Pete Seeger – Pete Remembers Woody; Pete Seeger & Lorre Wyatt – A More Perfect Union

PETE SEEGER

Pete Remembers Woody

Appleseed

appleseedmusic.com

There have been many worthy recording projects released in 2012 to mark the centennial of Woody Guthrie’s birth on July 14, 1912. Among the most interesting is certainly Pete Remembers Woody, a 2-CD collection mostly made up of stories told by Pete Seeger about the friend he met in New York City in 1940 and their times together. The stories are punctuated by songs, most of them written by Woody Guthrie, most of them previously released, sung by a variety of artists, both contemporary and historical.

The album was assembled by David Bernz, a member of Work O’ the Weavers, a group dedicated to preserving the legacy of the Weavers, the folk music group Pete was a part of in the late-1940s and ‘50s. Over a period of years dating back to the 1990s, David made living room recordings of Pete talking about his history and these reminiscences of Woody are drawn from those recordings.

Although I’ve heard Pete tell some of these stories before – on stage and in various interviews, including several interviews with me – it’s still fascinating to hear all of these stories collected into this aural history. From his first meeting Woody, through their travels together, to stories of how some of the classic songs came to be written, to his last visit with Woody, it is an essential collection for any student of Woody and/or Pete. And, frankly, anyone who wants to understand the development of folk music in the 20th century should be a student of both Woody and Pete. There is much for any lover of folk music to appreciate in Pete’s stories.

Some of Pete’s stories are told on top of music beds variously played by Pete himself, Cathy Fink, Ralph Storm and producer David Bernz.

And, as noted, there are songs spread throughout the two CDs punctuating Pete’s stories. A couple of the tracks, Woody and Cisco Houston singing “New York Town” and the Almanac Singers – a group that included both Pete and Woody – singing “The Sinking of the Reuben James, are from the 1940s. The rest date from recent years and include several each by the Work O’ the Weavers, the Vanaver Caravan, and Steve Kirkman (one of them with Fred Gillen, Jr.). There are also recordings by Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer, Pete & Arlo Guthrie and David Bernz.

As well as the Woody Guthrie songs, there is also a version of Pete Seeger and Lee Hays’ “If I Had a Hammer,” performed by Work O’ the Weavers, and David Bernz also sings an original song, “Woody’s Ghost,” inspired by Woody. “Woody’s Ghost” is heard in three parts at the beginning, middle and end of the project.

PETE SEEGER & LORRE WYATT

A More Perfect Union

Appleseed

appleseedmusic.com

 

Singer and songwriter Lorre Wyatt is best known for such songs as the anthemic “Somos El Barco/We are the Boat,” which has been recorded by such artists as Pete Seeger and Peter, Paul & Mary, and for a number of songwriting collaborations with Pete dating back to the early efforts to clean up the Hudson River. In 1996, Lorre suffered a debilitating stroke that kept him on the sidelines for about 15 years. He has recently begun making music again and is again writing songs with Pete, who, at the age of 93, remains a remarkably vital musical artist.

The 16 songs on A More Perfect Union include 15 co-written by Pete and Lorre, as well as a new version of Lorre’s “Somos El Barco/We are the Boat.” Ten are performed by Pete and Lorre together, some with contributions from significant guest artists, and there are three songs performed by Pete without Lorre and three more by Lorre without Pete.

The tone of the album is established on the first song, “God’s Counting On Me…God’s Counting On You,” a new anthem for these times about communal responsibility for fixing what’s wrong with our contemporary world. The verses are variously sung by Pete, Lorre, Bruce Springsteen and the Rivertown Kids, the group of Beacon, NY school kids who sang with Pete a couple of years ago on Tomorrow’s Children, while a choir of singers harmonizes on the chorus. It’s an inspiring song destined to join the long list of Pete’s essential classics.

The communal spirit of “God’s Counting On Me” continues to be felt on such songs as “A More Perfect Union,” sung by Lorre, Pete and Tom Morello, “Wonderful Friends” and “A Toast to the Times.”

Other highlights include the gorgeous version of “Somos El Barco/We are the Boat” sung by Pete, Lorre and Emmylou Harris, again with a choir of singers on the chorus, and quietly compelling “Bountiful River,” the 10-minute opus which ends the album.

That Lorre was able, 15 years after his stroke, to return to making vital music again, and that Pete has continued to be such a force of nature, music making and songwriting well into his 90s, is nothing less than inspiring.

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--Mike Regenstreif

Pete Seeger -- Tomorrow's Children

PETE SEEGER with THE RIVERTOWN KIDS AND FRIENDS
Tomorrow’s Children
Appleseed Records
peteseeger.net

Despite vocal powers that have diminished with age, Pete Seeger remains a vital activist, song leader and musician. Tomorrow’s Children, most of which features Pete singing with or backing up the Rivertown Kids, a group of 20 school kids from around his hometown of Beacon, New York, as well as some other kids and several adult musical friends, is an inspiring album that captures the great sage of the folk music scene doing something that he’s always loved: singing meaningful songs with members of the generation that will carry on making a difference into the future.

Pete is present on every song – variously as a musician, a chorus-singer or a song leader. But it is his inspiration on the youngsters of the Rivertown Kids – and on the adult contributors, too – that makes this album unique.

The manifesto of the Rivertown Kids is heard in “We Sing Out,” a collective song the kids wrote based on the melody of Tom Paxton’s “Can’t Help But Wonder Where I’m Bound.” The kids reject the notion that they should be seen, not heard, as they declare their interest in protecting the environment, family farms and local communities, their solidarity with the sick and the poor, and their commitment to justice and equality. Their message is repeated in the series of new verses they wrote to “We Shall Not Be Moved,” the old spiritual that Pete helped popularize as a union and civil rights anthem.

Among the adult contributors to the album are Dar Williams and David Bernz, who are heard with Pete on “Solartopia,” a new song inspired by Harvey Wasserman’s book of the same name on green energy; Sarah Underhill, who sings “River,” my favourite Bill Staines song, with Pete; and David Amram and Victorio Roland Mousaa who perform “Mastinchele Wachipi Olewan (The Rabbit Song),” a Lakota round dance song.

Ultimately, I think this album is a step in Pete’s passing of the torch to younger generations. There is a version of “Turn, Turn, Turn” with new children’s verses written by Toshi Seeger (Pete’s wife), and a version of Pete’s classic “Quite Early Morning,” sung with the Rivertown Kids, that says “And so keep on while we live/Until we have no more to give/And when these fingers can strum no longer/Hand the old banjo to young ones stronger.”

Pete wrote “Quite Early Morning” back in the late-1960s. Clearly, he wasn’t ready to give up his banjo or guitar 40-something years ago. Now, at 91, Pete Seeger still has more to give and his fingers continue to keep on strumming. And Pete's still got a firm hand on the torch.

--Mike Regenstreif