Dropkick Murphys recently wrapped their acoustic journey with Woody Guthrie to get back to raucous, electric performances, and are now capping that chapter off with a new documentary--This Machine Rising—a movie about working class music. The film chronicles Dropkick Murphys’ journey with the lyrics of Woody Guthrie, including the writing, recording and touring surrounding Dropkick Murphys’ two acoustic albums This Machine Still Kills Fascists and Okemah Rising, which blow the dust off unrecorded lyrics from the Woody Guthrie archive and set them to the new music and melodies of Dropkick Murphys, shining a light on issues of Woody’s day that we still grapple with in modern times.
The film also features closing commentary from Tom Morello and Billy Bragg, two generational artists who have deep relationships with both the work of Woody Guthrie and working class music in general.
This Machine Rising debuts August 30 at Noon ET on the Dropkick Murphys YouTube channel.
At the same time the documentary premieres, the band will release powerful live acoustic reworkings of the classic DKM songs “Citizen C.I.A.” and “Worker's Song.” Both songs were recorded live at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium on November 19, 2022 during the final show of Dropkick Murphys’ 2022’s This Machine... Tour, which consisted of acoustic performances in seated theaters.
“This Machine Rising tells the story of the acoustic songs we wrote around a pile of Woody Guthrie’s unpublished lyrics. These songs get to the core of what the band believes in — and what we’ve always stood for,” explains Dropkick Murphys’ founder Ken Casey.
It’s the story of Dropkick Murphys’ 20+ year journey with the lyrics of Woody Guthrie, focusing on the Tulsa recording sessions for This Machine Still Kills Fascists and Okemah Rising, the subsequent theater tour, and the power that words and music have to unite the working class and promote equity in the world – both then and now.
That journey began with the Dropkick Murphys’ classics “Blackout” and “I’m Shipping Up To Boston” (the latter of which propelled the band to mainstream success), and culminated with the band’s first-ever acoustic albums- -This Machine Still Kills Fascists and Okemah Rising--which both feature original music by Dropkick Murphys written around the poignant lyrics of the legendary Woody Guthrie, curated for the band by Woody's daughter Nora Guthrie.
In early 2022, Nora Guthrie gave Dropkick Murphys access to unpublished lyrics that her father had never set to music. As the band began writing music around Woody’s 70-80 year old lyrics, they were struck by how eerily relevant they were to current day headlines. In an effort to capture Woody’s spirit, the band traveled with trusted collaborator and producer Ted Hutt, to Woody’s home state of Oklahoma to record the 22 songs at the legendary home of the “Tulsa Sound,” The Church Studio. The recordings were released over two critically acclaimed albums: This Machine Still Kills Fascists and Okemah Rising, a homage to Woody’s hometown of Okemah, Oklahoma. The albums interpret the work of Woody Guthrie for a new generation and exposed the band to new audiences through airplay on stations like SiriusXM’s Outlaw Country, coverage in outlets such as Rolling Stone Country, Paste, CNN, Americana Highways and SPIN, and via Dropkick Murphys’ first-ever acoustic, reserved- seating theater tour in 2022.
This Machine Rising features interviews with Dropkick Murphys’ Ken Casey, Tim Brennan, Jeff DaRosa, Matt Kelly, James Lynch and Kevin Rheault, as well as Nora Guthrie, DKM producer Ted Hutt, DKM manager Jeff Castelaz and The Church Studio owner Teresa Knox. The film also features performance highlights from the band’s national acoustic tour, as well as international rock shows, a French television appearance, and the band’s world famous hometown St. Patrick’s Day week shows in Boston.
Quotes from the film:
“What I really appreciate on these albums is that they show us that acoustic instruments are forceful. Everything has become bigger, louder. There’s a beauty in these everyday small simple instruments being able to make such bold statements.” – Nora Guthrie
“Acoustic folk and protest music has always been one huge chunk of the puzzle that makes up Dropkick Murphys. We were trying to find lyrics to hit the same areas that were important to us – social [and] economic injustice, organizing the working class, standing up to fascism or conservative values that we don’t agree with, fighting for the working class people...There are a lot of similarities in the band’s mindset. To read these lyrics that were written in the ‘30s or ‘40s that are so apropos to today, it’s kind of scary and powerful at the same time because it’s so relevant now.” – Ken Casey, Dropkick Murphys
“There’s a certain amount of responsibility handling someone else’s work. I think one of the best things about our relationship with Nora is that she trusts us with the legacy and that’s something we’ve very respectful of and grateful for. We took the material, let it steer us in a different direction, and are making sure to make it ours while preserving the original message. There’s nothing that he [Woody] wanted to say in these songs that we’re removing by any means. We’re just providing a new vehicle to take that message to a different audience.” – James Lynch, Dropkick Murphys
“Dropkick Murphys are known for amping up folk music. We’re always going to do what Dropkick Murphys are known for doing, but to be able to step outside of our musical comfort zone and flesh these songs out in a different way than we had ever tried to do before [made me] incredibly proud of all of us and so excited for everybody to hear it.” - Tim Brennan, Dropkick Murphys
“There’s almost a sense of communion among everybody coming together and singing together in the sweat, the beer, the lights and the noise...there’s a solidarity here. It’s something that you can’t get online. You have to be there. To have that feeling, you have to be in that room. I think we need that as human beings. I’ve seen it at St. Patrick’s night in Boston and it’s mightily impressive.” (speaking about Dropkick Murphys) – Billy Bragg
“Music is a sledgehammer to fight for justice...Music, when done right by people like Woody Guthrie, is like the First Responders to spiritual crisis in people.” (speaking about Woody Guthrie’s lyrics and impact) – Tom Morello
“You’re collaborating with someone who’s seen the world from the perspective of a different time, although it’s uncannily similar to the time that we’re going through right now.” – producer Ted Hutt
The credits for This Machine Rising are as follows:
Executive Producer: Jeff Castelaz Producers: Sean Dore & Dave Stauble Directors: Dave Stauble & Shawn Howard Presented by Dummy Luck Music
Dropkick Murphys return to the road in September and October for a North American fall tour, joined once again by punk legends Pennywise and hotly-tipped Dublin rock band The Scratch. The trek launches September 24 in New York City and wraps October 27 in Amherst, Massachusetts. Tickets are on sale now at www.DropkickMurphys.com.
The band also has a series of upcoming North American festival dates, including: Music 4 Cancer (Sept. 13 in Sainte-Therese, Quebec), Envol et Macadam (Sept. 14 in Quebec City, Quebec), Louder Than Life (Sept. 28 in Louisville, KY) and Aftershock (Oct. 11 in Sacramento, CA). Two days after This Machine Rising debuts, Dropkick Murphys will be the main support for punk icons NOFX's last-ever Boston area show, Punk In Drublic presents NOFX Final Tour Sept. 1 in Brockton, MA – and again on Oct. 4 in Los Angeles, CA to kick off NOFX's final weekend of shows. These shows are followed by an Australian tour in November and European dates in January and February of 2025.
Dropkick Murphys are: Ken Casey (lead vocals), Tim Brennan (guitars, tin whistle, accordion, piano, vocals), Jeff DaRosa (guitars, banjo, mandolin, vocals), Matt Kelly (drums, percussion, and vocals), James Lynch (guitars and vocals), and Kevin Rheault (bass). Joining the band for their live shows is bagpiper and multi- instrumentalist Campbell Webster.
