Guthrie and Mellencamp IU scholars to discuss music next week

An IU Columbus professor will be drawing parallels between the music of Woody Guthrie and John Mellencamp and the times they lived in at an event coming up next week in Columbus.

Professor Aimee Zoeller is a researcher into the work and life of Woody Guthrie, a legendary folk musician who first became known during the Great Depression for his songs about the troubles of working class people and the Dust Bowl era. Zoeller says that Guthrie had a large impact on Mellencamp’s work. Mellencamp has served on the Woody Guthrie Center artist advisory board and received the Woody Guthrie Prize in 2018. The Rock n Roll Hall of Fame’s Mellencamp exhibit is on display  at the Woody Guthrie Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Zoeller will be joined by Mellcamp scholar and IU Northwest instructor David Masciotra, and local musician Allie Jean Burbrink for “Troubadours for Troubled Times” — a discussion and performance of the artists’ music at Viewpoint Books from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, November 6th.

Photo: John Mellencamp performs at IU homecoming in 2006. Photo courtesy of IU Archives