He seemed like a hearty oak that could never be felled, the one person who might avoid the fate of all people, but it is twelve years today since the titan of folk Pete Seeger died. In his 94 years, he played with just about every significant figure in the American folk movement – at 21, he was in a band with Woody Guthrie and Cisco Houston; he was a mentor to Dylan, an encourager of Tom Paxton. He performed with Baez, the guests he had on his TV show Rainbow Quest are too long to repeat, but we’re talking Roscoe Holcomb, Judy Collins, Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee. His politics got him black listed, but the Smothers Brothers brought him back to network TV in the late 60’s. He never turned his back on protest and support for civil rights and unionised labour, and was still performing in 2013 when he appeared at Farm Aid. You can read more about Pete in biographies and books of criticism, but one important thing is just to recall 52 studio albums and 26 live albums, alongside singles, appearances on people’s albums, and inspiring so many others.
So here’s a few songs from Pete, some by Pete himself, some from the “tradition”, and some by other people – getting picked up by the hip young gunslingers of the folk (and folk-rock) movement saw Pete Seeger’s songs hit the charts hard, and there’s no shortage of latter-day appreciators of the man and his music.
