Teaching in Prisons and More: Andy Teirstein Part 2

“Hi this is Jack Shalom, Last week we began our conversation with composer, professor, performer, activist Andy Teirstein. I had met Andy through our mutual immigration rights work at the NYC immigration courts for the New Sanctuary Coalition. In the process of getting to know him I learned that he had taught music and theater at a couple of upstate prisons. We left off our conversation as Andy was describing what it was like for both him and the men in prison to learn in that setting. So here’s Andy…”

Click on the small triangle or mp3 link above to hear Part two of my interview with Andy Teirstein on the Arts Express radio program broadcast on WBAI FM NYC, WBAI.org and Pacifica affiliates across the nation.

You can find Part One here:

https://jackshalom.net/2026/02/19/of-immigration-court-and-teaching-in-prisons-part-one-andy-teirstein/

Blowin’ Down This Road (I Ain’t Going To Be Treated This Way)

Monday morning, Woody Guthrie lays out his requirements. “Your $2 shoe hurts my feet, Lord, Lord, and I ain’t going to be treated this a-way.”

Click on the image to play

More at Woody Guthrie – Topic

Hard Travelin’

Woody Guthrie, who never had to deal with congestion pricing…

Thanks to YouTuber T.A. Sedlak

Tom Joad: Woody Guthrie

Woody Guthrie’s song version of John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath as sung by Brooklyn’s favorite cowboy, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott. Phil Ochs fans might recognize the melody as the same that Phil used for his own song “Joe Hill,” but Phil was just following tradition since Woody had already stolen the tune from an even earlier song called “John Hardy.”

Thanks to YouTuber mrgildons

Deportees

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Woody Guthrie wrote it over 70 years ago, and Joan Baez sung this version about 30 years later. And it’s still more relevant and haunting than ever.

Thanks to YouTuber Scout4Me1

Railroad Bill

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Woody Guthrie from Oklahoma and Ramblin’ Jack Elliott from Brooklyn sing Monday morning about the legendary bad man Railroad Bill. They’re joined by Sonny Terry on harmonica, who if I’m not mistaken, takes a verse towards the end.

More at  Ramblin’ Jack Elliott – Topic

“Go To Sleep, You Weary Hobo”

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Woody Guthrie’s rendition of Goebbel Reeves’s “Hobo Lullaby,” a song about a heaven where there are no policemen around to harass anyone.

That’s David Carradine playing Woody hopping the boxcars in Hal Ashby’s film, Bound For Glory.

Thanks to YouTuber FreeNeverSaid

Pretty Boy Floyd

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An upbeat take on the Woody Guthrie song, sung by Byrdsman Roger McGuinn on the Marty Stuart Show.

Thanks to YouTuber Justice Through Music Project, Inc.

I’ll Be There

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Monday, Phil looking back at us, singing a song inspired by Steinbeck and Woody Guthrie.

“Wherever they’s a fight so hungry people can eat, I’ll be there. Wherever they’s a cop beatin’ up a guy, I’ll be there. If Casy knowed, why, I’ll be in the way guys yell when they’re mad an’ — I’ll be in the way kids laugh when they’re hungry an’ they know supper’s ready. An’ when our folks eat the stuff they raise an’ live in the houses they build — why, I’ll be there.”–The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck

“Some will rob you with a six-gun,
And some with a fountain pen.”—Pretty Boy Floyd, Woody Guthrie

Thanks to YouTuber HiddenFormula

All You Fascists Bound To Lose

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Woody Guthrie saying what needed to be said.

Click on the video to play.

Thanks to YouTuber UnAmericanBandstand