Few musical compositions have so successfully tapped into that elusive formula of the enduring human spirit that is the recipe for timeless songwriting with the power to resonate across generations as Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land”.

With an unflinching commitment to his particular woke brand of socially conscious folk music — and with an uncanny instinct for optimizing music’s transformative capacity to expose injustice, inspire resistance, and serve as a driver for meaningful social/political change — NYC-based singer-songwriter and folkie poet Steven Keene reincarnates Guthrie’s most iconic protest original to deliver an anti-authoritarian anthem for a global age with his latest single “This World Is Your World”. Having received the official blessing of the Woody Guthrie Estate to publish the track, Keene has achieved something very few artists have: a rare co-writing credit with the folk legend Woody Guthrie himself.

Originally written in 1940 by iconic American folk singer Woody Guthrie as a critical response to the archaic sense of nationalism and “manifest destiny” expressed in Irving Berlin's "God Bless America," “This Land is Your Land” has since been covered by a myriad of notable artists over the years and has been adapted for political relevance in scores of other countries. Yet, in Keene’s hands, the song feels oddly relevant and at home in the particular chaos of the present. Expressed through the unique, spectral lens of a post-Covid society teetering on the brink of global conflict, the original song’s call for unity, empathy, and a renewed recognition of our common humanity across traditional lines of division is brought to universal bloom in the context of an unprecedentedly globalized world.

Says Keene, “As one of the first, if not the first true Americana protest song, “This Land Is Your Land” has really become not just a landmark folk song for America, but a folk song for the world. It’s a song that has significance everywhere, in every country, on every continent.  Woody wrote one of those perfect songs that just will resonate forever. But the world is more of a powder keg now than it's ever been. Very scary times. So that kind of music is super important in this global moment for  facilitating inspiring people towards a unified movement against war.”

“This World Is Your World” is Keene’s first single to drop so far this year following the 2023 release of his most recent album Woke, which pays homage to some of the artist’s major creative influences while chronicling the evolution of his own sound as he continues to explore musical and lyrical motifs around love, loss, social responsibility, and political resistance.