Peggy Seeger’s “Three Score and Ten” musical party
PERFORMER: Peggy Seeger
CD: “Peggy Seeger Three Score and Ten: 70th Birthday Celebration Live at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London”
For a concert to mark her 70th birthday, Peggy Seeger was joined by some of England’s top folk and traditional musicians. If the name sounds familiar, it ought to be. She is the younger sister of folklorist and musician Mike Seeger, and older sister of folk legend Pete. Her father was the renowned 20th century musicologist Charles Seeger. Seeger moved to England in the late 50s and was married to the late English traditional singer Ewan MacColl.
Recorded on May 29, 2005, Seeger is joined in this live performance by Billy Bragg, Eliza Carthy, Martin Carthy, her children Calum, Kitty and Neill MacColl, Irene Pyper-Scott and Norma Waterson. Seeger is quite at home with traditional material, such as “Hangman,” but she is also a songwriter. On “Che Guevara,” she reworks the lovely cadences of the old English melody “The Banks of Sweet Primroses.” She breaks out the banjo for a fine rendition of “The Logan County Jail,” from the singing of J.D. James of Williamson. Her late husband wrote the classic “First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.” Seeger gives it an understandably very emotional performance here.
This double CD is well-recorded, and Seeger fans of all stripes will find it enjoyable listening.
GET IT: Appleseed Recordings, P.O. Box 2593 West Chester, PA., or on the Web at www.applseedrec.com
– By Paul Gartner
