
Woodyfest 2014: 1st-Place Songwriting Contest Winner Lori Holyfield
Lori Holyfield
Lori Holyfield at the Pastures of Plenty
As in years past, Woodyfest 14 showcased three [Sidenote: This is the third post in our coverage of the seventeenth annual Woody Guthrie Folk Festival. We’ll be alternating our reporting with essays and photo galleries from the twenty-second festival in 2019, so check in often for a mix of old and new Woodyfest goodness.] songwriting contest winners. Thursday evening at the Pastures of Plenty Stage kicked off with Dr. Lori Holyfield performing “Ode to Guy Clark,” which took 1st place, and “Best Friend,” which garnered honorable mention.
Holyfield was accompanied by Steve Fisher (mandolin), John Williams, (harmonica), and the festival house band, the Oklahoma Geniuses. The band comprised Terry “Buffalo” Ware (guitar), Don Morris (bass), T. Z. Wright (accordion), and Michael McCarty (drums).
Holyfield is the author of Moving Up and Out: Poverty, Education & the Single Parent Family and the founder of the Arkansas Single Parent Scholarship Fund (ASPSF). As a high school dropout and single parent who went on to earn her Ph. D. in Sociology, [Sidenote: Holyfield earned her doctorate from the University of Georgia. She has served as a professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice at the University of Arkansas since 1995. ] Holyfield wrote the book to share the stories of ASPSF scholarship recipients working their way from poverty while guiding communities setting up similar scholarship funds.
Gallery
Gallery














