PORTLAND – American folk music icon Arlo Guthrie – son of the legendary poet and songwriter Woody Guthrie and father of the current generation of talented Guthries – headlines “The Guthrie Family Rides Again” concert at Portland’s Merrill  Auditorium at 8 p.m., Friday, Nov. 20.

Arlo Guthrie & Family is presented by Portland Ovations, the 78-year-old non-profit cultural organization formerly known as PCA Great Performances. This family reunion concert will celebrate the classic songs of the American folk tradition, as well as the Arlo Guthrie songbook and the powerful music of Arlo’s father, the iconic folk poet Woody Guthrie, who penned great folk standards such as “This Land Is Your Land,” “Pastures of Plenty,” “Deportee,” and more.

“The spirit of the Guthrie family has been passed down from generation to generation,” Arlo Guthrie said as The Guthrie Family Rides Again tour got under way last month. “The spirit is there in the songs, the humor, the commitment to making the world a better place for everyone.”

In keeping with that spirit, Portland Ovations is collaborating with radio station Big Hits Y-100.9-FM to kick off the station’s annual Thanksgiving “Stuff the Big Bus” food drive at the Guthrie Family concert on Nov. 20. The radio station conducts the food drive for people in need at Thanksgiving time each year and the Arlo Guthrie concert is the opportune time to get the drive under way: one of Arlo’s most famous compositions is, of course, “Alice’s Restaurant,” the beloved antiwar story-song set on a Vietnam War era Thanksgiving in western Massachusetts. Big Hits Y-100 listeners and Arlo Guthrie & Family ticket holders are encouraged to bring a nonperishable food item or cash donation to the Portland Ovations concert on Nov. 20 for distribution to families in need in our community.

The “Guthrie Family Rides Again” concert brings the first family of American folk music together to celebrate the music that inspired three generations of great musicianship, dating back to Guthrie patriarch Woody, a seminal influence on the American folk revival of the 1960s that produced such giants of contemporary music as Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Bruce Springsteen, and, of course, Arlo himself. Joining Arlo on stage for the family reunion performance will be son Abe, daughters Cathy, Annie, and Sarah Lee Guthrie, and Sarah Lee’s husband, acclaimed singer-songwriter Johnny Irion.

Ovations Offstage, the education and community outreach program of Portland Ovations, will offer a free Pre-Performance Lecture prior to the Arlo Guthrie & Family concert on Nov. 20. Tom Ayres, an expert on American folk music and culture, will reflect on the impact of and renewed interest in American folk music forms over the past 50 years. The lecture, entitled “All in the Family: The Guthries and the American Folk Revival,” will take place in the Merrill Auditorium Rehearsal Hall from 6:30 to 7:30 pm. Curtain time for the  concert is 8 pm.

Tickets for Arlo Guthrie & Family are $44, $38, and $32 and are available through PortTix, the box office at Merrill Auditorium; by phone at 842-0800; and on line at www.portlandovations.org.