New Multitudes: New Songs with Lyrics by Woody Guthrie

"Jay Farrar ... and his collaborators — My Morning Jacket’s Jim James (in Yim Yames persona), Centro-matic’s Will Johnson and Anders Parker, who has worked with Farrar before in Gob Iron — gravitated toward songs Guthrie wrote while living in California in the 1930s. ... Each singer takes the lead on three tracks, lending shades of stylistic variation: Farrar dabbles in the Eastern-flavored drones he’s been fond of in recent years on the title track, Yames swathes his voice in his customary reverb for a dreamy sound on 'My Revolutionary Mind,' Johnson dials in the crumbly guitar sound familiar to Centro-matic fans and sings in his tousled, rasping voice on the wry 'VD City,' while Parker surveys Depression-era Los Angeles in his mellow voice on the big-sky rocker 'Old L.A.' ... The album is part of a commemoration of the 100th anniversary of Guthrie’s birth, and these songs — less political-minded than socially attentive — show the singer’s words remain timeless, nearly 45 years after his death" (Eric R. Danton, "Album Review," Sound Check, 2/28/12).

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