Love in the Berkshires: Arlo Guthrie celebrates Thanksgiving in Washington with his ‘bride-to-be’ – Berkshire Eagle

WASHINGTON Retired folk singer-songwriter Arlo Guthrie is getting married again, but not before he celebrates a quiet Thanksgiving in the Berkshires.

Arlo Guthrie and longtime girlfriend Marti Ladd plan to marry in Florida.

He announced on Facebook that he would be spending the holiday at his home in Washington with only his "bride-to-be," his longtime girlfriend, Marti Ladd.

"Its not every year I get married," he wrote. "So this year instead of getting together with large groups of family and friends, my bride-to-be and I are going to celebrate Thanksgiving alone at a candlelight dinner to be thankful for each other. I wish everyone a joyful holiday however youre able to celebrate."

In October, Guthrie told a local newspaper in Sebastian, Fla., that he would marry Ladd. He said he had been with her for almost a decade, a relationship that blossomed after the death of his first wife, Jackie Guthrie.

We first met about 20 years ago when I went to Woodstock, New York with my wife Jackie to do a film," Guthrie told Sebastian Daily. "We were put up at The Wild Rose Inn. Marti Ladd was the owner/operator. Our friendship developed into a relationship after Jackie passed away in 2012. In September 2016, Marti sold the Inn and moved in with me in my home in Sebastian."

Guthrie has taken refuge at his Washington home throughout the coronavirus pandemic, according to Sebastian Daily, but he plans to get married in Florida.

Not familiar with Arlo Guthrie? Here's what you need to know about the Berkshires homeowner.

Guthrie is a political activist and folk singer-songwriter from Brooklyn. He's best known for "Alice's Restaurant Massacree", a satirical talking blues song from 1967. In the protest song, Guthrie describes his own arrest and conviction for dumping trash illegally during Thanksgiving break a conviction that later got him out of the draft for the Vietnam War.

The song, which is more than 18 minutes long, propelled Guthrie's career, and he went on to play at venues such as Carnegie Hall and the Woodstock Festival. Throughout his time touring, Guthrie played with numerous musicians, from Pete Seeger to Emmylou Harris to Willie Nelson. In 2020, he announced his retirement from touring.

"Alice's Restaurant" became a popular counterculture song. Guthrie himself endorsed resisting the draft, though he would later describe the song not as anti-war so much as anti-stupidity.

In his early years of performing, his political positions were largely anti-war, anti-Nixon and pro-drugs. He then registered Republican in 2008 and supported Rep. Ron Paul of Texas for the 2008 Republican Party nomination.

During the 2016 election he identified himself as an independent. Later on in the Trump presidency he declared he was "not a Republican" and said he disagreed with Trump policies, especially on immigration.

"I left the party years ago and do not identify myself with either party these days," he wrote to Urban Milwaukee in 2018. "I strongly urge my fellow Americans to stop the current trend of guilt by association, and look beyond the party names and affiliations, and work for candidates whose policies are more closely aligned with their own, whatever they may be.

See the original post:
Love in the Berkshires: Arlo Guthrie celebrates Thanksgiving in Washington with his 'bride-to-be' - Berkshire Eagle