Prepare to hear a lot about Woody Guthrie

This year is the centennial of the birth of Woodrow Wilson Guthrie. On April 14 at USC, the Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West and the Grammy Museum are putting on a free day-long conference on Guthrie's rise to fame in Depression-era Los Angeles. "Presentations will discuss such topics as Guthrie’s influences, the power of radio in 1930s Los Angeles, Guthrie’s ties to John Steinbeck and the Joads, as well as the contemporary resonance of Guthrie in folk music and folk migration across borders and boundaries in North America," the organizers say. There will of course be music. Info

That night there will be a concert of Guthrie's music at Club Nokia with performers to include Jackson Browne, David Crosby, Graham Nash, John Doe, Richie Furay, Sarah Lee Guthrie and Kris Kristofferson. Tickets go on sale Saturday morning via Ticketmaster.