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Pete Seeger

Born in New York, NY

Pete Seeger's Genre:

Traditional Folk, Political Folk, Folk, Folk Revival, Folksongs, Children's

Biography

Perhaps no single person in the 20th century has done more to preserve, broadcast, and re-distribute folk music than Pete Seeger, whose passion for politics, the environment, and humanity have earned him both ardent fans and vocal enemies since he first began performing in the late '30s. His never-ending battle against injustice led to his being blacklisted during the McCarthy era, celebrated during the turbulent '60s, and welcomed at union rallies throughout his life. His tireless efforts regarding global concerns such as environmentalism, population growth, and racial equality have earned him the respect and friendship of such political heroes as Martin Luther King, Jr., Woody Guthrie, and Cesar Chavez, and the generations of children who first learned to sing and clap to Seeger's Folkways recordings must number in the millions. Rising above all of Seeger's political ideals and his passion for authentic folk music is his clear voice and chiming banjo which both sing out with a clarity that rings true.

Pete Seeger was born May 3, 1919, in Patterson, NY. The son of Charles and Constance Seeger, Pete grew up in a household filled with both music (his mother was a violinist and teacher, his father was a musicologist and conductor, both of whom had served on the faculty at Juilliard) and political activism (his father worked as a teacher at the University of California at Berkeley, where his pacifism earned him so many enemies that he resigned in the fall of 1918). The youthful Pete initially rebelled against his parents passion for music, but upon hearing a five-string banjo for the first time at the Folk Song and Dance Festival in Asheville, NC, his dream of becoming a painter was pushed aside. He studied sociology at Harvard University beginning in 1936, but left just before his final exams two years later, choosing instead to roam the American South making field recordings with music scholar Alan Lomax. These experiences were the foundation of Seeger's repertoire of work songs, lullabies, folk songs, and ballads that he would revisit throughout his musical career.

Seeger was drafted into the army in 1942, spending much of his time performing to troops in the South Pacific, and in 1943 he got married to Toshi Ohta (who has remained his wife for more than 50 years). After his discharge he continued his travels throughout the U.S., but as a performer instead of a scholar, performing wherever people were gathered, from taverns to churches. On March 3, 1940, he met Woody Guthrie at a migrant worker benefit concert, and soon after the two helped form the Almanac Singers, a loosely organized musical collective that included Lee Hays, Millard Lampell, Sis Cunningham, Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee, Leadbelly, Josh White, Burl Ives, and Richard Dyer-Bennett at different times. The Almanac Singers' career was brief (lasting just over a year), but their pacifist attitudes and their ability to draw large crowds brought them under the scrutiny of the political powers of the time. Upon the dissolution of the Almanacs, Seeger, and Hays formed the Weavers with Ronnie Gilbert and Fred Hellerman who found universal success with their bright renditions of folk songs and spirituals like "Kisses Sweeter Than Wine," "Wimoweh," "Goodnight Irene," and "On Top of Old Smoky." Unfortunately, Seeger and Hays' leftist leanings had long been under the scrutiny of the FBI, and ironically, their straightforward and innocuous performances were drawing disdain from the diehard leftist press. In 1955 Seeger was brought before the House Un-American Activities Committee and his testimony resulted in his being blacklisted for 7 years (and not officially cleared on charges of contempt until 1962).

Seeger left the Weavers in 1958, for a solo career just as the seeds of the music they planted were beginning to take root on college campuses and in coffeehouses across the U.S. He spent much of the '60s in the South, marching in civil rights protests and arranging an old spiritual into what he named "We Shall Overcome," which has become the anthem of the pursuit for equality worldwide. In 1962, he put the words to a portion of the book of Ecclesiastes to music, capturing the feel of the changing climate of the youth movement in his song "Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season)." In addition to the countless social rallies he organized and participated in at this time, Seeger also had a hand in many of the Newport Folk Festivals in the early and mid-'60s. His adherence to the sanctity of folk music came to a boiling point with the advent of folk-rock, and this was visibly demonstrated when he tried to pull the plug on Bob Dylan's very electrified set with the Paul Butterfield Blues Band in 1965. His objection to the Vietnam War was made evident during an appearance on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour in 1967 where he attacked Lyndon Johnson's war policies during his performance of the song "Waist Deep in the Big Muddy."

Seeger focused his attention on environmental issues in the '70s and '80s, notably with the launch of the sloop Clearwater (a floating classroom, laboratory, stage, and speaker's forum) onto the Hudson River in 1969. He also remained active on the festival circuit, appearing at outdoor folk concerts and organizing rallies for any number of causes, from labor unions to anti-pollution legislation. The '90s saw Seeger on-stage receiving awards as often as performing music; with honors including receiving the nation's highest artistic honors at the Kennedy Center, gaining entry into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and earning the Harvard Arts Medal (despite the fact that he opted not to graduate from the university). He also won a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album of 1996, and in 1999 he traveled to Cuba to accept the Felix Varela Medal (Cuba's highest honor for "his humanistic and artistic work in defense of the environment and against racism"). In 2008 Seeger released At 89, a collection of newly recorded classics and newly written material. His ceaseless passion for reaching the hearts and minds of those who will listen is summed up by the inscription on his banjo which reads "This machine surrounds hate and forces it to surrender." Pete Seeger's music does not force hate to surrender with muscle or intimidation, but with Seeger's simple honesty and pure-hearted clarity which has truly changed the course of history during the 60-plus years that he has been performing. ~ Zac Johnson

AOL Radio Stations Pete Seeger is Featured on (4)

Folk

Slacker Radio's Folk station harkens back to the glory days of the folk revival with artists like Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell. In this mix, you'll also find elements of contemporary songwriters, roots music, old standards, folk-rock and Celtic. Folk Radio on Slacker features the best in traditional and contemporary acoustic music with a roots sensibility.

4th of July Celebration

Celebrate the U.S.A. on the 4th of July with patriotic music and summer fun songs. Festive Independence Day hits, party oldies and stirring marches. 4th of July Celebration on Slacker is your soundtrack to the holiday weekend and America’s independence.

Bob Dylan Tribute

Slacker curator and nationally recognized Oldies expert Ron Smith is your host on this station as we pay tribute to Bob Dylan. You'll hear Dylan classics, collaborations, and songs from artists that he was influenced by and artists that he directly inspired. You'll also hear covers of Bob Dylan's songs by artists from across the musical spectrum.

Pete Seeger

This station plays the best music from and music from related artists like Woody Guthrie, Joan Baez, Peter, Paul and Mary, Arlo Guthrie, The Weavers, The Kingston Trio, Judy Collins, Bob Dylan, Tom Paxton, Gordon Lightfoot and more.

All Stations

Pete Seeger's Selected Discography (50)

Ten

Twelve Gates To The City

Vantage Music201313 Songs

The Essential Pete Seeger [Sony]

Sings John Henry & Other Folk Favorites

2011 Hallmark201111 Songs

Artists Related to Pete Seeger (50)

	Woody Guthrie	Woody Guthrie was the most important American folk music artist of the first half of the 20th century, in part because he turned out to be such a major influence on the popular music of the second half of the 20th century, a period when he himself was largely inactive.
	Joan Baez	The most accomplished interpretive folksinger of the 1960s, Joan Baez has influenced nearly every aspect of popular music in a career still going strong.
	Peter, Paul and Mary	The most popular folk group of the 1960s, Peter, Paul and Mary in later decades have also proved themselves to be among the most durable music acts in history.
	Arlo Guthrie	Is it possible to be a one-hit wonder three times? The question is provoked by the recording career of Arlo Guthrie, which is best remembered for three songs in three different contexts.
	The Weavers	The Weavers had the most extraordinary musical pedigree and pre-history of any performing group in the history of folk or popular music.
	The Kingston Trio	In the history of popular music, there are a relative handful of performers who have redefined the content of the music at critical points in history -- people whose music left the landscape, and definition of popular music, altered completely.
	Judy Collins	Singer Judy Collins was, along with Joan Baez, one of the two major interpretive singers to emerge from the folk revival of the late '50s and early '60s.
	Bob Dylan	Bob Dylan's influence on popular music is incalculable. As a songwriter, he pioneered several different schools of pop songwriting, from confessional singer/songwriter to winding, hallucinatory, stream-of-consciousness narratives.
	Tom Paxton	Tom Paxton proved to be one of the most durable of the singer/songwriters to emerge from the Greenwich Village folk revival scene of the early '60s.
	Gordon Lightfoot	One of the leading singer/songwriters of the 1960s and '70s, Gordon Lightfoot was Canada's most successful contemporary folk artist, establishing himself as an important songwriter in the mid-'60s and going on to become a major international recording star in the following decade.
	Joni Mitchell	When the dust settles, Joni Mitchell may stand as the most important and influential female recording artist of the late 20th century.
	Simon & Garfunkel	The most successful folk-rock duo of the 1960s, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel crafted a series of memorable hit albums and singles featuring their choirboy harmonies, ringing acoustic and electric guitars, and Simon's acute, finely wrought songwriting.
	Phil Ochs	Phil Ochs is a figure both glorious and tragic who haunts the history of the 1960s folk revival and its aftermath.
	The New Christy Minstrels	To a lot of casual listeners during the early '60s, the New Christy Minstrels were the embodiment of popular folk music.
	Ramblin' Jack Elliott	Ramblin' Jack Elliott is one of folk music's most enduring characters. Since he first came on the scene in the late '50s, Elliott influenced everyone from Bob Dylan and Pete Seeger to the Rolling Stones and the Grateful Dead.
	The Highwaymen	It's easy enough to dismiss the Highwaymen as representatives of a brand of folk music that has gone out of fashion, at least among the media tastemakers.
	The Limeliters	Along with the Kingston Trio, the Limeliters were one of the most successful folk groups of the early '60s, a time when the folk music revival was in itself a sort of backlash against the anti-establishment rock & roll generation.
	Paul Simon	Paul Simon is one of the most successful and respected songwriters of the second half of the 20th century.
	Cat Stevens	Cat Stevens, born Steven Demetre Georgiou, was the son of a Swedish mother and a Greek father who ran a restaurant in London.
	Donovan	Upon his emergence during the mid-'60s, Donovan was anointed "Britain's answer to Bob Dylan," a facile but largely unfounded comparison which compromised the Scottish folk-pop troubadour's own unique vision.
	Janis Ian	A singer/songwriter both celebrated and decried for her pointed handling of taboo topics, Janis Ian enjoyed one of the more remarkable second acts in music history.
	Ian & Sylvia	One of the most popular acts of the early-'60s folk revival, Canadian duo Ian Tyson (b. 1933) and Sylvia Tyson (b.
	Crosby, Stills & Nash	The musical partnership of David Crosby, Stephen Stills, and Graham Nash, with and without Neil Young, was not only one of the most successful touring and recording acts of the late '60s, '70s, and early '80s (with the colorful, contrasting nature of the members' characters and their connection to the political and cultural upheavals of the time), it was the only American-based band to approach the overall societal impact of the Beatles.
	James Taylor	When people use the term "singer/songwriter" (often modified by the word "sensitive") in praise or in criticism, they're thinking of James Taylor.
	John Denver	One of the most popular recording artists of the 1970s, country-folk singer/songwriter John Denver's gentle, environmentally conscious music established him among the most beloved entertainers of his era; wholesome and clean-cut, his appeal extended to fans of all ages and backgrounds, and led to parallel careers as both an actor and a humanitarian.
	Buffy Sainte-Marie	Buffy Sainte-Marie has enjoyed a long career that has seen her rise to stardom on the folk circuit and try her hand at country, rock, soundtrack themes, acting, activism, and children's television.
	Neil Young	After Neil Young left the California folk-rock band Buffalo Springfield in 1968, he slowly established himself as one of the most influential and idiosyncratic singer/songwriters of his generation.
	John Prine	An acclaimed singer/songwriter whose literate work flirted with everything from acoustic folk to rockabilly to straight-ahead country, John Prine was born October 10, 1946, in Maywood, IL.
	Glenn Yarbrough	Glenn Yarbrough's high, clear tenor has served him well throughout his long career as a singer (that's him singing "Things go better with Coke" on all those commercials), and although it has been many years since he placed a song on the pop charts, he continues to have a large and loyal fan base.
	Chad Mitchell	Back in the early '60s, the Chad Mitchell Trio were one of the top singing attractions on the campus and club folk circuit, rivaling for a time their somewhat more well-established competitors the Kingston Trio and '60s newcomers Peter, Paul and Mary.
	Rooftop Singers	The Rooftop Singers were the most successful of the folk revival's one-hit wonders -- their single major chart entry, "Walk Right In," was a number one record and also the biggest-selling single in the history of their label, Vanguard Records.
	The Brothers Four	The Brothers Four bear a distinction as one of the longest surviving groups of the late-'50s/early-'60s folk revival and perhaps the longest running "accidental" music act in history -- 43 years and counting as of 2001, without any break and with two original members still in the fold.
	Richie Havens	Born in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, Richie Havens moved to Greenwich Village in 1961 in time to get in on the folk boom then taking place.
	Leonard Cohen	One of the most fascinating and enigmatic -- if not the most successful -- singer/songwriters of the late '60s, Leonard Cohen has retained an audience across four decades of music-making interrupted by various digressions into personal and creative exploration, all of which have only added to the mystique surrounding him.
	Harry Chapin	Harry Chapin's career as a popular singer/songwriter was cut short by an auto accident in 1981, yet he left behind a series of recordings that his fans continue to treasure decades after his death.
	Tom Rush	Tom Rush came up in the Boston/Cambridge folk scene of the early '60s, playing folk-blues on a series of albums for Prestige Records, then moved to Elektra, and by the late '60s was interpreting the work of such upcoming writers as Joni Mitchell and James Taylor.
	The Byrds	Although they only attained the huge success of the Beatles, Rolling Stones, and the Beach Boys for a short time in the mid-'60s, time has judged the Byrds to be nearly as influential as those groups in the long run.
	The Seekers	Although it's difficult for those who weren't there to believe, for a short time during late 1965 and early 1966 the popularity of this singing quartet from Australia was sufficient to rival the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.
	Don McLean	Famed for -- and ultimately defined by -- his perennial "American Pie," singer/songwriter Don McLean was born October 2, 1945, in New Rochelle, New York.
	Leadbelly	Huddie Ledbetter, known as Leadbelly, was a unique figure in the American popular music of the 20th century.
	Jim Croce	In the music industry, arguably the worst tragedy that can befall an artist is to die in his or her prime, when just beginning to break through to the mainstream and reach people on a national or international level.
	Eric Andersen	Eric Andersen has maintained a career as a folk-based singer/songwriter since the 1960s. In contrast to such peers as Tom Paxton and Phil Ochs, Andersen's writing has had a romantic/philosophical/poetic bent for the most part, rather than a socially conscious one, though one of his best-known songs, "Thirsty Boots," has as its background the Freedom Rides of the early '60s.
	John Sebastian	John Sebastian has had a varied career as a singer, songwriter, and musician. As the leader of the folk-rock band the Lovin' Spoonful, he was responsible for a string of Top Ten hits in 1965-1967 that included the chart-toppers "Daydream" and "Summer in the City," and he returned to number one in 1976 as a solo artist with "Welcome Back.
	Kate Wolf	Although she was a significant presence on the folk scene between the late '70s and mid-'80s, it's difficult to categorize Kate Wolf as a folk performer (though that is ultimately the broad category that suits her best).
	Crosby, Stills Nash & Young	The musical partnership of David Crosby (born August 14, 1941), Stephen Stills (born January 3, 1945), and Graham Nash (born February 2, 1942), with and without Neil Young (born November 12, 1945), was not only one of the most successful touring and recording acts of the late '60s, '70s, and early '80s -- with the colorful, contrasting nature of the members' characters and their connection to the political and cultural upheavals of the time -- it was arguably the only American-based band to approach the overall societal impact of the Beatles.
	The Mamas & The Papas	The leading California-based vocal group of the '60s, the Mamas & the Papas epitomized the ethos of the mid- to late-'60s pop culture: live free, play free, and love free.
	Buffalo Springfield	Apart from the Byrds, no other American band had as great an impact on folk-rock and country-rock -- really, the entire Californian rock sound -- than Buffalo Springfield.
	The Band	For roughly half a decade, from 1968 through 1975, the Band was one of the most popular and influential rock groups in the world, their music embraced by critics (and, to a somewhat lesser degree, the public) as seriously as the music of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.
	Burl Ives	With his grandfatherly image, Burl Ives parlayed his talent as a folksinger into a wide-ranging career as a radio personality and stage and screen actor.
	Steve Goodman	Growing up in what he called "a Midwestern middle-class Jewish family," Steve Goodman began playing the guitar as a teenager.