I was saddened to read in today’s Bluegrass Blog of the passing of roots musician extraordinaire Mike Seeger.
Half-brother to the more famous Pete Seeger, Mike was one of those people who loved old-time music and the people who played it. He was a great musical scholar who worked to expand the audience for American roots music. I had the chance to hear him play live on a couple of occasions after he moved to Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, and he was just one of the giants in the field.
I found this wonderful clip on You Tube of Seeger talking about – and then playing – Elizabeth Cotten’s classic Freight Train.
Rest in peace.
More to come…
DJB
P.S. – An update: Here’s the posting on Seeger from the always informative, The Music’s Over But the Songs Live On blog.
Filed under: Acoustic Music, Bluegrass Music, Random DJB Thoughts | Tagged: Acoustic Music, Bluegrass Music, Mike Seeger, Roots Music, The Bluegrass Blog |
A great man with a great sound. I took a banjo workshop from Mike in Berkeley two years ago and was deeply inspired. He will be missed.