Pete Seeger's MerleFest sessions

I've been neglecting the blog for most of the past week while redesigning the main Festival Preview site around the Personal Bee technology. Lots more to do on that front, but I'd better try to catch up with my own postings--especially with Strawberry coming up in a couple of weeks.

Back to MerleFest and for me the biggest highlight, the appearances by Pete Seeger, who is getting lots of ink these days on the strength of Bruce Springsteen's new Seeger Sessions project. Seeger turned 87 a couple of days after MerleFest, but he seemed just as spry as he was back in the day. It may be a function of one's own age relative to a performer's: He was an elder statesman when I was a youngster, and now that I've been around the block more than a few times he doesn't seem a lot older.

I suspect that's true for other fans, since most of the adults at his MerleFest kid's stage performance (who outnumbered kids by a large margin) looked on with childlike expressions as he performed many of his classic songs. Seeger was accompanied for this set, one of his several MerleFest appearances, by his grandson, Tao Rodriguez-Seeger, a member of The Mammals, which also played the festival.

Altogether it was a family affair, with half brother Mike Seeger also on the program. The two elder Seegers were interviewed on stage in one of the small indoor venues, but I was unable to get inside for that session. Pete was also featured in the Endless Skyway Woody Guthrie tribute.