Best Folk Collaboration in Nashville 2026: Margo Price and Joan Baez, “Deportee”
“Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)” is not one of the songs casual folk fans are likely to know from Woody Guthrie’s catalog. He wrote what became the lyrics as a poem following a horrific accident in 1948: An overcrowded plane, overdue for maintenance, broke up midair on the way to a deportation center, killing all onboard including 28 Mexican farm laborers. It was a short-sighted act laced with racist cruelty that feels too close for comfort to the actions of today’s ICE. Margo Price’s duet on the song with folk hero Joan Baez, backed by Memphis Mariachi, emphasizes the profound sadness that fades to bitter melancholy — the distilled essence of, “Why are we doing this?” — that lingers long after the initial shock of anger.
