‘All the Gold in California’: A Hit Song Inspired by a Classic American Novel

Vocalist Larry Gatlin recently revealed how a John Steinbeck story influenced his hit song.

Photographed by Dorothea Lange in 1935, a car full of "Okie" migrants look for work in San Fernando, Calif. Larry Gatlin’s hit song was inspired by John Steinbeck's novel “The Grapes of Wrath,” which chronicles the migration of an Oklahoma family to California during the Dust Bowl. Herbert/Getty Images

In March 2025, country trio The Gatlin Brothers kicked off their 70th-anniversary tour. Just before they hit the road, frontman Larry Gatlin traveled to Nashville, Tennessee, where he made an appearance at The Listening Room music venue. He performed for an audience of professionals in town for the yearly Country Radio Seminar. During the set, he regaled audience members with stories about the inspiration behind his group’s top hits.

One of their signature chart-toppers, “All the Gold in California,” has a unique origin story that can be traced all the way back to Odessa, Texas in 1965. That’s when Larry’s English teacher gave him a copy of the classic John Steinbeck novel “The Grapes of Wrath,” and the story would serve as unexpected inspiration years later.