Guthrie on grass

I remember first hearing “basement” tapes featuring Arlo Guthrie on the Pacifica FM station in New York City back in the ‘60s [“A Storied Tradition,” June 11]. Then I caught him singing and playing guitar out on the grass at the Newport Folk Festival. He was a hit.

I introduced myself backstage one afternoon and he asked if I thought he could make it (I was an editor of Billboard magazine at the time) and I told him he could start counting his money. “Alice’s Restaurant” was soon on Warner Bros. Records and, well, you know the rest of the story.

CLAUDE HALL

Los Angeles