Turn, Turn, Turn...

Getting through the last, bitterly cold week of January wasn't made any easier upon hearing the news that Pete Seeger had died. "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" "If I Had a Hammer," "We Shall Overcome": the legendary folk musician, who lived to age 94, touched generations with the warmth of his music and message.

Pete Seeger in Schenectady, May 2013.
Photo by Jeremy Clowe.

I must admit that Seeger wasn't really on my radar until after I met my wife, and Bruce Springsteen released his Seeger Sessions album in 2006. Unlike Sarah, I did not grow up with much of an awareness of folk music, apart from singing such songs as "Kumbaya" or "This Land Is Your Land" in school or church functions. She and I started attending folk concerts quite regularly, and I began to better appreciate the history, power and communal nature of the music.

In 2009 we trekked out to Rhode Island, to attend the 50th anniversary of the Newport Folk Festival. In addition to such acts as Billy Bragg, Fleet Foxes, and The Decemberists, I was excited to finally see Pete Seeger perform—it seemed fitting to have the man on the bill, since he was one of the festival's first performers and founders. It was truly a special moment when the man took the stage, leading the assembled in a spirited sing-along of such standards as "This Little Light of Mine" and "Guantanamera"—I think even the most jaded concert-goer let down their guard and joined in, feeling like they were transported back to their early school days by the end of his set.

Pete Seeger and grandson Tao Rodriguez-Seeger
teach the crowd to sing at the 50th anniversary of
Newport Folk Festival, August 1, 2009.
Photo by Jeremy Clowe.

Seeger seemed at once relentless, optimistic, and humble; he never stopped believing in the power of music to bring people together. Through his talent and idealism, he called attention to social justice, civil rights, and the environment. As someone with deep ties to New York's Hudson Valley, I appreciate what Seeger was able to achieve through his Hudson River Sloop Clearwater organization, helping to bring awareness to and restore much of the polluted river. I understand that he visited Norman Rockwell Museum back in 1996, the same year he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, to perform during a benefit concert for the cleaning up of the nearby Housatonic River; as internationally known as he was, he found equal time to connect with the local stage. 

Sarah and I felt fortunate to see the artist perform one last time, during an intimate concert with his sister Peggy at Schenectady's Proctors Theater last year. Still nimble on the banjo and singing with conviction, he was a gentle and hopeful inspiration.

Pete and Peggy Seeger sharing the spirit of music at Proctors,
Schenectady, NY, May 12, 2013. Photo by Jeremy Clowe. 

When asked this past week to name my favorite Seeger song, I had to choose "Turn! Turn! Turn!" which he wrote back in the late 1950s. The lyrics were adapted from the Bible's Book of Ecclesiastes: "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven," one of my grandmother's favorite scriptures. When she fell ill a few years ago, I remember singing the song to her at her bedside, unselfconscious of the nursing home setting. It seemed an appropriate way to further honor her at her memorial service once she passed—strumming my guitar, joined in song by my future wife, it was harder to get through than I imagined... but hopefully I managed to properly express the beautiful spirit of Pete's song.