Pete Seegar – Tomorrow’s Children.
On his latest studio album Tomorrow’s Children, released by Appleseed Music, Pete Seeger continues his life’s work of communication and inspiring people to action.
Seegar, the once international icon of sociopolitical activism, has since involved himself more in local community activities and issues. His concern about the heavily polluted Hudson River that runs alongside the town of Beacon, inspired the construction of the 107- foot sloop Clearwater, America’s Environmental Flagship which sails the Hudson, spreading environmental education and awareness.
When the local Beacon fourth-grade teacher Tery Udell invited Clearwater educator and singer Dan Einbender to teach her students about the Hudson River, class sessions became songfests, and where there are songs, there’s Pete Seegar. He became a regular visitor to the kids’ classroom in 2007. These classroom gatherings and performances inevitably led to a series of recordings by Pete, Dan, musician and CD co-producer (with Dan) David Bernz, the children (known as The Rivertown Kids), as well as adult musicians, high schoolers and even 14 grammar school percussion students. The result of such a disparate musical cast is a delight to the ears as presented on Tomorrow’s Children.
This new CD is like a joyful town picnic featuring Pete as a (global) village elder, assembling his neighbors to appreciate their past and present, to celebrate their triumphs against environmental threats, to swap old and new stories, to appreciate the natural glories surrounding them and to make sure that the following generations carry it on the unifying spirit and power of music, the ‘folk process’ of adapting or writing songs to respond to current situations.
Tomorrow’s Children contains songs of empowerment and cooperation adapted or written by the kids themselves such as We Sing Out an updated version of the old gospel and union song, We Shall Not Be Moved, and a set of new verses to Seeger’s Biblically-inspired standard, Turn, Turn, Turn, added for the children by Pete’s wife of more than 60 years, Toshi – Appleseed Music Website.
Pete Seeger has been one of America’s true prophets.
We desperately need more of them.
Most of all we need to heed them!