William Murlin

William Murlin is editor of Woody Guthrie, Roll on Columbia, The Columbia River Collection, the only collection of all twenty-six songs Guthrie wrote while working in the Pacific Northwest in May 1941. While employed at the Bonneville Power Administration, he also collected seventeen of the Columbia River songs that Guthrie recorded in Portland and elsewhere (Rounder Records, 1987). Prior to his BPA years, Murlin was a Portland radio and television news broadcaster. He gained his interest in Woody Guthrie as part of a college folk music group, The Wanderers, who celebrate fifty years of continuous performing in September 2009.

Author's Entries

  • Woody Guthrie and the Columbia River

    It is sometimes hard to believe that one month in the life of a twenty-eight-year-old Oklahoma-born folk singer could have a lasting impact on an entire geographic region, but such is the case with Woody Guthrie in the Pacific Northwest. Guthrie was one of the country’s most prolific songwriters, whose …

    Oregon Encyclopedia