banjobeat63 - Posted - 01/30/2014:  02:43:52

A great man passed away!!! R.I.P Pete!

David Cunningham - Posted - 01/30/2014:  03:26:37

Off to the great hootenanny in the sky.  Thanks Pete.  If you hadn't been who you are, I may never have gotten a banjo.  I decided I wanted to play banjo one day while listening to a Chad Mitchell Trio CD that  listened to just about daily at the time.  I'd doubt their ever would have been a Chad Mitchell Trio or many other groups like them if it hadn't been for the influence of Pete.

TTreppa - Posted - 01/30/2014:  05:29:07

Pete's music goes back in memory to the 1940's when he played with the Weavers. As a youngster it was very fascinating and inspiring. We'll never know of the small groups of people that he played for and inspired. We only hear about the big events. It was in the small colleges, churches, union halls, etc. where he had his greatest impact. Thank you Pete. R.I.P.

Terry Treppa

robbif - Posted - 01/30/2014:  05:55:25

From Fretboard Journal: Pete Seeger's Last Letter

janolov - Posted - 01/30/2014:  05:59:04

Pete meant a lot to me. I bought his red book in 1966 when I bought my banjo. I also bought a lot of his records, for example the American Favorite Ballads (all of them I think). 

I also noticed he was controversial. I wrote to an organization that was mentioned in his book, and in their reply they called him "that damned communist folk singer...", (that was in 1967 I think)  but I continued to listen to him and enjoy his records.

Edited by - janolov on 01/30/2014 06:10:35

guywolff - Posted - 01/30/2014:  06:14:52

Long Live "Home MAde Music".... That was always one of Pete's banners.. I was lucky enough to grow up a town away from his father and older brother . John his oldest brother was one of the most cheerful men I have ever met . As a family they all wanted to help make the world a better place .It was a responsibility and a life's drive but driven by humility and above all humor . At one concert I was playing with a fiddler as I came off stage and sat next to him , John said "Cant you get those guys( the musicians ) to smile ".. I hope Pete and Mike are having a tune right now and a laugh ..

truebanjoplayer95 - Posted - 01/30/2014:  06:50:31

I have a record of folk songs sung by the late Bill Crofut, who played the banjo in the style that Pete Seeger taught him. The songs -some by Pete- plus the other ones on this record, are great.

Happy banjo pickin' in heaven, Pete!



 

Edited by - truebanjoplayer95 on 01/30/2014 06:51:06

Joe Connor - Posted - 01/30/2014:  06:57:51

Read over all the posts here. That is all you need to know: that one man has so greatly and positively affected so many people, from so many different backgrounds, in so many different ways. That is the most fitting epitaph for Pete.

I was lucky enough to have seen Pete perform about a dozen times. It was just amazing to see this tall skinny guy with only a banjo (well, with a 12-string guitar, too) walk out onto the state and just absolutely take it over. Without minutes, he'd have the audience singing along and having a helluva good time. Was it possible to leave a Pete Seeger concert in anything but a joyous mood?

Pete was one of those rare people of firm principle who was not holier than thou. There is an old saying often attributed to St. Francis: "Preach the gospel always. If necessary, use words." It means to let the way you live your life deliver your message. That is exactly what Pete did. The way he lived his life was as powerful a testament to his beliefs as the words to his songs.

twelvefret - Posted - 01/30/2014:  07:01:29

I agree, rest in peace, but any tribute to anyone needs to be balanced. He did use "art as a weapon" and as Bill Clinton said, he was a " an inconvenient artist who dared to sing things as he saw them". Of course, that does not mean that he was correct, just that he was opinionated and vocal. We don't need to agree with a person to appreciate them for their contributions to the many who have found his music and contributions very personal.

In looking at several news reports, I found this quote, which helps me to appreciate him more as a man who can alter his thinking if the way he saw things and subsequent actions were not appropriate.

“I apologize for once believing Stalin was just a hard driver, not a supremely cruel dictator,”  “I ask people to broaden their definition of socialism. Our ancestors were all socialists: You killed a deer and maybe you got the best cut, but you wouldn’t let it rot, you shared it. Similarly, I tell socialists, every society has a post office and none of them is efficient. No post office anywhere invented Federal Express.”

His use of the term "hard driver" admittedly gave me pause. Who hasn't worked for a hard driver and had their lives adversely affected? I am sure is not advocating that kind of leadership. It was also nice to hear him understand that capitalism and personal ownership (FedX) share the road with government (USPS). As to letting things rot, governments more than people are responsible for things going to waste. Surely we do not need to argue that point. Most people are decent and share what they have with others.

Gareth Banjoland - Posted - 01/30/2014:  07:14:09

A true legendary wonderful person, his was my first banjo book.
Thanks Pete.

John Firth-Smith - Posted - 01/30/2014:  07:23:05

PS --- what a MAN -- Pete came to Sydney Australia in 1963 and I went to all the concerts he did . Nobody here had ever heard  of a 12 stringed guitar or heard one played like he did and the Profit Mountain banjo and his long neck Vega = WOW, singing and chopping wood as well with chips flying out into the audience.he also sang a Dylan song Hard rains are gona fall -- like nothing you had ever heard before long before the first Dylan records turned up here

After one concert at a university campus I sought him out backstage and told him I had a banjo (an old SS Stewart Universal Favorite ) and asked him how I could learn to play like him -- he took my name and address and about a year later after his return to the USA after his World trip he posted me a copy of his red book with a note to say -- work on it !

I still have the book. and still play the banjo -- Pete Seeger was a  part of my lifes learning curve,he was a inspiration ,a concerned,honest ,generous, passionate person and a great music man who brought joy to millions of people

Bumb-dity  Pete Seeger  ------   THANKS

tildensnow - Posted - 01/30/2014:  07:25:15

There will always be trolls...


thedailybeast.com/articles/201...ird0.html

Kstevensmd - Posted - 01/30/2014:  08:53:14

I attended the Bela Fleck and the Brooklyn Rider concert last PM in Worcester, MA.  He dedicated the show and the tour to the memory of Pete Seeger played a wonderful medley of some of his songs.  It was wonderful.  Pete was a true pioneer for my generation of Americans.

mbirdmusic@aol.com - Posted - 01/30/2014:  10:15:50

Hi Ken, saw you there but didn't get to say hi! Great show and a great dedication to Pete Seeger. Pete will be missed for a long time by many. G

Raulin - Posted - 01/30/2014:  10:37:53

I play the upright in a trio and we cover a few of his songs. Our singer/guitar player/long-neck banjoist Manolo Garrido might be his truer fan ever here in Spain.
In the 70s Manolo had a radio show and he exchanged letters with Pete. He is devastated, and so are we the rest of the trio.

Since 2009 we have been celebrating Pete Seeger's birthday at the beginnings of May with a Hootenanny in one of the parks of our city (Seville, Spain). You can see some pics on my profile here on banjohangout. This year we're celebrating his birthday again and I hope we can continue celebrating for many years.

This is something I found on facebook about Pete's visit to Spain in the 70s:

"In the 1970s, Pete Seeger was invited to sing in Barcelona, Spain. Francisco Franco's fascist government, the last of the dictatorships that started World War II, was still in power but declining. A pro-democracy movement was gaining strength and to prove it, they invited America's best-known freedom singer to Spain. More that a hundred thousand people were in the stadium, where rock bands had played all day. But the crowd had come for Seeger.
As Pete prepared to go on, government officials handed him a list of songs he was not allowed to sing. Pete studied it mournfully, saying it looked an awful lot like his set list. But they insisted: he must not sing any of these songs.
Pete took the government's list of banned songs and strolled on stage. He held up the paper and said, “I've been told that I'm not allowed to sing these songs.” He grinned at the crowd and said, “So I'll just play the chords; maybe you know the words. They didn't say anything about *you* singing them.”
He strummed his banjo to one song after another, and they all sang. A hundred thousand defiant freedom singers breaking the law with Pete Seeger, filling the stadium with words their government did not want them to hear, words they all knew and had sung together, in secret circles, for years. What could the government do? Arrest a hundred thousand singers? It had been beaten by a few banjo chords and the fame of a man whose songs were on the lips of the whole world."

- Scott Alarik, Revival (via Arjuna Greist) (via Dayna Kurtz)

Spanish Translation:

"En los 70 invitaron a Pete Seeger a cantar en Barcelona, España. El gobierno fascista de Francisco Franco, la última dictadura de las que iniciaron la 2ª Guerra Mundial, aún detentaba el poder, pero estaba en declive. Estaba cobrando fuerza un movimiento en favor de la democracia, y para demostrarlo invitaron a España al cantante americano de la libertad más conocido. Había más de 100.000 personas en el estadio, donde habían estado tocando bandas de rock durante todo el día. Pero la multitud había venido por Seeger. Cuando Pete se preparaba para continuar, algunos agentes del gobierno le entregaron una lista de canciones que no estaba autorizado a cantar. Pete la estudió con tristeza, diciendo que se parecía muchísimo a su repertorio. Pero insistieron: no debía cantar ninguna de esas canciones. Pete cogió la lista de canciones prohibidas por el gobierno y caminó al escenario. Levantó el papel y dijo: "me han dicho que no se me permite cantar estas canciones". Sonrió a la multitud y dijo: "así que solo voy a tocar los acordes; quizás sepáis la letra. No han dicho nada sobre que las cantéis VOSOTROS". Tocó en su banjo una canción tras otra y todos cantaron. 100.000 cantantes de la libertad desafiantes rompiendo la ley con Pete Seeger, llenando el estado con las letras que su gobierno no quería que oyeran, letras que todos conocían y habían cantado juntos en asociaciones secretas durante años. ¿Qué podía hacer el gobierno? ¿Arrestar a 100.000 cantantes? Había sido derrotado por unos cuantos acordes de banjo y la fama de un hombre cuyas canciones estaban en los labios de todo el mundo"- Scott Alarik, Revival.

KidfromDeliverance - Posted - 01/30/2014:  12:34:15

quote:

---

“I apologize for once believing Stalin was just a hard driver, not a supremely cruel dictator,”  “I ask people to broaden their definition of socialism. Our ancestors were all socialists: You killed a deer and maybe you got the best cut, but you wouldn’t let it rot, you shared it. Similarly, I tell socialists, every society has a post office and none of them is efficient. No post office anywhere invented Federal Express.”

His use of the term "hard driver" admittedly gave me pause. Who hasn't worked for a hard driver and had their lives adversely affected? I am sure is not advocating that kind of leadership. It was also nice to hear him understand that capitalism and personal ownership (FedX) share the road with government (USPS). As to letting things rot, governments more than people are responsible for things going to waste. Surely we do not need to argue that point. Most people are decent and share what they have with others.

---

Sorry, but we certainly can argue this point.  i think you may be missing the point of the quote, assuming it is accurate.  The speaker is apologizing for having once thought a certain way about a certain individual - it isn't necessary to point out how he was wrong there, he already knows.  It's nice to believe that most people share with others, but that tendency seems to break down when a few individual piles get really big,doesn't it?  Then suddenly it's the poor people who are the problem.  I think Pete was on to that.

Cryo - Posted - 01/30/2014:  12:51:15

Our local jam group will be having a tribute jam in honor of Mr. Seeger and for Woodie's 100th next Tuesday.

Directions and Details here:

reverbnation.com/kentlandsacou..._icon_nav

Be sure to bring your long neck banjo!

Kentlands Acoustic Jam

mainejohn - Posted - 01/30/2014:  13:11:33

quote:

---

Originally posted by Cryo

Our local jam group will be having a tribute jam in honor of Mr. Seeger and for Woodie's 100th next Tuesday.

Directions and Details here:

reverbnation.com/kentlandsacou..._icon_nav

Be sure to bring your long neck banjo!

Kentlands Acoustic Jam

Wow! I'm driving to FL next week and may be passing thru about that time. Thanks for the heads up!

Cryo - Posted - 01/30/2014:  13:19:02

Hope to see you there!   Look for me with my open back long neck.

quote:

---

Originally posted by mainejohn

quote:

---

Originally posted by Cryo

Our local jam group will be having a tribute jam in honor of Mr. Seeger and for Woodie's 100th next Tuesday.

Directions and Details here:

reverbnation.com/kentlandsacou..._icon_nav

Be sure to bring your long neck banjo!

Kentlands Acoustic Jam

Wow! I'm driving to FL next week and may be passing thru about that time. Thanks for the heads up!

---

 

---

kipperr - Posted - 01/30/2014:  14:02:33

quote:

---

Originally posted by tildensnow

There will always be trolls...





thedailybeast.com/articles/201...ird0.html

---

Thanks for the link to that article.

I'm a bit taken aback; I didn't know those things about Pete.

alan crawforth - Posted - 01/30/2014:  14:25:47

I will remember you with affection every time I hear your wonderful music.

farmer bob - Posted - 01/30/2014:  15:26:21

I took him for granted like he'd always be here. I lived most of my life just an hour down the road from his home. I never once stopped by to visit. If there is a place called heaven I know exactly what he's doing right now. He's singing... Everybody sing along!!!... Bob

Joe Connor - Posted - 01/30/2014:  18:19:12

I had the chance to meet Pete in the late '80s and blew it. He was playing a concert in northwest New Jersey. The concert area (really, a tent) was in a beautiful park so my wife and I arrived several hours early to enjoy the park and grab something to eat. As we were walking through the park, we saw Pete and his wife, Toshi, walking on a parallel path about 20 feet from us. I really wanted to approach him and tell him how much his music meant to me and how I took up the banjo so I could sound like him. However, he and Toshi were engaged in a deep, animated conversation and I just felt it would be wrong to intrude, sort of like interrupting a celebrity's dinner to ask for an autograph. 

mikehalloran - Posted - 01/30/2014:  19:53:12

quote:

---

Originally posted by kipperr

quote:

---

Originally posted by tildensnow

There will always be trolls...





thedailybeast.com/articles/201...ird0.html

Thanks for the link to that article.

I'm a bit taken aback; I didn't know those things about Pete.

---

Pete got over his idealism regarding Stalin and the Soviet Union. Apparently, Mr. Moynahan never did and thinks such crap is still important. Such hit pieces are usually reserved for people who run for office, not an obituary.

Some people learn and move on; others never will. Pity. It doesn't matter anymore. Really, it doesn't.

Rich Weill - Posted - 01/30/2014:  19:57:04

My only Pete Seeger story has nothing to do with music or the banjo.  Pete was one of the founders of an organization called Hudson River Ferry Sloops that operated sloops along the Hudson, most notably the Clearwater, used for environmental education.  But it had another boat, the Sojourner Truth, used to teach people to sail.

In 1987, I saw an advertisement for free sailing lessons at the Hastings-on-Hudson library.  It was a series of weekly, evening lessons given indoors in the winter, followed by actual sailing on the Sojourner Truth once spring came.  I attended each week.  The seventh or eighth lesson was on "Mooring and Anchoring."  That evening there was a guest instructor: Pete Seeger.

So while I never heard Pete perform live, he taught me how to moor and anchor an sailboat.

Deaf Lester Crawdad - Posted - 01/31/2014:  00:48:24

quote:

---

Originally posted by twelvefret

I agree, rest in peace, but any tribute to anyone needs to be balanced. He did use "art as a weapon" and as Bill Clinton said, he was a " an inconvenient artist who dared to sing things as he saw them". Of course, that does not mean that he was correct, just that he was opinionated and vocal. We don't need to agree with a person to appreciate them for their contributions to the many who have found his music and contributions very personal.

In looking at several news reports, I found this quote, which helps me to appreciate him more as a man who can alter his thinking if the way he saw things and subsequent actions were not appropriate.

“I apologize for once believing Stalin was just a hard driver, not a supremely cruel dictator,”  “I ask people to broaden their definition of socialism. Our ancestors were all socialists: You killed a deer and maybe you got the best cut, but you wouldn’t let it rot, you shared it. Similarly, I tell socialists, every society has a post office and none of them is efficient. No post office anywhere invented Federal Express.”

His use of the term "hard driver" admittedly gave me pause. Who hasn't worked for a hard driver and had their lives adversely affected? I am sure is not advocating that kind of leadership. It was also nice to hear him understand that capitalism and personal ownership (FedX) share the road with government (USPS). As to letting things rot, governments more than people are responsible for things going to waste. Surely we do not need to argue that point. Most people are decent and share what they have with others.

---

 Please stop trying to twist this thread into you own personal political rant.

That's not what it's here for.

tramp - Posted - 01/31/2014:  01:39:24

I am very sad to hear that Pete Seeger has died,as most of you know I play a long neck banjo,an instrument he invented.
He has been a massive influence on me,not just musically but also as a man and human being.
He was giant,a real legend,a man of principals and a true man of peace .
3 chords and the truth.
Thank you for opening my eyes and ears.
Rest in Peace Pete Seeger.

Leopoldus - Posted - 01/31/2014:  01:58:27

Pete, I am sure when you rejoined your eternity, Jesus and all the angels greeted you in joy and celestial music, for you, for many many years, brought joy to people when hard times were passing by, never letting any fight worthy of a better understanding, compassion and love between people down, thus contributing to a brighter present. I pray for that to happen, and sing it with the banjo you gave me the desire to play. I remember hearing "Come all you hardy minors", your first song I ever heard, sparking a light of will to fight for what I believed in inside me, and at that time it was what I needed. Then came all the others, from "Kisses sweeter than wine" to "We shall overcome", getting me to hope for a brighter future, that today I reached with your voice in my head. God's love spoke through you.
To Pete Seeger, one of the most important ambassador of hope joy and love of the twentieth century and beyond. May your songs, dedication and righteousness inspire generations, for they are the voices of tomorrow, and I want to hear them sing about everything that is beautiful around and in us, in the beautiful way you did.
I will decorate my banjo head with something in tribute to you, may it make you smile from the heavens you reached.
Requiescant in pace, Pete, et gloriam Dei contemplantur.

BanjoAlice - Posted - 01/31/2014:  03:47:18

quote:

---

Originally posted by phb

May he rest in peace.

May be this is an impious thought but my initial reaction to these news was feeling happy for his long life in good health even at high age and for his lifelong commitment.

---

I agree. It is sad he passed, but he had a long life and did lots of great things. Now he can jam in Heaven where there is never a wrong note!

twelvefret - Posted - 01/31/2014:  05:19:12

quote:

---

Originally posted by Deaf Lester Crawdad

 

---

 Please stop trying to twist this thread into you own personal political rant.

That's not what it's here for.

---

As said by Daniel Patrick Moynihan: “You’re entitled to your own opinions. You’re not entitled to your own facts.”

chip arnold - Posted - 01/31/2014:  05:54:32

So, to the few who find it necessary to hold a man down for long corrected, past errors ... what secret sins do you hide from the world? What long past errors of thought may we use to denigrate all that is good about you? Please, please, find another funeral to picket.

From Greylock to Bean Blossom - Posted - 01/31/2014:  06:08:05

I knew sometime this thread would go down in petty bickering and responses to negative comments.

kipperr - Posted - 01/31/2014:  06:09:41

quote:

---

Originally posted by Deaf Lester Crawdad

 Please stop trying to twist this thread into you own personal political rant.

That's not what it's here for.

---

Pot, meet kettle.

Give me a break....   

Joe Connor - Posted - 01/31/2014:  06:21:00

Actually, I'm surprised that we've had few posts on this and other forums attacking Pete's politics. I'm surprised because I grew up in the '60s and remember what a controversial figure Pete was in those days. I'd like to commend those who are put off by Pete's politics for the restraint they've shown after his death. A lot of people have seen Pete's politics in a different light after he became involved in the Clearwater and other efforts to clean up the Hudson. Pete wasn't a guy who simply lent his name and prestige to this cause. He was down there in the muck getting his hands dirty and doing grunt work. This was a worthy cause for both liberals and conservatives, and Pete's efforts in that arena convinced a lot of skeptics that he was for real. 

Jay K - Posted - 01/31/2014:  06:41:05

Lots of wonderul remembrances here! Thanks to Tam Zeb for the riveting show with Pete and June Carter and Johnny Cash.
Even though I only started playing banjo in 2011, Pete's red book was still my first banjo book!
He was ruly a great man who will be missed!

guywolff - Posted - 01/31/2014:  06:54:42

I had to share this remembrance from BHO member Gordon Titcomb who was in Arlo's band for years . It gives a great picture of the man : ......................................... "RIP ,Pete Seeger. Pete was an influence on me in many ways: I bought his "How to Play The 5 String Banjo when I was a teenager. In later years, I got to play with Pete a number of times, and he was very gracious in sharing banjo lore as well as his theories about banjo bridges, banjo heads, folk music politics...really, just about anything under the sun. My first time playing Carnegie Hall with Arlo, Pete was on the bill...a double thrill for me. We'd do that a couple more times. The last time I got to play with him was at a benefit concert in 2006 or 2007, raising money for a huge swimming pool to be constructed with water being supplied by his beloved Hudson River. Pete sang a work song at that show in which he accompanied himself by swinging a heavy sledgehammer and repeatedly striking an iron splitting wedge that was jammed cross-grain into a piece of Rock Maple. Pete was about 90 some years old then and I could not have kept his pace or stamina with that sledge hammer! I'll dig around & see if I can find a photo from that concert. RIP, Pete...you shared so much with so many of us."

OM45GE - Posted - 01/31/2014:  07:15:20

Like many of the others here, Pete was the reason I picked up the banjo in the first place. I had been playing a couple of years when I saw him live in Boston's Colonial Theater in the 60's. He played Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring and it set me on a course of playing the unexpected on the banjo.

After the show, we were standing around out front talking about the incredible experience. Pete came out and spent 20 or 30 minutes talking with us and giving encouragement to those of us who played.

He will live on in his songs, the wonderful good deeds he did and the thousands of musicians and fans he influence.

Dr B - Posted - 01/31/2014:  07:21:24

I got to see Pete do this several times.

From Greylock to Bean Blossom - Posted - 01/31/2014:  08:37:13

Here is my take on Pete Seeger and why I hope this thread remains civil. Seeger was real. He was true. He was a man I admired as a man.  Seeger was not some leftist, ecologist, green guy, that was riding in a private plane. He was not some right wing executive for a health insurance company that took a $30 million retirement bonus. Seeger was chopping his own wood at 94 years old & 10 days before his death. His truck ran on solar power. (look up pictures on his house: he sure didn’t get above his raisins) He walked his talk. Did I agree with him on everything – no. But who does. Even my wife at home doesn’t agree with me all the time (imagine that!). Did Seeger ever act out of malice or self serving greed? Not to my knowledge.  He quit the Weavers because they agreed to do a jingle for a cigarette company. Did he try to help people, do (act upon) what he thought was right, treat people kindly? Yes to my knowledge, he did this more than most of us. He was a principled man.

I was taught: to thine own self be true. Who can argue with that? What else can you do – unless you are a hypocrite? To me this is a time to honor a good man with good intentions, who like all of us may have not been perfect. I have heard him say that he made mistakes.  But I have a feeling if you wanted to count on a man’s actions based on his beliefs, and if you wanted loyalty in friend – Seeger would have been hard to beat. Plus he loved the banjo and brought it to many people. If we can’t share in the appreciation of these common threads, we are in trouble.

Personally I will miss this man because his courage of his convictions was something that if we all aspired to, made us better people.

Ken

Seeger's house:

dreamjamworld.com%252Fi...%252F%252Fdreamjamworld.com%252Fi...B300%3B200">dreamjamworld.com%252Fi...%252F%252Fdreamjamworld.com%252Fi...B300%3B200" target="_blank">google.com/search?q=Pictures+p...300%3B200

ObsidianSpike - Posted - 01/31/2014:  10:11:34

I just found out about this yesterday. Quite the nasty shock. Pete was one of my biggest banjo idols; I got my long-neck w/ Tubaphone because I had to "sound like Pete". Still working on that, heh.

It's unfortunate that this world has lost a man of such principle and soul. There will never be another him, but we can hope that that more people could adopt his humility and grace.

R.I.P.

redwing46 - Posted - 01/31/2014:  10:46:47

I wish that all of Pete's wishes come true...

Jim Yates - Posted - 01/31/2014:  11:29:39

JFK on Pete

JFK on Pete Seeger

Joe Connor - Posted - 01/31/2014:  13:06:55

Interesting, Jim. I think JFK and Pete were at Harvard at the same time.

pickincat - Posted - 02/01/2014:  00:14:34

Pete lives on in many videos. He taught us so many OT tunes. He created the long-neck banjo. He showed us we could have fun and make music without stuffy old traditional style by using techniques that would make our banjos sing in different ways. He did a lot of versions of, "Skip to my Lou" and I am going to keep working them as a tribute to him. He made banjo fun.

Kurt Kemp - Posted - 02/01/2014:  07:55:01

Brevabloke - Posted - 02/02/2014:  04:03:10

Greylock, thats one of the finest posts I have seen. Pete, like George Orwell (another of my heroes) was a man who was true to his beliefs and tried to honestly help people.

Tam_Zeb - Posted - 02/02/2014:  04:47:26

The sermon in our church today centred on Pete Seeger's life and achievements. Pete your life's work is known throughout the free world. Your songs are still sung, your message is still being heard by each new generation. Deep in our heart I do believe we shall overcome some day.  

From Greylock to Bean Blossom - Posted - 02/02/2014:  09:24:39

A wonderful one hour interview with Pete Seeger from, I think, 2007

democracynow.org/2007/7/4/we_s...d_related

ken

oldwoodchuckb - Posted - 02/02/2014:  10:10:22

I come late to this thread because it has taken me this long to accept that he really is gone.

I think Pete was one of the most important figures in 20th Century American music, with an influence circle that takes in millions more people than are even aware of his existence. Everyone learns the banjo, from someone, but that someone learned from someone else and so on back through the decades. There have been many wellspringsfor the banjo, but for many of us Pete was the first source, and his landmark book was a roadmap to musicianship.