Over the past few years, the number of long popular artists have announced that they are retiring. But the retirement is conditional…the artists are only putting away their travel gear, only to continue making music but not promote it on tour.
The latest in the list of artists is folk legend Arlo Guthrie.
At 73, Guthrie has cited health reasons as to why he will no longer tour. Like many musicians, Guthrie was forced to cancel shows this year due to the Corona virus. But unlike many of his fellow musicians Guthrie will not be rescheduling any of those dates.
In a post he titled “Gone Fishing” Guthrie said, “it’s been a great 50-plus years of being a working entertainer, but I reached the difficult decision that touring and stage shows are no longer possible.” Guthrie has had two strokes in recent years with the most recent attack putting him in the hospital last year. He continued, “a folk singer’s shelf life may be a lot longer than a dancer or an athlete, but at some point, unless you’re incredibly fortunate or just plain whacko (either one or both) it’s time to hang up the ‘Gone Fishing’ sign.”
Guthrie noted that retiring from touring does not mean he will stop making music; adding, “I hope to be a thorn in the side of a new administration pretty soon.”
Following in his father, Woody’s, footsteps; Guthrie burst onto the musical scene in 1967 with “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree” – an 18 minute epic autobiographical tale of Guthrie’s Thanksgiving Day events in 1965.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m57gzA2JCcM
Since that first performance, Guthrie has played himself in the film “Alice’s Restaurant”, written a nuumber of children’s books, and released nearly three dozen albums.
feature photo credit: By Shelka04, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2595079