'Like a family reunion': Woody Guthrie festival continues to bring people together in Okemah

OKEMAH — Sarah Barker Huhn laughed, hugged and helloed practically the entire way to the Bound for Glory stage Thursday afternoon at the Woody Guthrie Folk Festival.

Settling on a chair surrounded by her bandmates, the Oklahoma singer, songwriter and guitarist gazed out at the dozens of musicians and music lovers packed inside The Corral axe-throwing and ice cream parlor.

"This is our first time to play this stage," said Barker Huhn, the frontwoman of the Tulsa-based Red Dirt band Gypsy Twang. "I think we're gonna get some ice cream when we're done."

An ice cream would be the proverbial cherry on top for Barker Huhn, who has been playing the event affectionately known as WoodyFest with her Gypsy Twang for about a decade.

"It's like a family reunion — I'm getting choked up; that's weird, isn't it? — there are people that I really only see at WoodyFest every year," she told The Oklahoman in a behind-the-scenes preshow interview that was briefly interrupted for more hugs and hellos as fellow WoodyFest performers checked in at the Okfuskee County Historical Society.

Gypsy Twang — Barker Huhn; her husband, upright bassist Steve Huhn; singer-songwriter, guitarist and harmonica player John Williams; and mandolin and tenor guitar player Kurt "Frenchie" Nielsen — was among the lineup of Oklahoma musicians and festival regulars to play Thursday, the first full day of WoodyFest.

When and where is the Woody Guthrie Folk Festival?

The 26th Annual Woody Guthrie Folk Festival continues through Sunday at seven venues across the Okfuskee County birthplace of the legendary folk singer-songwriter for which it's named.

Woodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie was born on July 14, 1912, in Okemah — he would have been 111 years old this year — and the festival is scheduled every year around his birthday.

"WoodyFest is the greatest music festival on Planet Earth," Dallas festivalgoer Joseph Leavell said as he took a front-row seat for Gypsy Twang's Bound for Glory stage set. "I've been coming here for 18 years ... (for) the relationships with the musicians and the music and the people from all over the world who come here."

The weekend lineup of WoodyFest performers includes Americana singer-songwriter and storyteller Ellis Paul; longtime Guthrie student and collaborator Joel Rafael; Carolina Chocolate Drops multi-instrumentalist Hubby Jenkins; jazz icon David Amram; Guthrie family members Serena Guthrie and Cathy Guthrie (the latter will perform as Folk Uke, her duo with Amy Nelson, daughter of Willie Nelson); and acclaimed Oklahoma acts John Fullbright, Parker Millsap, Carter Sampson, Red Dirt Rangers, Jacob Tovar, Randy Crouch and more.

WoodyFest activities also will include a Saturday Children's Festival, ongoing educational presentation and panels, and a Sunday Hootenanny.

How did WoodyFest help launch the Oklahoma band Gypsy Twang?

Barker Huhn, the co-lead singer and songwriter for Gypsy Twang, has been making the pilgrimage to WoodyFest regularly since the festival's second year — "and that's just because I didn't know about it the first year."

"I was 40 years old when I bought my first guitar, so I'm kind of a late bloomer. And I credit WoodyFest for a lot of that. I would see people playing here and think, 'I think maybe I could do that.' So, I got a guitar. The first place I ever played on stage was Lou's Rocky Road Tavern," Barker Huhn said, referring to the well-known WoodyFest open mic spot.

Her husband, bandmate and best friend, who also plays with the popular bluegrass band SpringStreet, attended the inaugural WoodyFest and has returned most years since.

"Like Sarah said, it's a kind of a family reunion, and it's good to see these people you only see once a year," Huhn said. "And sadly enough, as life goes, some of them are no longer here. You never know what's gonna be last time to see some of these people. So, it's always good to make the rounds and see everybody and play some music, have some fun and some laughs while you're at it.”

What iconic Woody Guthrie song did the Oklahoma band play at WoodyFest?

The couple met 20 years ago at another long-running Oklahoma music festival, the Oklahoma International Bluegrass Festival in Guthrie.

"At that time, Steve was playing banjo. And he was there with somebody else — and so was I. But that didn't last long," Barker Huhn recalled with a grin.

The couple married in 2005, and four years later, they started Gypsy Twang.

"There have been a lot of ups and downs with the band. We've had a lot of different members come in and out — and he's my rock. He's the one that I can really depend on," said Barker Huhn, who recently joined the new all-woman Tulsa-based Mother Earth String Band and Choir.

Over the past few years, the four-person lineup of Gypsy Twang has gelled. The Red Dirt and classic country band is working on a new album, taking a break from recording at Drapp Studios in Broken Arrow to play WoodyFest.

"To me, Gypsy Twang is like a family band now. I think we're that close," Huhn said.

For their WoodyFest set, Barker Huhn and Williams traded off on lead vocals on several of their original songs, and the frontwoman swapped her guitar for Nielsen's mandolin on "Grit & Twang," the group's tribute to the late Oklahoma Red Dirt songwriter Tom Skinner.

They finished their Bound for Glory stage concert with an emotional rendition of the still-relevant Woody Guthrie ode "Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)." 

"It's a tough song to sing. ... Every time I sing it, I think, 'Things have not changed,'" Barker Huhn said. "Woody Guthrie is so influential across the board for so many reasons, not just his music, but just the feeling that he had for people that are struggling, people that needed a voice. He gave people a voice that couldn't do that for themselves, especially people that are marginalized."

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Woody Guthrie Folk Festival in Okemah brings people together through Sunday