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Mike Seeger & Peggy Seeger

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Mike Seeger & Peggy Seeger
Fly Down Little Bird

(2011)

Reviews

“. . .A deeply touching coda to an abiding musical and family relationship.” – Gary von Tersch, Sing Out!

“There are stories of love, travel, and people from a bygone time. While the production is crisp, the music reflects the era it represents. Songs such as ‘Where Have You Been, My Good Old Man,’ ‘My Home’s Across the Blue Ridge Mountains,’ ‘Jennie Jenkins,’ ‘Red River Jig,’ and 10 more are all nice introductions to an underappreciated music form. . . . a final gift from the duo of Mike and Peggy Seeger.” – David Bowling, Blogcritics.com (nationally syndicated)

“. . . a fun collection of tunes the Seeger siblings grew up on. . . . Lovers of old-time music will totally enjoy these songs. . . . All told, these 14 songs will bring listeners back to what some folks like to think of as simpler (read: better) times.” – Michael Mechanic, Mother Jones

“. . . The album captures the pure, simple sounds of traditional folk music, with its acoustic instruments and sincere lyrics, often tongue-in-cheek. . . . A valuable resource that captures songs – some long-forgotten – that are an important part of America’s musical history.” – Bob Etier, Technorati

“. . . A wonderful album of traditional songs . . . These are the last recordings that Mike made and he and Peggy have left us with a rare memento of Mike’s life and devotion to traditional music. Almost every type of folk song imaginable is represented. . . all beautifully sung as you would expect from siblings who first sang the songs together as young children some seventy years ago. . . . The combination of Mike and Peggy singing together is especially pleasing throughout the CD, with Peggy's voice adding a sparkle to Mike's more deeply textured singing. . . .  I highly recommend that you go right out and get this CD, put on the headphones, and sit down with liner notes in hand to enjoy a special treat.” – Tim MeElhannan, No Depression.com

“. . . A lovely album . . .  A purely heartfelt traditional folk record that overrides all the clichés and delivers the goods, this should be a sure category Grammy winner . . . It doesn’t get any more honest and down homey than this and it’s a lovely look at a lost art.  Check it out for a wonderful journey through the south and the mountains. A winner all the way.” – Chris Spector, Midwest Record

“. . . There’s a genuine feel for the nuances of Southern music that goes way beyond nostalgia. Both are skilled on banjo and guitar, Mike’s airy fiddle adding a real touch of the Blue Ridge yonder.” – Rob Hughes, Uncut, UK

“Save for ‘Red River Jig,’ a Canadian fiddle tune and the album’s lone instrumental, the songs are all rooted in Southern Appalachian song traditions. They include versions – great performances all – of such familiar songs as ‘Cindy,’ ‘The Dodger Song,’ ‘My Home’s Across the Blue Ridge Mountains’ and ‘Little Birdie.’ Mike and Peggy know just how to communicate the essence of these songs so that they seems as relevant now as they did 60 or more years ago when they first sang them, or in the lost times and places in which they were first sung in the kitchens and on the front porches of the rural South. . . . this collaboration . . . is something very special.”

– Mike Regenstreif, Folk Roots/Folk Branches blog

"This is a touching and prescient album from two great treasures of the American folk left. (Political album of the week)” – Kyle Forrest, JSI Top 21.com, syndicated

“We all owe Peggy a debt for making possible this lovely, inevitably bittersweet final bow. The singing is warm and unadorned, played straightforwardly on elemental downhome instruments . . . If this is Mike Seeger's last word, it is a true one.” – Jerome Clark, Rambles.NET

“. . . A warm-hearted little gem. . . . There's a lovely intimacy about these recordings, a genuine feeling of being totally at-one with these songs that have naturally become a part of the singers' psyches. . . . You won't ever hear the songs done better or more authentically. . . . Accompaniments are varied too, with superbly skilled use of banjos, guitars, lap dulcimer and harmonica. . . . Hey now, don't you miss out on this treasurable disc.” – David Kidman, NetRhythms, UK

“. . . there's something beguilingly heart-warming about the acoustic simplicity with which they deliver hardy old favourites like 'The Farmer is the Man,' 'Cindy' and ‘Poor Little Turtle Dove.'" – Colin Irwin, Mojo, UK

 

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