Born on May 3, 1919, banjo-playing folk singer Pete Seeger helped lead the mid-century folk revival and his accomplishments resulted in two Recording Academy Lifetime Achievement Awards, as an individual in 1993 and as a member of the pioneering folk group the Weavers in 2006. On May 3, 2019, Seeger's centenary, Smithsonian Folkways will release a six-CD set spanning his vast career, including 20 previously unreleased songs and a 200-page commemorative book.
Seeger's political activism is embodied in his two songs in the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame. His 1963 recording of "We Shall Overcome" helped propel the song to prominence. By 1965 when President Lyndon B. Johnson called for civil rights legislation on national television, he used those powerful words saying, "And we shall overcome." Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) was sitting beside Martin Luther King Jr. at the time and said MLK wiped away a tear as he heard the phrase. That song was inducted into the GHOF in 1999, followed in 2002 by Seeger's 1964 recording of "Where Have All The Flowers Gone." Seeger wrote most of that song in 1955, inspired by tales of war and the thought, "When will we ever learn?" By 1964, with some new additions, the song was an anthem of the growing protest movement against U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. Both songs exemplify what Seeger and his music stood for, but they are only two examples from the troubador's remarkable 60-year career.
Pete Seeger: The Smithsonian Folkways Collection is available for pre-order at the Smithsonian Folkways' website. His work lives on, inspiring artists to create music that urges people to make the world a better place.
