“Woody’s songs look an unjust world square in the eye, slice it apart with satire, dismantle it with rage, and then drop a mighty sing along chorus fit to raise the roof of a Union Hall or a holding cell” says activist and guitarist (Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave, Prophets of Rage, etc.) Tom Morello, recipient of the 2024 Woody Guthrie Prize. “Woody was a fearless agitator, a six string instigator and a poetic truth teller. He was the original punk rocker whose life, music, art and lyrics were beacons of justice, liberation and respite for the downtrodden and the oppressed. I often joke that what America really needs is a black Woody Guthrie, but until he or she shows up, I’ll keep the seat warm.”
On September 25, Morello joined the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Pussy Riot, Kris Kristofferson and Mavis Staples by being awarded the prestigious Woody Guthrie Prize, awarded to the musician by Guthrie’s granddaughter Anna Canoni, Vice-President of Woody Guthrie Publications. Canoni and attendees welcomed Morello on stage with a rousing sing-along of “This Land is Your Land.”
Morello gave his heartfelt thanks for the award during his speech and spoke about his life and what it means to be a political activist. “The number one most common thing I’ve heard people say about my career is, ‘Tom, just shut up and play the guitar.’ To which I invariably answer in what feels very much like the spirit of Woody Guthrie, ‘Fuck you, I won’t do what you tell me,’” he said, quoting Rage Against the Machine’s “Killing In The Name.”
“Anytime someone is criticizing a musician or an artist or an actor for what they have to say, it’s because they disagree with their point of view,” he later said in the Q+A portion of the event when the backlash of Chappel Roan’s comments about presidential candidate Kamala Harris came out.
Morello also took attendees on a trip to the past, discussing the humble beginnings of Rage Against the Machine. When he was 27 years old, shortly after Lock Up broke up, he made a solemn vow to himself—that he’s kept to this day he says—that he was never going to play another note of music that he didn’t believe in. And from this promise, Rage Against the Machine was born.
Following his speech, the Q+A portion of the event began after an introduction for the moderator Kim Kelly, journalist and writer most well-known for her book, “Fight Like Hell, The Untold History of American Labor,” which received rave reviews from The New Yorker, Buzzfeed and Esquire. Kelly’s journalism focus lies on labor issues, so she made for a very fitting choice to speak with Morello.
During their conversation, he regaled the story of the first time he experienced injustice. Around the age of five, he was going to daycare and would be tormented by an older kid there. “Every day, this older kid was calling me the words you might imagine that someone might call the only Black kid. Finally, my mom kind of extracted from me what the problem was and I thought that she could go and kind of sort it out. She told me there’s this man named Malcolm X. ‘Mom,’ I said, ‘I’m only five!’” he says, causing the audience to laugh.
He continued, “She told me tomorrow, you’re gonna go in and this is what you’re gonna do. You’re gonna take your little brown hand and make it into a little brown fist. She gave me something to say, like some sort of reverse racist, like cracker or crackerass, deadbeat honky or something like that. I didn’t even know what those words meant,” he said, the audience laughed again. The next day, he took his mom’s advice. During the fight, he misspoke and what came out was a garbled mess of something along the lines of “cracker donkey crack ass.”
Morello also spoke at length about starting an underground newspaper when his high school’s newspaper wouldn’t let him write about what was happening over in South Africa. With his newspaper, he wrote “South Africa: Racist Fascism That We Support,” among other pieces about the dean of students and the gym instructor. From the get-go, it appears that Morello has always had a passion for standing up for the voiceless.
He also mentioned an incident that had happened the night before as he was eating at a local restaurant and was approached by a couple, one of which was in a local Christian rock band. Thanking him for the “Fuck you I won’t do what you told me” song, she said it really helped her stick it to her parents and was her anthem when she refused to get vaccinations. “The songs about racist cops,” he said bluntly.
Within the last handful of years, Morello has been showing up in solidarity for various Union marches—a big reason for being chosen to receive the prize. “I was playing in some different union things in California, and someone from the Alabama Coal Miners’ Union tweeted at me, they’re like, ‘Hey Mr. Labor Union, you’re so labor union. Why don’t you come down to Alabama where were we’ve been on strike for two fucking years and come down here with your fancy self?’ I said, ‘I’ll be there Tuesday, you son of a bitch.’ and I was happy to do it,” Morello says.
Towards the end of the conversation, Kelly broached the subject of whether Guthrie would be such a universally loved figure if he had written his music today. “Woody wouldn’t be beloved by politicians. I mean, if [his music] came out today and was understood, it would have the same polarized effect as Macklemore” adding that everyone should listen to his new music, namely “Hind’s Hall” which condemns the Biden Administration’s response to Israel’s treatment of Palestine, featuring lyrics like “Block the barricade until Palestine is free.”
The conversation came to an end and Morello treated fans to a brief acoustic performance featuring songs like “Flesh Shapes the Day,” “The Fabled City,” “This Land is Your Land,” “Let Freedom Ring” and even “Killing in the Name,” the latter of which audience members were asked to jump on stage and sing as he played the guitar.
It was a special night that Tulsans and Morello himself will not forget for quite some time. Congratulations again, Tom Morello!
