Bill Anderson - Posted - 02/04/2014:  12:26:18

I love Pete Seeger.
I have a red copy of his book......autographed with his banjo icon.
I was blessed to spend time with him several years ago.
Pete was a complete man. He was as special as a person gets on this planet.
Rest In Peace Mr. Seeger,
Bill Anderson

tfaux - Posted - 02/04/2014:  13:45:08

I remember the night of April 17, 1975, Concord, Mass, the People's Bicentennial Commission midnight rally in protest of the corporatizing of America, and in preparation for the official Battle of Lexington event just across the river featuring Gerald Ford.  It poured rain that night, and all night long a parade of musicians and talkers took to the stage to keep everyone's spirits up.  Arlo, the Pointer Sisters, and finally, at about 4am, when everyone was soaked and exhausted, Pete came on.  He spun stories and led singalongs until the sun came up on 40,000 wet activists, and the cannons across the river started firing.  

Tom

EricFlatpick - Posted - 02/04/2014:  13:52:24

A friend lent me his banjo while he was recovering from a cut playing finger (deli job, slicing lunchmeats), and he also lent me Pete's ol' red-cover book. I learned--what else?--Cripple Creek, Old Joe Clark, and the beginning of Foggy Mt. Breakdown. Had to return the banjo, but got some of Pete's LPs, and caught him at festivals and concerts (one memorable show featuring him and Michael Cooney). Didn't get a banjo of my own till later, somewhere along the way acquired and then lost a copy of Pete's book, and stopped playing banjo after a burglar carried mine off. What a nice surprise when, 20+ years later, I get a banjo for a birthday, start playing again, and find that Pete's book is still in print, blue cover and all. The handwritten notes by Pete inside the front and back covers are great. I will not lose this one. Check out the "Rainbow Quest" dvd series of Pete's old PBS show--some of the best traditional performers, "neo-ethnics" and singer-songwriters of the 1960s, from John Hurt, Brownie and Sonny, and the Stanley Brothers, to the Greenbriar Boys and Tom Paxton.

Thanks, Pete, for being such an example to so many of us, in so many ways. Your voice and songs will forever echo in our heads--and hearts.

bums_1955 - Posted - 02/04/2014:  14:12:04

I am in denial. He gave us so much and will continue to give. He was a fine and gentle man and showed his heart in his music. God bless Mr. Seeger.

EdSherry - Posted - 02/04/2014:  14:44:46

I was inspired to play banjo by Pete. I got a copy of his red "How To Play The 5-String Banjo" and the accompanying LP back in the late 1960s. My first three LPs were two Pete Seeger albums and a Simon & Garfunkel album. My town library had a lending library of LPs, and I borrowed a lot of Seeger and Weavers albums. I bought a Harmony banjo and drove the family crazy learning "Coal Creek March" (which I learned later was one of the hardest pieces Pete played) from the tab in a Folkways Album of Pete and Sonny Terry in concern.

My folks gave my a Vega Seeger longneck banjo for high school graduation in 1970, and my mom sewed a gigbag for it following Pete's instructions in his banjo book. Over the years I've owned some 50 Seeger and Weavers albums and learned a lot of songs from his recordings and books (including "American Favorite Ballads" and "The Bells of Rhymney"). His "Incompleat Folksinger" book was a favorite for many years.

I first saw Pete at a conference for high school students put on by Paul Ehrlich ("Population Bomb") at Stanford University in 1970. Pete was one of four or five speakers (the others were biologists). I was a fan, but very few of the other students at the conference had ever heard of him. He got the entire audience singing along with him -- not an easy feat for someone who most of the attendees had never heard of) -- and got the only standing ovation of the day.
He signed my program with a sketch of his banjo.

I saw him again at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in the late 1980s when I was living there. He was walking across the fairgrounds. I introduced myself and thanked him for his music and inspiration. He was very gracious.

Requiscat in pacem, Pete.

wimmeraboy - Posted - 02/04/2014:  15:17:08

......I'd get people playing single strings right away. The banjo usually sparkles best that way....Pete Seeger

Thank You Pete...RIP

Davidschultz42 - Posted - 02/04/2014:  18:04:35

My father took a bunch of pictures of Pete Seeger and loaded them to his flickr site. you can check them out here. flickr.com/photos/bud1929/sets...08135113/

Pluckin Mutha - Posted - 02/04/2014:  20:16:37

quote:

---

Originally posted by Davidschultz42

My father took a bunch of pictures of Pete Seeger and loaded them to his flickr site. you can check them out here. flickr.com/photos/bud1929/sets...08135113/

---

Try a clickable link:

flickr.com/photos/bud1929/sets...08135113/

Mutha

Banjo MD - Posted - 02/04/2014:  20:34:56

quote:

---

Originally posted by silvioferretti

I had found a copy of Pete Seeger's banjo book - totally unsuspectedly - in a book store of my town, must have been around 1974, and it was the red one. I learned the "basic strum" pretty easily, following Pete's instructions and records, but I bumped my head against frailing forever, as I couldn't get the basic concept of it. Then about a year later or two the big news: Pete Seeger was coming to play in Italy! Problem was, the concert was scheduled on Easter's eve, in Torino (about 200 Kilometers from my house), and I didn't have a car. Plus, Easter was a big thing for my family, so my project of going to Torino the day before was met with a lot of grumbling and frowns... I got a train ticket anyway, and was on the hall's front row a couple hours before the concert began. Pete was not the only one to perform that night, other "folk" musicians like Angel Parra (Violeta's son, from Chile) were there, as I believe the concert had something to do with some big political event at the time. I was very much the political guy in those years, but that night all I cared for was Pete's music, and his banjo...

I don't remember much of the concert, but I do remember watching him intently, and learning how to frail at last (practically speaking, it took me another couple of years to really learn to frail, but I got the hang of it that night!). During the intermission I tried to get backstage and talk to Pete, but I was not allowed to for security reasons. However, his wife Toshi must have noticed that skinny youngster with a 'fro and a big moustache, trying to talk the bouncers to allow him backstage, as she came to me and told me she was sorry I couldn't get to talking to Pete, as he would surely have loved to meet Italian musicians and folk music fans. She volunteered to get a note from me to Pete, and suggested to pack everything I wanted to ask him into that note, plus my mailing address. And she gave me their address (P.O. Box, that is) in Beacon, NY. She was awful kind to me, and assured me I would be able to "talk" to his husband by letter, so I went home with a very warm heart that night. Had to wait in an ice-cold train at the station (in the dark, to boot) until 4 a.m., and got home around 7 a.m., so I could attend Easter dinner and all. I must have had a permanent grin on my face, as my family looked at me in a funny way.

A couple or three weeks later I got a big envelope from Poughkeepsie, NY, with a short note from Pete (complete with "hastely" before his signature, his trademark banjo sketch, and a leaf, which - I was told - meant he liked me), some instruction on how to choose a banjo, and a copy of Mugwumps magazine, which in turn helped me buy my first real banjo (a fine A.E. Smith Northampton). Other notes from Pete followed for a few years, all pointing out the suggestion to make MY music on the banjo, without aiming to copy anybody, including Pete Seeger. I saw him again about 20 years later, again in Torino, and again I couldn't get to talk to him as he was literally stalked by tens of people in the club's dressing room, so I gave up (and still regret that). Now I realize that there may have been other banjo gurus in my life, some of whom I was lucky enough to meet and talk to, or even call a friend, but Pete Seeger has been my only banjo father. R.I.P. Pete, to me you are THE reason why I took up the banjo.

---

Un racconto bello, Silvio.

A proposito , abito a Poughkeepsie!

Taffy Evans - Posted - 02/04/2014:  22:40:31

Rest in Peace Pete.
I started playing banjo way back whilst listening to Pete in the Weavers. Two of my first projects [over 50 years ago] on my journey into stringed instrument repair and building, was started from inspiration from Pete Seeger. I converted a fretless four string banjo I got from a junk shop into a long neck 5 string banjo. The other project was to convert a nylon 6 string guitar into a 12 string. At that time I could not buy either type of instrument in London UK.
Some years later, having moved to Australia, I asked a well known guitar builder to build me a guitar with a D shaped soundhole, like Pete's 12 string guitar. They deemed a shaped soundhole too difficult.
It's ironic that just a few months ago I started building a guitar for myself with a shaped soundhole.
Thanks for the inspiration Pete.

mattkelley - Posted - 02/05/2014:  02:17:43

I am old enough to have had the pleasure of seeing Pete live in Newcastle in the UK way back in early 1964 on his 'We Shall Overcome' world tour. I still play the vinyl LP from the Carnegie Hall concert that does a selection of what he sang that night. It still moves me the same way. If ever a man deserved the Nobel Peace Prize, Pete did - far better than some of those who got it for 'doing nowt' as we say over here!

Stringsinger - Posted - 02/05/2014:  07:50:15

Knowing Pete for over seventy years, his accomplishments , having the ability to play tasteful musical accompaniments to his songs, his banjo playing has been

overshadowed by those with fast fingers, gymnastic ability.  He is not second to Earl Scruggs but number one in his innovative and subtle musical banjo playing.

Seeger and Scruggs: apples and oranges.

Tiedtotree - Posted - 02/05/2014:  15:12:27

As a college student I went to an outdoor concert in Ann Arbor, Michigan where I first heard of Pete Seeger. Pete and Arlo were backup band for Steven Stills and Manasas (sp?). I was moved by the Woodie Guthrie song Plane Wreck at Los Gatos, which is now one of the songs I play. I don't remember a thing about Manasas but I remember Arlo and Pete vividly to this day. Pete for me was a role model I will never forget. A friend once got in a jam session with him and suggested a particular song which Pete did not know so he asked her to lead it. I know she will miss him too.

From Greylock to Bean Blossom - Posted - 02/05/2014:  16:22:17

quote:

---

Originally posted by Stringsinger

Knowing Pete for over seventy years, his accomplishments , having the ability to play tasteful musical accompaniments to his songs, his banjo playing has been

overshadowed by those with fast fingers, gymnastic ability.  He is not second to Earl Scruggs but number one in his innovative and subtle musical banjo playing.

Seeger and Scruggs: apples and oranges.

---

You know it does not get mentioned about Pete, but from what I have heard, he was a master of different rhythms. He could get the banjo to jump, hop, swing and sway so many different ways. Really talented with this also. I don't know how many musicians can or do cross as many rhythmical lines as Pete did.

ken

Wynjo - Posted - 02/06/2014:  08:13:15

Pete Seeger was a great man who stood up for what he believed in and inspired others to do the same. Along with his life his music is an inspiration to many and some how seeps into the souls of most who hear it. I live in the Bath UK and have a lot of links in the local music community, I have seen and heard heartfelt tributes from many musicians from amazingly different musical backgrounds. This week alone on Facebook I have read page long tributes from 20 year old death metal players (admittedly I sent them his CD), 40 year old hard rockers, folk musicians, rock grass bands and American folkophiles.

My 3 year old son is a huge Pete Seeger fan can sing all of Pete's "all around the kitchen", "riflemen of Birmingham" and "Old Dan Tucker". Its amazing to see the younger generation singing Pete's music by choice. It wasn't forced upon my son but he requests I-Pod songs he's heard and loves the rhythm of. To emphasise this he loves Beyonce, Greenday, Motorhead and Bob Seeger but on long journeys always asks for the cock-a-doodle-doo (round the kitchen) song (Much to my wife's annoyance, its amazing how many times a toddler can listen to the same song without getting bored). For an old time sound his music really stands the test of time. Pete will be sorely missed but I truly believe his music will live on as will the songs he saved from extinction.

From Greylock to Bean Blossom - Posted - 02/06/2014:  21:07:12

minnpost.com/arts-culture/2014...something

a nice story.

Ken

OldRogueDoc - Posted - 02/07/2014:  17:12:37

Not only will you be missed for your great banjo playing, and the inspiration to young banjo players. You will be missed by those of us you touched in the 60's with the way you stood up for what you believed in.
Thank you Pete.

Lillebjorn - Posted - 02/09/2014:  09:14:55

Pete Seeger was a friend of mine. Together we sang the old Norwegian emigrant song 'Oleanna' at the Tonder Festival in Denmark 1990. I rememeber Eric Weissberg as we left the stage, tears in Eric's eyes: - There's only one of him in the Universe! - :-)

I wrote a story about this in the Norwegian paper Dagbladet dagbladet.no/2014/01/29/kultur...31526131/ Google translate dagbladet.no%2F2014%2F0...2F&act=url" target="_blank">translate.google.com/translate...F&act=url

A great man. A great life.

From Greylock to Bean Blossom - Posted - 02/09/2014:  09:28:10

quote:

---

Originally posted by Lillebjorn

Pete Seeger was a friend of mine. Together we sang the old Norwegian emigrant song 'Oleanna' at the Tonder Festival in Denmark 1990. I rememeber Eric Weissberg as we left the stage, tears in Eric's eyes: - There's only one of him in the Universe! - :-)



I wrote a story about this in the Norwegian paper Dagbladet dagbladet.no/2014/01/29/kultur...31526131/ Google translate dagbladet.no%2F2014%2F0...mp;act=url" target="_blank">translate.google.com/translate...p;act=url



A great man. A great life.

---

I could not get your article to open. in poting your address you could click on the little blue ball to the right of the smiley face and paste your url in there, it will be a live link on your post.

Thanks,

ken

Pluckin Mutha - Posted - 02/09/2014:  12:10:55

quote:

---

Originally posted by From Greylock to Bean Blossom

quote:

---

Originally posted by Lillebjorn

Pete Seeger was a friend of mine. Together we sang the old Norwegian emigrant song 'Oleanna' at the Tonder Festival in Denmark 1990. I rememeber Eric Weissberg as we left the stage, tears in Eric's eyes: - There's only one of him in the Universe! - :-)



I wrote a story about this in the Norwegian paper Dagbladet dagbladet.no/2014/01/29/kultur...31526131/ Google translate dagbladet.no%2F2014%2F0...mp;act=url" target="_blank">translate.google.com/translate...p;act=url



A great man. A great life.

---

I could not get your article to open. in poting your address you could click on the little blue ball to the right of the smiley face and paste your url in there, it will be a live link on your post.

Thanks,

ken

---

Me too. I get a 404  - Entry Forbidden

Mutha

raharris - Posted - 02/09/2014:  12:27:33

I found Lillebjorn's​ Dagbladet article here:

dagbladet.no/2014/01/29/kultur...31526131/

and a rough translation:

IDEAS : In the summer of 1990 , busily NRK TV recording with Gitarkameratene , I received a surprising phone . My Scottish friend Rod Sinclair , folk musician and organizer , said that Pete Seeger was finally going to perform at the Tonder Festival in Denmark along with Woody Guthrie's son , Arlo . And Pete Seeger insisted on including Lille Nilsen !

It was a quick council of war among Gitarkameratene . It was about to fly to Hamburg in Germany and one weekend in Tønder right by the Danish-German border. Øystein Sunde was skeptical and thought I would never come back. Josie & The p****cats applauded . Jan Eggum would be with. Decision taken .

So Jan and I landed in Hamburg, took the train to Niebüll at the border . There extracted Danes us. I must mention that it helped very Bergenser that brought to my surprise spoke a completely effortless cut rendering standard German . Howard suffered at this time of frantic fear of flying , accompanied tactical self-medication . Nilsen hung in gitarkameratslig solidarity and feed the butterflies with refreshing beer .

Tønder characterized by day - before - expectations. The legend Pete Seeger would arrive the next day. We got to the festival musician tents for accreditation and " Access All Areas " bracelet. Banjos , fiddles and guitars resounded from all corners . Guinness and Tuborg . Musicians , journalists , friends , known and unknown , everyone would pat us on the back. We who would act with folk music major father. Howard had already decided to go on stage with Nilsen. Here we talk constantly solidarity. "Once Guitar Buddy - Always Guitar Dude ! ". It began to dawn on me what I was before . I sank into my own in this sweat steeped in music and people.

My first encounter with Pete Seeger was in early childhood. A single channel NRK- fifties . When he came out like a sound from a radio. The radio was in a small apartment in central Oslo . Mother woke us with it. " Morning Melodies " offered much Norwegian post-war longing for America. Pat Boone sang " Love Letters In The Sand ". Billy Waughn Orchestra with " Sail Along Silvery Moon " in double saksofontapning with it that could be applied to the sound. My young ears started to become acute by the astonishingly fresh sound of a high male tenor and banjo . Pete Seeger .

As a young teenager I began to look for the sound. In Ila public and secondary school got woodwork . I made at its head which I had only heard and seen in picture: a banjo .

A 5 -string banjo triangle gradually arose in the 60s Ila in Oslo. Only in quarters between Alexander Kielland space and St.Hanshaugen we could count the number of practitioners. Young Kari Svendsen , both the banjo student and girlfriend. In and through her ​​street came several people . Some visited the group Folque . We talked a lot in these streets of Pete Seeger and his banjo . Techniques such as " frailing ", " clawhammer " and " Scruggs Picking " was the vernacular . In Akersveien we discovered that St. Olaf Bookstore took the plates from Folkways Records, and we found Seegers circuit . For example, his pal Woody Guthrie , view and vagabond poet who wrote America's second national anthem , " This Land Is Your Land" . In fact , some of the guys in the street who wrote the letter to Woody . We had heard that he was affected by Huntington's disease at a hospital in Brooklyn. And we got a response from his wife Majorie , who greeted us from Woody .

As I write this I hear the black voice of Aretha Franklin. She twists the words of the song " If I Had A Hammer ." About the hammer strikes the lawless , at which call for freedom and love between brothers and sisters. If possible, at least as strong as the soul legend Sam Cooke recording. And think of the contrast , Marlene Dietrich's legendary version of Pete Seeger's "Where Have All The Flowers Gone " in German , " Sag Mir wo die Blumen Sind "!

Too many hear an artist sing a song without thinking that it actually had never been sung without someone had written it. Pete says he got the idea of ​​the flowers from some lines in Mikail Sjolokhovs novel " Quiet flows the Don ". Hammer song originated in the minds of Pete and his singing mate Lee Hays, who by the way in a television interview in his old age expressed the wish to have his ashes scattered in the compost heap in their garden . Something that actually came true .

Tønder - morning hit Nilsen like a bomb of stage fright and stinging sunlight. Howard and I down in the breakfast room of the hotel. There sits my Danish colleagues , singer Lars Lilholt with musician Øyvind Ougaard . The latter is an eternal jester who rarely lets Lillebjørn in peace. Ougaard pointing behind me at the front desk and screaming : " Little Bear, now get him there, Pete Seeger ! You must greet him. Nuh ! ". I groan . Before I know it , comes this Danish vocal musician ramp range with my soul and musician living idol . Pete takes his time . And I wake up during the conversation.

The festival tent waiting thousands of happy faces. Danmarks Radio rigged their TV cameras . Toshi Seeger , Pete's wife , has been on the scene. She made ​​a drawing. She knows where to sit. A semicircle with Pete in the middle. Scene Teacher says , " Now ! ".

We sing . " Pay Me My Money Down ". Pete says : " And now I want little bear here ," . He points towards the front of the stage . Danish TV, 5000 audience and stage technicians respond. The past comes rushing with microphones . Pete promises banjo and larynx :

Oh to be in Oleanna , that's were I'd like to ask

Than be bound in Norway and drag the chains of slavery

The audience responds with the refrain :

Ole- ole - ana ! Ole- ole - ana !

Pete looks at me , and I sing with unknown powers :

Yes, in Oleanna far nor will I be

Thanx longer in Norway my slave link carrying

My brain puts the hard disk spinning rotation. I remember the lyrics! " Oleanna " is a blacksmith show on Ole Bull's spacious plans for a new homeland for Norwegian emigrants in Pennsylvania. Written by a newspaper man in Bergen, Dietmar Meidel in 1853. I think I've never sung it in Norway . On some shows in the Midwest. The funny thing is that the song is virtually unknown at home. With Seegers English words is the well-known and popular among all children in the United States, himself " The Summer Camp Song " holiday camp song.

After the concert a smiling Pete Seeger approached me. He showed interest in my Norwegian willow flute . So I gave it to him. I also took the chance to give him my song book , " Words and music by Little Nilsen ." I pointed out on page 44 His song " My Rainbow Race " in Norwegian , "Children of the Rainbow ". Pete smiles : " I ​​look forward to go trough your book ! ".

We end the festival by singing " We Shall Overcome " with Pete on elpiano ! The great bluegrass musician Eric Weissberg , known for banjo theme of " Picnic with death," sobbed next to me, " There's only one of him in the universe ! ". Back home I get the first postcard . Pete Seeger is excited about my book. And ask if I could be a consultant for his final song and memoir ? Checking language, music , banjo and gitartabulatur ? Obviously I answer yes . The result is "Where Have All The Flowers Gone -A Singer 's Stories , Songs , Seeds , Robberies ." But also a friendship. When I later lived in Chicago , he called to me with a concert in Wisconsin. He would give away half the fee to charity if the organizers could not guarantee an ethnically mixed crowd well .

I used to call Pete on Christmas Eve. There he sat appreciated. He did not use e - mail. Constantly popped his funny , self -designed postcard in my mailbox . After his visit to the "David Letterman Show " a few years back was even a postcard. If I had enough a copy of my book ? Can not find it.

I responded with a phone . Excited , I called after my Scottish colleague Rod Sinclair to recapitulate some of this article.

He says : " Little Bjorn , it was very generous of you two give Pete your flute that time! ".

I answer : " Rod, Pete Seeger liked my flute ! If he had fancied my jacket , I would have given him my jacket . If he had fancied Jan Eggum , I would have given him Jan Eggum . "

• Little Nilsen is a musician and songwriter. A version of this article was published in Dagbladet 11 October 2008. It is reproduced with permission.

Stringcritter - Posted - 02/13/2014:  23:20:43

Pete was my first teacher in the 60s....frailing (clawhammer), basic strumming, and a quick and dirty way to play BG by 1,2,3,1,2,3,1,2,1,2,3,1,2,3,1,2,1,2,3,1,2,3,1,2,... etc.

which made it easy and understandable to find melody in the mix of finger rolls!

I always loved his version of BELLS OF RHYMNEY. (12 string guit.)

He served in the armed forces during WW2, and wrote songs both for and against that war, and the Korean War.

Got his pinkie in a vice with the House on Un-American Activities in the 60s, but was never any threat to the US other than getting people to be sensitive to human destruction and violence.

Thanks, Pete!

outoftune - Posted - 02/25/2014:  16:53:05

Did anyone know that he was a communist? Read the entire article!!

mediatrackers.org/ohio/2014/02...st-ballad

chip arnold - Posted - 02/25/2014:  18:11:49

outoftune ... everyone knows that in his lifelong quest to be the best person he could be, he sojourned into communism for a time. Many others of his generation did as well. Do you know anything about the good that he did during his long and productive life? 

kwl - Posted - 02/25/2014:  18:26:35

I think "was" is the operative word. We all make mistakes. He acknowledged that and went on to other things.

Edited by - kwl on 02/25/2014 18:27:40

From Greylock to Bean Blossom - Posted - 02/25/2014:  18:36:28

quote:

---

Originally posted by outoftune

Did anyone know that he was a communist? Read the entire article!!



mediatrackers.org/ohio/2014/02...st-ballad

---

Yes, he was a communist because he cared about these issues.

1. Racial equality. At this time communism declared racism to be wrong. the USA still had the Jim Crowe laws.

2. Working men receiving an honest days pay for an honest days work. Pete worked tirelessly for the Unions. Communism supported the unions. remember Seeger was seeing poverty of the working class, unemployment, and bad working situations early in his life.

He was not an apologist for Stalin for decades. When he found out the bad things Stalin did, he left the party. Currently I am reading 2 books on Seeger. I think the thing he regretted most in his life was joining the communist party. I don't think his views on the above issues changed.

The article you show, gives a very distorted view of Seeger's life. Read some of the articles on the tribute to Seeger on the BHO Homepage. While I do not agree with much of Seeger's views, I have the greatest respect for his integrity of living what he believed. I believe he tried to make peoples lives better and sacrificed much of his in order to do so. I am a Christian and do know know if Seeger was one. But Seeger said his favorite 4 letter word was love and his 2nd favorite small word was share. If I was able to live just those 2 sentiments as well as Seeger did, I feel I would do a good job of honoring my religion.

Lastly I will ask if you knew that at one time the communist party was a registered party in the USA just like the democrats and republicans? Don's get me wrong, I do not like communism and am not sticking up for it. But Jefferson said that a difference in opinion was not necessarily a difference in principle and I feel that Seeger's principle of trying to do good was exemplary.

ken

raharris - Posted - 02/25/2014:  18:41:42

Politics are right out in this forum! Celebrate the man or ignore the thread, but let's please stay away from politics --