Pete Seeger dead at 94.

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Folk musician Pete Seeger, a voice of the civil rights and workers rights movements has passed away from natural causes. A member of the Communist Party when such affiliation in the '50's could have destroyed his career, he had been held in contempt of congress when he had refused to squeal on his friends before the House On UnAmerican Activities Committee. I admit, I would never have known who this brave, colorful man even was, had I not seen him interviewed by Stephen Colbert on The Colbert Report.
God speed, brave sir.

http://seattletimes.com/html/nationworl ... eeger.html

^ an article that tells about Pete.


...........rest in peace..........

He is a major figure in pop music. A member of the Weavers, and along with friends Woody Guthrie, and Leadbelly they pretty much started the whole folk music scene. Kinda to folk what Elvis and the Beatles are to Rocknroll.

When the country singer Emmylou Harris was an unknown teen music student in Alabama in the Fifties she wrote a letter to the already iconic Pete Seeger asking for advice. She worried that she "hadnt suffered enough to be a folk singer". Seeger actually wrote her back - and said "dont worry about suffering-life will happened to you- just stick with your music". Which she did. Switching from folk to a folk-inflected style of country she broke into fame while performing in clubs around here in DC in the early Seventies. Just a random anectdote that popped into my head.


Rest in peace.

When I hear songs that move me,I always make a point of finding out who wrote them. When you discover that many of the best songs were written by the same people,like Pete Seeger,you realise how influential they've been.
A time to live and a time to die - but his influence will live on.