Nora Guthrie

Nora Lee Guthrie, the third child of folksinger <a href="spotify:artist:4rAgFKtlTr66ic18YZZyF1">Woody Guthrie</a> and Martha Graham dancer Marjorie Mazia, was born in 1950 in Brooklyn, NY. Like her older brother <a href="spotify:artist:0B6QEFtRnneEzb4iqjI0Nw">Arlo</a>, Nora entered the music business in 1967, the same year as their father's death. But unlike <a href="spotify:artist:0B6QEFtRnneEzb4iqjI0Nw">Arlo</a>, who found immediate success with his longhaired classic "Alice's Restaurant Massacree," Nora's output was limited to a single 7" recorded with her then-boyfriend, Eric Eisner. Guthrie was only two when her father left their family's home in Coney Island, his health deteriorating. Attending left-wing summer camps with other so-called red diaper babies, as well as the progressive Elisabeth Irwin High School in Manhattan's Greenwich Village, Guthrie was situated in the midst of the city's burgeoning folk-rock scene. Boyfriend Eisner played drums in a local band called the Strangers, who shared management with Village sensations <a href="spotify:artist:7CCn4PFRRRZF127jtCBAUe">the Lovin' Spoonful</a>. Guthrie and Eisner were regulars at the Night Owl, where <a href="spotify:artist:7CCn4PFRRRZF127jtCBAUe">the Spoonful</a> played every night.

Guthrie and Eisner, who played guitar and wrote songs, became infatuated with Brazilian songwriter <a href="spotify:artist:77ZUbcdoU5KCPHNUl8bgQy">João Gilberto</a> and his wife, <a href="spotify:artist:5rX2c1zow6hCph8PnnU3kF">Astrud</a>. Encouraging Guthrie to sing, Eisner wrote a peculiar narrative song with vague bossa nova overtones titled "Emily's Illness," sung from the perspective of a teenage girl dying of a mysterious ailment. In the fall of 1967, with Guthrie singing, the two recorded the song, along with a studio band arranged by Artie Schroeck, another <a href="spotify:artist:7CCn4PFRRRZF127jtCBAUe">Spoonful</a>-affiliated associate. The single was backed with another original, the string-abetted "Home Before Dark." Released in November by <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Mercury+Records%22">Mercury Records</a>, the single sold poorly and received moderate airplay in San Francisco. Guthrie and Eisner demurred from recording the contracted follow-up. The pair split in the early '70s when Eisner moved to Los Angeles to become a music executive. Guthrie spent nearly two decades as a dancer, before retiring to administer her father's estate. In 1998, she oversaw the conception and production of two volumes of Mermaid Avenue, in which British folksinger <a href="spotify:artist:5yXAFDZNUNyO92l5WTImkO">Billy Bragg</a> and American rock band <a href="spotify:artist:2QoU3awHVdcHS8LrZEKvSM">Wilco</a> set unused <a href="spotify:artist:4rAgFKtlTr66ic18YZZyF1">Woody</a> lyrics to new music. In 2008, Guthrie earned a Grammy for her role in the production of a live <a href="spotify:artist:4rAgFKtlTr66ic18YZZyF1">Woody Guthrie</a> album, recorded in 1949, titled The Live Wire. The Japanese <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22EM%22">EM</a> label reissued "Emily's Illness" on vinyl in 2009. ~ Jesse Jarnow, Rovi