Arlo Guthrie: The living memory of an era

Some time in the past decade, Arlo Guthrie, who plays Monday outside the Fine Arts Center, grew into a giant.

He’s long been a good folk singer and engaging storyteller. His rambling Vietnam protest song “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree,” is a classic that’s still played at Thanksgiving on dozens of radio stations, including KRCC (91.5 FM).

His cover of Steve Goodman’s “City of New Orleans” remains the definitive ode to the locomotive. A few of his other songs, including “The Motorcycle Song,” “Deportee” and “Coming into Los Angeles” (that last of which he sang at Woodstock), pop up on oldies stations from time to time.

I saw Guthrie, 63, in concert in the late ’70s. Fun show.

But when I saw him a few years ago at Folks Fest in Lyons and then more recently at Colorado College, the man was different. He’d blossomed into something much bigger than a folk singer.

He’d become the living memory of an era, the grandfather of the folk movement.

That fact was driven home to me a couple of weeks ago when I caught Bob Dylan in Deer Valley, Utah. Dylan, although still writing and recording great songs, had no presence in concert. His songs, even iconic ones like “Just Like a Woman” and “Tangled Up in Blue,” all sounded alike, with heavy blues backbeats and indecipherable Dylan mumbles.

And he seemed to have gotten smaller.

Guthrie, on the other hand, not only does his songs with more passion and expression than ever, he also does Dylan better than Dylan does.

Meanwhile, he has embraced his father’s legacy, and often throws in covers of Woody Guthrie tunes. My favorite is “This Land Is Your Land,” and Arlo includes a verse that’s often omitted when the song plays on the radio:

“As I was walkin’ I saw a sign there

And that sign said ‘no tresspassin’ ’

But on the other side ... it didn’t say nothin!

Now, that side was made for you and me!”

By honoring his father’s era as well as the folk movement that followed, Arlo has grown into a legend almost on par with his father.

Michael Maddox, owner of Asylum Moon public relations agency, concert promoter, author of “Peace Freak” and aging hippie, has been obsessed with bringing to the area legends from the folk movement, and he’s the one who sold the Fine Arts Center board on the Guthrie concert.

“I’ve always thought that Arlo has never really gotten his due, perhaps because of following in the giant footsteps of his legendary father,” Maddox said.

Pueblo’s harmonious, old-timey Haunted Windchimes will open the show.

Arlo Guthrie, with Haunted Windchimes

When: 7 p.m. Monday. Gates open at 6.

Where: Monument Valley Park, outside the Fine Arts Center, 30 W. Dale St.

Tickets: $32; csfineartscenter.org or 634-5583