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Guthrie did not have much of an audience for his music early in his career, Blackburn said, but his popularity soared during the economic and cultural tumult caused by the Great Depression. "Only then did he really find an audience," Blackburn said. "As the country's attitude started changing, it came in line with Woody's populist origins." Guthrie's popularity in his home state suffered as it became more politically conservative, and he was even portrayed as anti-American. Ripley noted that during World War II, Guthrie penned songs that railed against fascism, including "All You Fascists Bound To Lose," and sang for troops to buoy their spirits while serving with the Army and U.S. Merchant Marine. "He wrote so many great songs that are pointedly pro-American," Ripley said. "They weren't running around knocking America. That stuff was not let's tear down America. It was let's build up America." Attitudes about Guthrie have shifted over the past decade as Oklahomans renewed their interest in his life and music, Blackburn said. Today, a portrait of Guthrie hangs in the rotunda of the Oklahoma State Capitol and the Woody Guthrie Folk Festival is held annually in Okemah to coincide with his birthday on July 12. The new four-building arts hub in Tulsa will feature public displays from the Guthrie archives and research space for scholars and artists "so the story of this extraordinary Oklahoman can be told for generations to come," the George Kaiser Family Foundation's executive director Ken Levit said in a statement. Blackburn said the archive will ensure that Guthrie's art remains timeless like that of another Oklahoma native, Will Rogers. It "will be more than a collection of one man's art," he said. "It will be a tool for education, inspiration for artists and a window through which every man and woman anywhere in the world can search for a better understanding of the human experience." ___ Information from: Tulsa World, http://www.tulsaworld.com/
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