Dropkick Murphys are set to bring "Woody Guthrie's words to life" on their upcoming album, This Machine Still Kills Fascists, they've announced today. Ahead of the album's release on September 30 via the band’s Dummy Luck Music / [PIAS], they're sharing the first single from the project, 'Two 6's Upside Down', along with an accompanying music video, on July 6

According the album's description, the collection of 10 songs will bring Guthrie's lyrics – many of which date back to the '40s and '50s – into the present day. However, Dropkick Murphys have ditched their electric guitars, and claim "not a single amplifier was used to animate Woody’s words in these songs."

“The project has been a long time in the making," comments Dropkick Murphys founder Ken Casey. "Nora Guthrie thought her father would’ve got a kick out of us, would’ve liked us, that we were somewhat kindred spirits so to speak, which to us was a huge honour.”

Woody’s daughter Nora has been curating a collection of her father’s never-published lyrics for the band for years.

“I collected lyrics on all kinds of topics… lyrics that seemed to be needed to be said – or screamed – today," she explains. "Ken Casey is a master at understanding Woody’s lyrics, which can be complicated, long, deadly serious, or totally ridiculous. DKM is capable of delivering them all.”

Dropkick Murphys' James Lynch adds: “Nora gave us the privilege of going through the archives and selecting some lyrics to use. The common thread that I see through everything was this love for people and this understanding of the universal truth that there is no one person fundamentally better than another person.”

Ultimately, Dropkick Murphys had so much material based on Woody’s lyrics that they recorded two albums, with Vol. 2 scheduled for release in 2023.

Ken Casey goes on to describe Woody Guthrie as "the original punk."

"He went against the grain, he fought the good fight, he spoke up and sang about his beliefs," he resumes. "I’m motivated by reading what he wrote and am inspired by his courage. One man and a guitar – it’s powerful stuff.”

Dropkick Murphys and their longtime producer Ted Hutt recorded This Machine Still Kills Fascists at The Church Studio in Tulsa – just a few minutes from Woody’s birthplace, and the modern-day Woody Guthrie Center.

Dropkick Murphys play The Telegraph Building in Belfast on January 13, and the 3Arena in Dublin on January 14.

Watch the album trailer, and see the tracklisting, below:

Two 6’s Upside Down
Talking Jukebox
All You Fonies
Never Git Drunk No More (featuring Nikki Lane)
Ten Times More
The Last One (featuring Evan Felker of Turnpike Troubadours)
Cadillac, Cadillac
Waters Are A'risin
Where Trouble Is At
Dig A Hole (featuring Woody Guthrie)

Album artwork: