JOHN McCUTCHEON, "To Everyone In All The World: A Celebration of Pete Seeger," Appalseed Records. 15 tracks
Pete Seeger wasn't a bluegrass musician.
He was a folk singer.
But in 2006, the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame & Museum in Owensboro, Ky., acquired one of his banjos.
"He's not a bluegrass musician," Kitsy Kuykendall, who was then secretary of the Hall of Fame's board of trustees, said after the presentation. "But that's what sets us apart from other museums. We celebrate not only bluegrass, but its roots and branches as well."
Seeger's 100th birthday would have been on May 3 this year.
And folk singer John McCutcheon is celebrating that event with his latest album, a 15-song tribute to Seeger.
It includes such Seeger classics as "If I Had A Hammer," this time as a Cajun dance tune: "Waist Deep In The Big Muddy" and "Turn, Turn, Turn"
But there are a lot of lesser known songs as well _ "Talking Union," which McCutcheon transforms from a talking blues to a funky rap, and "Well May The World Go," which becomes a bluegrass tune with help from Hot Rize.
There's "Die Gedanken Sind Frei," a German freedom song from World War II; "Sailing Down The Golden River," a song about the Hudson River; "Mrs. Clara Sullivan's Letter," a song about a coal miners' strike; "The Spider's Web," a love song for his wife; and the title track, which wishes everyone in the world could get along.
If you're a fan of Pete Seeger or John McCutcheon, you'll want this album.
You can find it at www.folkmusic.com/store.html.
