Arlo Guthrie responds to his old man's lyrics about 'old man Trump'

Singer-songwriter Arlo Guthrie will be celebrating 50 years of his breakout album "Alice's Restaurant" with a performance Saturday night at the IP Casino Resort.

Guthrie is the son of American folk singer and activist Woody Guthrie.

In January, some unpublished lyrics from the elder Guthrie's expansive collection of works were discovered. In the lyrics, Woody Guthrie takes aim at his landlord, claiming "old man Trump" was a racist.

The "old man Trump" was Fred Trump, father of GOP presidential frontrunner Donald Trump.

In an email interview with the Sun Herald, Arlo Guthrie, 69, said he quit writing "attack songs" when he was younger and that he doesn't necessarily share his father's opinions.

"These days, I have no problem speaking out against some Trump policy, but I will not judge the character of Fred Trump or his son, Donald," he said. "I'm happy to tell you what I think is right or wrong, but I leave the judgment to a higher authority."

Guthrie said he was given the ability to grow from his experiences in a way that was denied his father, who died at 55 in 1967.

"Maybe the biggest difference between my father and I is that I was able to live a little longer than he did and was able to learn from my experience in ways he could not," he said. "My father didn't have the luxury of living long enough to make that kind of change, regardless of whether he would or would not have."

For the complete interview with Arlo Guthrie, see Friday's Sun Herald Marquee.

This story was originally published February 24, 2016 at 2:54 PM with the headline "Arlo Guthrie responds to his old man's lyrics about 'old man Trump' ."