Our Land: Casii Stephan

Episode One

September 10, 2024

"As I went walking I saw a sign there, And on the sign it said 'No Trespassing.' But on the other side it didn't say nothing. That side was made for you and me."—Woodie Guthrie

Casii Stephan is a Minnesota-born, indiepop-meets-soul-rock singer-songwriter based in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Casii recorded this cover of Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land" at Saint Cecilia's Listening Room in late 2024.

Producer: Mary Anne Andrei
Cinematographer: Kyle Bell (Thlopthlocco Creek Tribal Town)
Consulting Producer: Amira Al-Jiboori
Music Engineer: R. R. Williams

Special thanks to Sandie Stephan (Casii's mom).

Switchyard's "Our Land" video series explores contemporary thoughts and feelings about Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land." Guthrie wrote the song as an alternative American anthem—a reaction, some say a Marxist response, to Irving Berlin’s song “God Bless America,” which emphasized the sentiment that America is “home sweet home.” As Guthrie traveled across the country in the 1940s, he became aware of a stark inequality in land ownership and wealth distribution, and he wanted to write an alternative to Berlin's rosy version of America. Yet, Guthrie never addressed westward expansion and the devastation it wrought on Native peoples and their cultures. "Our Land" seeks to explore these issues and consider how we might address the same inequalities that continue today.