American folk music has produced few artists as gifted and complex as Woody Guthrie. As a songwriter, storyteller, and provocateur, Guthrie had few equals. Born in Oklahoma in 1912, he became a wandering troubadour in his teens, and during the 1930s and 1940s, he amassed a huge body of songs about the social injustices he observed. His genius lay in his gift for seamlessly integrating his leftist political principles into simple, catchy songs for and about common folks. Guthrie was a tireless crusader for political causes from unions to migrant workers. His Dust Bowl troubadour sound influenced everyone from Bob Dylan to Pete Seeger.