Sarah Lee keeps Guthrie musical tradition going

By: JIM TRAGESER - Staff Writer | Wednesday, February 6, 2008 1:18 PM PST ∞

When you grow up with the last name of Guthrie, when your granddaddy was Woody and your daddy is Arlo ---- well, maybe it's just expected you're going to take up music as your life's work.

But as Sarah Lee Guthrie explained in a recent interview, it was the fact that she was never pressured to take up music that led her to adopting it as her career.

Guthrie, who is appearing with her husband and musical partner, Johnny Irion, at the Belly Up Tavern on Feb. 12, said her parents supported her and her siblings (she's the youngest of four) in whatever they wanted to pursue.

"It wasn't really a pressure either way," she said by phone from their home in western Massachusetts last week. "The expectations weren't even there, and that's probably why we came around to it."

If anything, she said her parents would have preferred a career in law or medicine for their children.

At the same time, when the Guthrie kids did show an interest in music, "Dad was great about giving us an opportunity to join them onstage," she said.

And when she found the music bug had bitten her but good, she said the background of being raised in a musical family paid huge dividends.

"It's not always easy, because you've got the travel and all the business; there's a lot that goes into it. We're definitely suited to do it ---- growing up, you learn to do it."

For Irion, marrying into the rich heritage of the Guthrie clan was happy happenstance that came along with finding the woman of his dreams. He said that when he first met Sarah Lee, all he knew about her was that she was pretty cute and he wanted to spend more time with her.

Their first meeting was at a bluegrass show shortly after Irion had moved to Los Angeles.

"When I met her, we just met on a good level playing field. I didn't know who she was, she didn't know anything about me. We just started hanging out. She was looking for something, and I was on a musical odyssey.

"We went out and played pool, but then we'd go back and play guitars. She'd pull out her lyrics of stuff she'd been working on, and I'd kind of pick along and play."

While they were hanging out and playing, Irion said he taught her to improve her guitar playing, teaching her some chords and how to use a capo. "A couple days after that, she left because her parents had heard she'd learned to play guitar and said, 'Why don't you come out on tour?' "

Irion said he couldn't believe this new friend he'd found was leaving so soon but that they stayed in touch and reconnected when they could.

That they perform as a duo playing folk-based acoustic music was no sure thing, either. Irion was a founding member of Queen Sarah Saturday, an alternative-rock band out of South Carolina.

But he said he was always exploring new music and was learning about the blues when he met Sarah Lee.

"I kind of came to folk in a roundabout way; I knew more Sonic Youth records than I did Woody Guthrie in '91. But I was listening to Robert Johnson and getting into the blues of Lightnin' Hopkins, then the Louvin Brothers. When I heard that stuff, I fell wholeheartedly in love with it ---- fell in love with it at the right time. Sometimes with music, you might not get it the first time if you're not ready for it."

Guthrie and Irion are touring in support of their most recent release, a 2005 live set. But Irion said they're busy at work on a studio record, which they hope to have out later this year.

Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion, with Gregory Page

When: 8 p.m. Feb. 12

Where: Belly Up Tavern, 143 S. Cedros Ave., Solana Beach

Tickets: $13-$15

Info: (858) 481-8140 or bellyup.com

Web: sarahleeandjohnny.com

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