Okemah, OK

Okemah is the Okfuskee County seat and the birthplace of Woody Guthrie, but its story begins with a much older Indigenous map. The city takes its name from a Kickapoo chief, while Thlopthlocco Tribal Town, a federally recognized Muscogee tribal town, is headquartered here. Guthrie was born in Okemah in 1912; since 1998, the Woody Guthrie Folk Festival has brought musicians and listeners back around his July 14 birthday. The bronze Guthrie statue on Broadway gives downtown its familiar marker. Okemah is an Oklahoma county-seat town where Kickapoo, Muscogee, and Dust Bowl music history meet.