POP MUSIC REVIEW : Arlo Guthrie’s Endearing Digressions

“I’m still not proud . . . or tired,” said the now white-haired Arlo Guthrie early in his show at the Universal Amphitheatre on Wednesday, citing his old promise (or threat?) from “Alice’s Restaurant” and setting the tone for a friendly, funny and at times insightful evening’s entertainment. You’ve heard of progressive rock? Guthrie is the master of digressive folk.

While he didn’t do his most famous digression, “Alice’s Restaurant,” Guthrie tapped the spirit of that hippie-rebel shaggy-dog story throughout the evening. He delighted the small crowd of loyalists each time he told his band--which included his son on keyboards and three daughters on background vocals--to hold it as he launched into some witty, mid-song observation or tall tale. After 26 years, it’s become one of folk’s most enduring and endearing rituals.

What makes it work is that Guthrie, while adding his own skewed perspective, also taps the spirit of his musical mentors: Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan and, most importantly, his father, Woody Guthrie.

He even followed his own Woodstock-era pot-smuggling adventure “Coming Into Los Angeles” with his dad’s Depression-era outlaw ballad “Pretty Boy Floyd” and never seemed too much like a relic. And capping it off was an encore in which Woody Guthrie’s son and grandkids led the audience in “This Land Is Your Land,” a tireless song of pride.