Pete Seeger

The 37th Annual Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony take place on Saturday, November 5, 2022 at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, California. This year’s Performer Inductees are Pat Benatar, Duran Duran, Eminem, Eurythmics, Dolly Parton, Lionel Richie, and Carly Simon. Judas Priest and Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis will receive the Musical Excellence Award, Harry Belafonte and Elizabeth Cotten the Early Influence Award, and Allen Grubman, Jimmy Iovine, and Sylvia Robinson the Ahmet Ertegun Award.

Powerful music leaps from the air and can change the actual world. At the Newport Folk Festivals in the early 1960s, the molecules were electric with rebellion and democracy, with anger and hope. Musicians drove that change — Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and Pete Seeger but also banjo players from coal country, remote Georgia gospel artists, rural Canadian fishermen, and the opportunities created for the urban kids to mingle with those they’d not ordinarily encounter.

“If there’s hope for the human race, there’s hope for the Hudson.” —Pete Seeger In the summer of 1969, legendary folk singer Pete Seeger launched the Clearwater, a 19th-century-style sloop with a singing crew of musicians and activists. His intention was to raise awareness of pollution in the Hudson River and to petition legislation that addressed the then-burgeoning climate crisis. Over 50 years later, the Clearwater remains an interactive environmental classroom—or, in its builder’s words, “a carnival, museum, and showboat all wrapped into one.” Featuring rare interviews with Seeger himself, Down by the Riverside is a beautiful, stirring tribute to the communities of people who continue to restore and preserve this elegant symbol of the Hudson Valley. As a local story of local heroism, this documentary is an inspiring reminder of all that can be accomplished when ordinary people work on behalf of their history and environment. —Ben Rendich

It is happening all across America-rural landowners wake up one day to find a lucrative offer from an energy company wanting to lease their property. Reason? The company hopes to tap into a reservoir dubbed the "Saudi Arabia of natural gas." Halliburton developed a way to get the gas out of the ground-a hydraulic drilling process called "fracking"-and suddenly America finds itself on the precipice of becoming an energy superpower.

After discovering the family of Solomon Linda, the writer of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight," a reporter tries to help them fight for fair compensation.

From civil rights to the anti-war movement to the struggles of workers, folksinger Phil Ochs wrote topical songs that engaged his audiences in the issues of the 1960s and 70s. In this biographical documentary, veteran director Kenneth Bowser shows how Phil's music and his fascinating life story and eventual decline into depression and suicide were intertwined with the history-making events that defined a generation. Even as his contemporaries moved into folk-rock and pop music, Phil followed his own vision, challenging himself and his listeners. Not one to pull punches, Ochs never achieved the commercial success he desperately desired. But his music remains relevant, reaching new audiences in a generation that finds his themes all too familiar.

The Banjo Project is a cross-media cultural odyssey: a major television documentary, a live stage/multi-media performance, and a website that chronicle the journey of America’s quintessential instrument—the banjo—from its African roots to the 21st century. It’s a collaboration between Emmy-winning writer-producer Marc Fields and banjo virtuoso Tony Trischka (the Project’s Music Director), one of the most acclaimed acoustic musicians of his generation.

In the summer of 1964, more than 700 students descended on violent, segregated Mississippi. Defying authorities, they registered voters, created freedom schools, and established the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. Fifty years later, eyewitness accounts and never-before-seen archival material tell their story. Not all of them would make it through.

In 1970, three years following his death from Huntington’s disease, an all-star cast of musicians gathered at Los Angeles, CA’s Hollywood Bowl to pay homage to iconic folk songwriter Woody Guthrie. Although the concert was a one-night-only event , four-time Emmy Award-winner Jim Brown filmed the historic Woody Guthrie All-Star Tribute Concert 1970, which included performances by Arlo Guthrie, Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, Country Joe McDonald, Odetta, Richie Havens, Ramblin’ Jack Elliot, Earl Robinson, and The Band, along with narration by actors Will Geer and Peter Fonda.

Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme was openly shot to death on a February evening 1986 on the streets of Stockholm. In one night, the country of Sweden was transfigured. “Palme” is about his life, his time, and about the Sweden he had created. About a man who altered history.

55 years ago Pete Seeger didn't name names at the McCarthy hearings and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Out on appeal, blacklisted, watched by the FBI, he buys an old camera. With his wife Toshi, they start filming their musician friends. After several years of making small films, they decide to take the family around-the-world to film musicians in the most remote corners of the earth. The historic 16mm footage is intercut with modern day interviews of the family as they lend insight into a time & place that doesn't exist today. Part travelogue, part musical odyssey, part ethnocentric dream, "Pete and Toshi Get a Camera" will take you places you would never have imagined.

The story of the American music dynasty, the Carters and Cashes, and their decades-long influence on popular music.

Explores the music scene in Greenwich Village, New York in the '60s and early '70s. The film highlights some of the finest singer/songwriters of the day.

Big Bill Broonzy would inspire a generation of musicians, yet he was not the man they believed him to be. This first, very intimate, biography of the pioneering bluesman uncovers the mystery of who Broonzy really was and follows his remarkable and colorful journey from the racist Deep South to the clubs of Chicago and all across the world. With contributions from Pete Seeger, Ray Davies, Keith Richards, Martin Carthy, John Renbourn, and members of the Broonzy family. Broonzy's own words are read by Clarke Peters.

A chronicle of Bob Dylan's strange evolution between 1961 and 1966 from folk singer to protest singer to "voice of a generation" to rock star.

A public celebration of the inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States of America at the Lincoln Memorial and the National Mall in Washington D.C., on January 18, 2009.

With the help of her mother, family, friends, and fellow musicians, Aiyana Elliott reaches for her father, legendary cowboy troubadour, Ramblin' Jack Elliott. She explores who he is and how he got there, working back and forth between archival and contemporary footage. Born in 1932 in Brooklyn, busking through the South and West in the early 50s, a year with Woody Guthrie, six years flatpicking in Europe, a triumphant return to Greenwich Village in the early 60s, mentoring Bob Dylan, then life on the road, from gig to gig, singing and telling stories. A Grammy and the National Medal of Arts await Jack near the end of a long trail. What will Aiyana find for herself?

Every American who has listened to the radio knows Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land." The music of the folk singer/songwriter has been recorded by everyone from the Mormon Tabernacle Choir to U2. Originally blowing out of the Dust Bowl in Depression-era America, he blended vernacular, rural music and populism to give voice to millions of downtrodden citizens. Guthrie's music was politically leftist, uniquely patriotic and always inspirational.

Interviews, archival footage and home movies are used to illustrate a social history of folk artist and activist Pete Seeger.

An unvarnished chronicle of Bob Dylan's metamorphosis from folk to rock musician via appearances at the Newport Folk Festival between 1963 and 1965.

THE INTERNATIONALE draws on people's stories of an emotionally charged radical song (the long-time anthem of socialism and communism) to celebrate the relationship between music and social change, and to evaluate the uncertain fate of once thriving movements of the left.

The history of the irreverent "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour" and the content battles it fought with its television network.

Documentary about Charles Olson, exploring his life and the significance of Gloucester, Massachusetts.

In September of 2004 at the Toronto Film Festival, the Weavers sang together for possibly the last time.

A special concert celebrating the music of children's music entertainer Ella Jenkins, based on the Grammy award-winning album.

This fascinating program tells the story of the music and artists that have influenced Bob Dylan throughout his career. Although his reputation as a songwriter stands supreme, Dylan has often covered tracks from vintage blues, folk and country performers or incorporated elements from them into his own material. "Down The Tracks" explores the lives and work of many of these artists and how Dylan interacted with them through archive performance and interview footage alongside new interviews and documentary material.

In 1937, after seeing a photo depicting the lynching of a black man in the south, Bronx-born high school teacher Abel Meeropol wrote a poem entitled "Strange Fruit" that begins with the words: "Southern trees bear a strange fruit / Blood on the leaves and blood at the root." He set the poem to music and a few years later convinced Billy holiday to record it in a legendary heartbreaking performance. Intertwining jazz genealogy, biography, performance footage, and the history of lynching, director Joel Katz fashions a fascinating discovery of the lost story behind a true American classic. Written by Excerpted from Coolidge Corner Theatre Program Update

A Sigh and a Wish tells the story of pioneer folklorist Helen Creighton and of the enduring appeal of her remarkable collections of song and story. Creighton helped define Maritime culture as we know it. Thanks to her, folk songs moved out of the kitchens and the fishing boats and into the mainstream. Top contemporary Maritime musicians - talents like Mary Jane Lamond and Lennie Gallant - describe how deeply they have been influenced by Creighton. For 60 years, Creighton sought out ghost stories, superstitions and tales of buried treasure, as well as songs handed down from generation to generation: fishing songs, work songs, love songs. Timeless songs. A Sigh and a Wish is a moving tribute to the genius of a self-taught folklorist and to the continuing strength of the deep oral traditions she helped preserve. But it also raises important questions. Does Creighton's collection truly reflect Maritime culture, or is it tinged by her own upper-middle-class assumptions?

For some 30 years, they embodied "country blues" for folk music audiences around the globe. Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee were once ubiquitous, and as such tended to be taken for granted in the halcyon days of the 1960s blues rediscoveries. But nearly two decades have passed since the perennial team parted, and the 16 performances here remind us of this superb duo's complementary strengths.

Big Bird and his pals are making musical mayhem as they sing the goofiest, nuttiest, silliest songs ever. Join in with Sesame Street favorites Oscar, Ernie, the Count, and more as they tickle your funny bone with tunes like, "Everything in the Wrong Place Ball," "Mary Had a Bicycle," and more. James Taylor drops by to sing "Jellyman Kelly," and Jeremy Irons, Jane Curtin, and Paul Simon lead an all-star cast of celebrities in the showstopper, "Put Down the Duckie." Songs: The Honker-Duckie-Dinger Jamboree; Ladybug Picnic; Jellyman Kelly; Wavin' Goodbye to You with My Heart; Old MacDonald Cantata; Everything in the Wrong Place Ball; One Banana; Calcutta Joe; Mary Had a Bicycle; Ten Tiny Turtles on the Telephone; Put Down the Duckie.

Paul Robeson: Here I Stand presents the life and achievements of an extraordinary man. Athlete, singer, and scholar, Robeson was also a charismatic champion of the rights of the poor working man, the disfranchised and people of color. He led a life in the vanguard of many movements, achieved international acclaim for his music and suffered tremendous personal sacrifice. His story is one of the great dramas of the 20th century, spanning an international canvas of social upheaval and ideological controversy.

When a young couple buys a contested home at auction from the U.S. government for $5,400, they become involved in a political and moral battle much larger than what they originally bargained for.

Tribute concert held in 1987 at Carnegie Hall (and later televised on PBS), commemorating Harry Chapin's posthumous receipt of the Congressional Medal of Honor for his humanitarian efforts. Featuring songs and speeches by Harry's friends, family and peers.

Biographical notes on the American singer, actor and civil rights activist Paul Robeson (1898-1976). At the height of his fame and skill, Robeson’s career was cut short by Cold War anti-communist hysteria. This documentary includes historic footage of the US civil rights movement; clips of Robeson’s speeches, performances and visits to East Germany (GDR) and the Soviet Union; and interviews with his son, Paul Robeson Jr., and the musicians and activists Harry Belafonte, Pete Seeger and Earl Robinson. Co-produced by the GDR’s DEFA Studio for Documentary Film and the West Berlin production company Chronos, with scenes shot in the U.S.

Chronicles the 50-year career of singer/songwriter Jean Ritchie, from Viper, Kentucky to the New York stage. Pete Seeger, Arlo Guthrie, and her family and friends in Eastern Kentucky are among those interviewed. A 1996 KET production.

A warmhearted memorial to the folk singer whose songs galvanized organizers and guitar-pickers across the United States. Part biography, part travelogue and part hootenanny, it follows the singer's son, Arlo Guthrie, as he retraces his father's steps and collects reminiscences from his father's family, friends and musical partners.

The stars come out on Sesame Street in this fun-filled video featuring the show's most memorable moments. Sing-along in this star-studded celebration!

A unique documentary that looks at the political activities of the American Communist Party in the early to mid-twentieth century.

Documentary on the life of Woody Guthrie, the travelling songwriter and singer who paved the way for the likes of Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen.

Izzy Young was the guru of American folk music. In this documentary covering his legendary Folklore Center in New York Izzy meets with friends and collaborators like Pete Seeger, Allen Ginsberg, The Fugs, Mayor Ed Koch to reminisce. Includes unique archival footage and folk music from the 1960s.

Documentary about the blacklisted folk group The Weavers, and the events leading up to their triumphant return to Carnegie Hall.

A concert program about the current development of the free Latin American music presented by a wide range of artists, performers and groups from around the countries of the continent.

A concert featuring singer-songwriter Arlo Guthrie. Performing from Austin, Texas, the folk-singer is joined by guest artists.

In this documentary, Pete Seeger is caught in a relaxed mood in and outside his cottage outside New York in an excellent video produced by Jim Downing

Documentary about the life of folk singer Phil Ochs.

Born in the coalfields of eastern Kentucky, Gunning suffered a life of bitter poverty which became the fuel for dozens of moving songs about working people, the mines, and the great coal strikes of the twenties and thirties. In Mimi Pickering's 1988 film, Gunning's a cappella roots music is intercut throughout the interviews and archival footage

The story of three wildly neurotic characters: a facially disfigured girl, a homosexual paraplegic, and an introvert epileptic who, after leaving the hospital, set up housekeeping together in a cottage where they support each other.

A tribute concert honoring the life of legendary folksinger Phil Ochs recorded at the Madison Square Garden's Felt Forum in 1976.

Full concert recorded live at Wolf Trap, VA for PBS broadcast. Arlo and Pete are joined onstage by the band Shanandoah on many of their well-loved Folk classics, across their long careers.

A farmer wanted words to go with the tune he was playing when he saw a frog sitting on the bank of the stream. The frog did something silly which gave the farmer the words for his song. The farmer went to the corner store to sing his song for people there.

This classic documentary made by director Robert Elfstrom shows Pete Seeger as a fighter for human rights through songs such as I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night and If I Had a Hammer as environmentalist with a sequence showing him navigating the Clearwater sloop to clean up the Hudson River as an unyielding anti-Vietnam War activist, who denounced the war most famously, with Waist Deep in the Big Muddy and with the poignant Where Have All the Flowers Gone? Elfstrom's film was made when Seeger was still blacklisted by major media organisations because of his opposition to the war in Vietnam and one scene shows Pete with Johnny Cash, when Cash, who admired him tremendously, defied his network to feature him on The Johnny Cash Show.

After getting kicked out of college, Arlo decides to visit his friend Alice for Thanksgiving dinner. After dinner is over, Arlo volunteers to take the trash to the dump but finds it closed for the holiday, so he dumps the trash in the bottom of a ravine. This act of littering gets him arrested and sends him on a bizarre journey.

Black and white footage of performances, interviews, and conversations at the Newport Folk Festival, from 1963 to 1966. The headliners are Peter, Paul and Mary, Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, and Bob Dylan, who's acoustic and electric. Son House and Mike Bloomfield talk about the blues; John Hurt, Howlin' Wolf, and Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee show its range. The Osborne Brothers perform bluegrass. Donovan, Johnny Cash, Judy Collins, Mimi and Dick Farina, and others less well known also perform. Several talk musical philosophy, and there's a running commentary about the nature and appeal of folk music. The crowd looks clean cut.

Three of the top folksinger-composers - Tom Paxton, Phil Ochs, and Buffy Sainte-Marie - are featured here. These are the new "city" folksingers whose songs are strictly topical, commenting on the political and social issues of the day. Pete Seeger, an earlier singer in a similar tradition, talks about what the younger singer-composers are attempting to do and about their forerunners, such as Woody Guthrie and Aunt Molly Jackson.

THE STREETS OF GREENWOOD (1962), looks at voter registration efforts by the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)and a concert in a cotton field in the Mississippi Delta. One of the first films made about the southern civil rights movement

A look into those convicted by the House Un-American Activities Committee

A short film about Pete Seeger and the birth of banjo music throughout the Southern United States.

At the risk of a 5-year prison term, Francesco Da Vinci struggles with his Virginia draft board to be recognized as a sincere conscientious objector to the Vietnam war.

The Family of musician Peter Seeger and filmmaker Toshi Seeger celebrate the season of Christmas by making home made wrapping paper. Their daughter Mika Seeger describes how the process is done.