was released, Jack had been drafted and was serving, in Iwo Jima, as a Special Services entertainer. He was still there, in 1945, when the record spent six weeks at number 1 on the country charts. The b-side ‘I’m Brandin’ My Darlin’ With My Heart’ also reached number 5. He remained in the Special Service but returned to Fort Lewis, Washington, in 1946. He played with Buck Richey And His K-6 Wranglers in Tacoma, Washington and his popularity at the Century Ballroom and on KVI, saw the publication of a Jack Guthrie songbook. He made further recordings for Capitol in 1946 and gained a further Top 3 hit, in 1947, with ‘Oakie Boogie’. Woody noted the success of ‘Oklahoma Hills’ and claimed ownership. Jack counter claimed that had he not amended and recorded it, the song would be unknown. The outcome saw the copyright varied to read Jack and Woody Guthrie.