Description

It is not an overstatement to call Pete Seeger one of our greatest living Americans, let alone one of the most important musicians of our time. His life’s work – carrying music, social comment, and heart-lifting entertainment around the globe – has made a difference, whether his songs are sung in kindergartens or on the political barricades.

On At 89, Pete’s first CD since his “Pete and Friends” disc on the Grammy-nominated 2003 Seeds: The Songs of Pete Seeger, Vol. 3 2-CD set, the peaceful warrior for human dignity surveys the progress that’s been made during his nine-decade lifetime and what still needs to be done to create a society of equals and to assure continued world survival.

Lovingly sequenced by producer/musician David Bernz, At 89 seamlessly segues similarly themed songs into organic suites, using brief solo instrumentals and spoken introductions by Pete as links. After the comfortable opening amble of Pete’s “Nameless Banjo Riff,” Seeger acknowledges on “False From True,” above Perry Robinson’s sardonic clarinet, that he’s now of an age (“no longer young”) when it’s time to reassess what’s left to do – separating false from true, more important now than ever. He is appropriately joined on the next few songs of welcome and fellowship (“Now We Sit Us Down,” “Visions of Children,” “Wonderful Friends”) by the voices of his fellow Hudson River Valley, New York, musicians and friends, who are also heard singing and making music throughout the CD, adding to its sense of community. Among the contributing musicians are the members of Work o’ the Weavers, a quartet (which includes Bernz) devoted to the repertoire and spirit of Pete’s long gone but much-loved group; the Walkabout Clearwater Chorus; the After Hours Quartet; the Hudson River Sloop Singers; violinist Sara Milonovich, and other guests.

“The Water is Wide,” a soothing duet between recorder and 12-string guitar, both played by Pete, provides the transition to the next set of songs (“It’s a Long Haul,” “Throw Away That Shad Net,” “Song of the World’s Last Whale,” “If It Can’t Be Reduced,” “The First Settlers”), which address two of Pete’s leading concerns – ecology and peaceful coexistence. The tragic uselessness of war (“When I Was Most Beautiful,” sung by Sonya Cohen, Pete’s niece; “Bach at Treblinka”) is lightened by a version of The Weavers’ old favorite, “Tzena, Tzena, Tzena,” that adds a hopeful mingling of recently added Arabic lyrics to the existing verses in Hebrew and English. The last segment of the CD circles back to the dangers of blind obedience (a new rendition of the Vietnam, and now Iraq, War parable, “Waist Deep in the Big Muddy”), and the need for personal involvement necessary to save our planet from ourselves (“Or Else!” “Arrange and Re-arrange,” “If This World Survives”). There’s a particularly poignant moment on “Little Fat Baby,” one of the 26 tracks never previously recorded by Pete, when he confronts his own mortality: “Someday, we’ll be saying so long/Someday, it’ll be time for me to move on.”

But that day hasn’t yet arrived. Pete is still sowing the seeds of peace and justice, whether inspiring Bruce Springsteen to carry on his legacy of musical tradition and personal activism or getting a classroom of school kids to sing songs in other languages and to think about their own roles in changing society for the better.

tracklist

1. Nameless Banjo Riff
2. False From True
3. Now We Sit Us Down
4. Pete’s greeting (spoken)
5. Visions of Children
6. Wonderful Friends
7. The Water is Wide
8. Pete talks about Clearwater (spoken)
9. It’s a Long Haul
10. Throw Away That Shad Net (How Are We Gonna Save Tomorrow?)
11. Song of the World’s Last Whale
12. The First Settlers
13. The D Minor Flourish / Cindy
14. Pete’s intro to If It Can’t Be Reduced (spoken)
15. If It Can’t Be Reduced
16. Spring Fever
17. Pete speaks about WWII (spoken)
18. When I Was Most Beautiful
19. Bach at Treblinka
20. We Will Love or We Will Perish
21. The story of Tzena, Tzena, Tzena (spoken)
22. Tzena, Tzena, Tzena
23. One Percent Phosphorous Banjo Riff
24. Pete speaks about involvement (spoken)
25. Or Else! (One-a These Days)
26. Waist Deep in the Big Muddy
27. Little Fat Baby
28. Arrange and Re-arrange
29. Alleluya
30. Pete’s extroduction (spoken)
31. If This World Survives
32. How Soon?