Pete Seeger
The Significance of Pete Seeger to American History Pete Seeger is an extremely talented artist who is very well known for his contributions to folk music. Pete Seeger is an absolute inspiration to many people around the world today. Not only was Pete Seeger just a singer/songwriter, he was also an important political activist, the author of several dozen books, an environmentalist as well as a peace advocator. He plays a very significant role in terms of historical influences. As a man of many identities, Pete Seeger will always remain an influential individual in regards to American History. It is definitely worth discussing the many roles Pete Seeger acquired and how each of these roles assisted in impacting American History. Pete Seeger was practically pre-determined to love music. His parents taught music at the Julliard School in New York. Although, his parents had an interest mainly in classical music, at the age of sixteen in 1935, Pete managed to discover that his true passion was for folk music or as he described “old fashioned five string banjo, rippling out a rhythm to one fascinating song after another” . He truly believed that this type of music was more powerful and honest in comparison to what was popular at the time. Music was everything to Pete. He started with playing the Banjo and eventually was given the opportunity to assist field recorder Alan Lomax while touring throughout South America by playing the banjo, guitar and vocals. In 1940, Pete formed a band called the Almanac Singers. This group was very influential during this period of time because they sang songs of inspiration. The songs were mainly union songs and antiwar songs. The songs were on the other hand very controversial because they were so politically involved. The first song they had ever recorded was called “Songs for John Doe” and was released in 1941. The story of this song basically followed the Communist Party line and criticized Roosevelt’s unprecedented
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