Singer Arlo Guthrie says wife, Jackie, has died

[the Scribe]

Singer Arlo Guthrie says wife, Jackie, has died
Posted: Oct 16, 2012 6:43 AM MST
Updated: Oct 16, 2012 8:55 AM MST

WASHINGTON, Mass. (AP) - Folk singer Arlo Guthrie has announced the death of his wife, Jackie, at age 68.

Jackie Guthrie had inoperable cancer and died Sunday at the couple's winter home in Sebastian, Fla., according to an obituary released by Arlo Guthrie's record label. The couple had recently celebrated their 43rd wedding anniversary.

In a Facebook posting, Guthrie says his relationship with his wife was "a very great love."

"We didn't always like each other," he wrote. "From time to time there were moments when we'd have our bags packed by the door. But, there was this great love that we shared from the moment we met - a recognition - It's YOU! And we would always return to it year after year, decade after decade and I believe life after lifetime."

Jackie Guthrie was from Salt Lake City and grew up in Malibu, Calif. She met Arlo Guthrie in 1968 while working as a cashier at the Troubadour, the Hollywood nightclub that was an epicenter for folk music at the time. Before they'd even met, Jackie walked into the dressing room and told Arlo's step brother that she would marry Arlo, according to the obituary, released Monday by Guthrie's label, Rising Son Records.

The next year, the couple purchased a 250-acre property called "The Farm" that the family still owns in Washington, in western Massachusetts. They were married on the front lawn in October of that year.

The couple raised four children, and in recent years the family toured together, with Jackie Guthrie working as the videographer. This past summer, the family toured to celebrate the centennial birthday of Arlo's father, folk singer Woody Guthrie, and Jackie became so weak she could barely hold up the camera, according to the obituary. In early September, she was diagnosed with inoperable liver cancer.

On his website, Arlo Guthrie said his wife called her family to her bedside early Sunday and died later that morning.

On his Facebook page, Arlo Guthrie said he's cancelling or postponing some upcoming shows and will begin a planned tour in Canada next week.

Jackie Guthrie is survived by her four children with Arlo Guthrie; her daughter with singer David Crosby; and 10 grandchildren.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

[the Scribe]

With all due respect I must say that David Crosby sure does get around. Never quite understood the appeal he had on women.

Arlo did a great couple of songs on the album he shared with Linda, Tracy Nelson and others..... I Saw The Light. It is another of my favorite albums.

a sampler:

www.allmusic.com/album/i-saw-the-light-with-some-help-from-my-friends-mw0000187032

When Earl Scruggs split with longtime collaborator and fellow Foggy Mountain Boy Lester Flatt in 1969, it was evident who of the pair had the more commercial aspirations. While Flatt remained firmly rooted in the bluegrass tradition, Scruggs, much like similar-minded artists such as the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Johnny Darrell, and the Dillards, sought to bridge the gap between pop, folk, and the old-timey sounds of yesteryear. I Saw the Light With Some Help from My Friends may sound like it was culled from the buckle of the "Bible Belt" (there are indeed a few spirituals), but the "friends" referenced in the title are merely saviors of the late-'60s/early-'70s country-folk movement. Scruggs gathered both family -- sons Gary, Randy, and Steve -- and contemporaries like Linda Ronstadt, Arlo Guthrie, Vassar Clements, Tracy Nelson, Norman Blake, and the aforementioned Dirt Band, to flesh out an album of covers both sublime (Merle Haggard's "Silver Wings") and surprising (Monkee Michael Nesmith's "Some of Shelley's Blues"). The musicianship is top-notch and the vocals, especially Ronstadt and Nelson -- Arlo Guthrie will always be an acquired taste for some -- are warm and soulful, resulting in one of the more lucid and enjoyable examples of the crossover genre. [In 2005, Columbia/Legacy reissued the record with extensive liner notes and three bonus tracks: "Fireball Mail," "Tramp on the Street," and "The Cure."]