Various Artists - Pete Seeger's 90th Birthday Benefit, Madison Square Garden, New York City, 5-3-2009, Part 3

Here's the third and last volume of Pete Seeger's 90th Birthday Benefit concert in 2009.

Like most concerts, the idea was to build up to a big finale. So this last part has some heavy hitters, like Roger McGuinn, Joan Baez, Dave Matthews, and the biggest name of all, Bruce Springsteen. His presence made a lot of sense, because he put out an album in 2006, "We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions," consisting entirely of covers of songs associated with Seeger.

I think Seeger is mainly known as someone who mostly performed cover songs, because he liked to sing songs from a wide variety of sources, even some in other languages. But I think that resulted in many people underappreciating his songwriting. He wrote or co-wrote a lot of great songs, including, "Turn! Turn! Turn!," "If I Had a Hammer," "Where Have All the Flowers Gone," "The Bells of Rhymney," "Kisses Sweeter than Wine," and more. In fact, now that I think about it, I should put him on the list of songwriters who deserved the "Covered" treatment. Anyway, if you're not that familiar with his music, hopefully this concert helped with that, even though some songs here weren't written by him ("The Ghost of Tom Joad" by Bruce Springsteen being one such example). 

As with the previous volumes in this series, the track numbers continue where the last volume left off, in case you want to put all the songs in one folder to listen to this as one big album.  

This album is 54 minutes long.

38 Jacob's Ladder (Joan Baez, Mike & Ruthy Merenda, Scarlett Lee Moore, Jay Unger, Molly Mason & Larry Long)
39 Mary Don't You Weep (Arlo Guthrie, Del McCoury, John Hall, Tony Trischka & Preservation Hall Jazz Band)
40 talk (Arlo Guthrie)
41 Worried Man Blues (Arlo Guthrie, Tao Rodriguez-Seeger, Jay Unger, Molly Mason & Ramblin' Jack Elliott)
42 Gather 'Round the Stone (Ben Harper, Ellen Harper, Sue Chase & Tom Morello)
43 talk (Peggy Seeger)
44 Turn, Turn, Turn [To Everything There Is a Season] (Roger McGuinn with Ben Bridwell & Tyler Ramsey)
45 Precious Friend (Emmylou Harris, Arlo Guthrie, Tony Trischka & the Preservation Hall Jazz Band)
46 talk (Dave Matthews)
47 Rye Whiskey (Dave Matthews)
48 talk (Bruce Springsteen)
49 The Ghost of Tom Joad (Bruce Springsteen with Tom Morello)
50 This Land Is Your Land (Pete Seeger & Everyone)
51 Happy Birthday (Joan Baez & Everyone)
52 Well May the World Go (Everyone)
53 talk (Seeger Family)
54 Goodnight Irene (Pete Seeger & Everyone)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/zV7sk3SE

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/NR8A45pdRYpWEnj/file

The cover image is a screenshot I took from a video of this exact concert. From right to left in the front row: Arlo Guthrie, Joan Baez, Bruce Springsteen, Patti Scialfa, Tom Morello, and Dave Matthews.

Various Artists - Pete Seeger's 90th Birthday Benefit, Madison Square Garden, New York City, 5-3-2009, Part 2

Here's the second out of three parts for Pete Seeger's 90th Birthday Benefit concert in 2009.

The concert was quite long, so I decided to split it into three parts. Perhaps in retrospect it would have made more sense to split it into two parts, because the concert reached a sort of emotional peak right in the middle with a group singalong of "We Shall Overcome." It seems an intermission followed that. But what's done is done, and I think it's a good listen this way as well.

Also, Seeger's direct participation is rather strange. He stayed off the stage for most of this concert that was dedicated to him, but he occasionally took part. For instance, he did a solo version of "Amazing Grace" in this part. He returned for the final part. 

One weird thing about this part of this concert is that one song, "Garbage, Garbage, Garbage," was basically a duet between Tom Chapin, a human, and Oscar the Grouch, a Muppet famous for his long role on the TV show "Sesame Street." Normally, I would find this sort of thing silly or gimmicky. But in this case, I think it worked nicely. You can decide for yourself. 

By the way, when I first posted "Part 1" a few days ago, I forgot to include "Part 1" in the title and artwork. That has now been fixed. So you might want to re-download it.

Also, note that the numbering in the song list starts with 21, in case you want to put all three of the albums from this concert into the same folder, to make it easier to listen to the entire concert all at once. 

This album is 51 minutes long.

21 Dink's Song [Fare Thee Well] (Bruce Cockburn, Kate & Anna McGarrigle & Rufus & Martha Wainwright)
22 talk (Tony Triaschka)
23 D-Minor Flourish - Blue Skies - Goofing-Off Suite - Happy Birthday (Bela Fleck & Tony Triaschka)
24 Waist Deep in the Big Muddy (Tom Morello & Taj Mahal)
25 Where Have All the Flowers Gone (Joan Baez)
26 Bring 'Em Home (Ben Bridwell, Patterson Hood, Tao Rodriguez-Seeger, Tyler Ramsey & Warren Haynes)
27 We Shall Overcome (Everyone)
28 talk (Norman Lear)
29 talk (Pete Seeger)
30 Amazing Grace (Pete Seeger)
31 talk (Tom Chapin & Oscar the Grouch)
32 Garbage, Garbage, Garbage (Tom Chapin, Michael Mark & Oscar the Grouch)
33 talk (Kris Kristofferson)
34 A Hole in the Bucket (Kris Kristofferson & Ani DiFranco)
35 Little Boxes (Tommy Sands Irish Band)
36 Michael, Row the Boat Ashore (Rufus & Martha Wainwright, Kate & Anna McGarrigle, Tony Trischka & Tim Robbins)
37 Freedom (Richie Havens) 

https://pixeldrain.com/u/KRkaXqaV

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/ggUyjMIHnWrDd5Q/file

The cover image is taken from the video of this exact concert. It shows Kris Kristofferson and Ani Di Franco when they duetted on the song "A Hole in the Bucket." 

Various Artists - Pete Seeger's 90th Birthday Benefit, Madison Square Garden, New York City, 5-3-2009, Part 1

Pete Seeger had a remarkable music career, and a remarkably long one. By the time of this concert, he was truly a living legend. This concert celebrated his 90th birthday. (He went on to live four more years, until 2014.) It's staggering to consider he began performing music in public before the start of World War II, and he was still going at this concert, sixty years later! This concert was a benefit for the Clearwater Project, which Seeger had been involved in for a long time. But it also was a tribute to Seeger, and a celebration of his career, including his progressive activism. It's such a big concert that I decided it was best to split it into three parts. This is the first part.

Seeger made such a big musical impact that practically everyone in the folk music genre, and lots of people in other genres like rock, jazz, and country, wanted to be a part of this concert. There are quite a few guests mostly singing Seeger songs, and songs associated with Seeger, for this album, as you can see from the song list. But keep in mind this is just the first of three parts, and most of the "big names" were saved until later.

The music here has never been officially released in an audio format, as far as I know. But it has been released on DVD. It also has been shown on PBS stations. I converted the video to audio, then chopped it into mp3s. Due to that source, the sound quality is excellent.

This album is 50 minutes long. 

01 talk (Native American Indian Cultural Alliance)
02 Blessing of the River (Native American Indian Cultural Alliance)
03 talk (Tim Robbins)
04 talk (John Mellencamp)
05 If I Had a Hammer (John Mellencamp)
06 talk (John Mellencamp)
07 A Ride Back Home (John Mellencamp)
08 talk (Ani DiFranco)
09 Which Side Are You On (Bruce Cockburn & Ani DiFranco)
10 John Henry (Tom Paxton, Tom Morello, Eric Weissberg & Jacob Silver)
11 talk (Michael Franti)
12 Dear Mr. President (Michael Franti, Laura Cortese, Eric Weissberg & Patterson Hood)
13 Oh Freedom (Patterson Hood, Toshi Reagon, Bernice Reagon, Abigail Washburn, Guy Davis & Jacob Silver)
14 talk (Billy Bragg)
15 L'Internationale (Billy Bragg)
16 Union Maid (Billy Bragg, Mike & Ruthy Merenda & Dar Williams)
17 talk (Toshi Reagon)
18 Sailin' Up, Sailin' Down (Pete Seeger, Taj Mahal, Steve Earle, Toshi Reagon & Warren Haynes)
19 False from True (Guy Davis, Steve Earle & Warren Haynes)
20 The Water Is Wide (Emmylou Harris with Teddy Thompson, Kate & Anna McGarrigle & Rufus & Martha Wainwright)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/q3gpWv1z

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/rnhWiIfmBLCCUty/file

The cover image of Seeger is a screenshot I took from a video of this exact concert.

Steve Earle, Diana Jones, & Tom Morello - Bush Hall, London, Britain, 3-11-2012

Here's another episode of the excellent BBC TV show "Songwriters' Circle." Like other episodes, it features three singer-songwriters who take turns performing their songs on guitar or piano. This one consists of Steve Earle, Diana Jones, and Tom Morello.

Before I say anything more, I want to thank a musical friend named Peter. I had hit a wall finding many episodes of this series, but he sent me a bunch. As I write this, I think only three are still missing.

For this show, in my opinion, Steve Earle and Tom Morello are quite famous, while Diana Jones is relatively unknown. Earle has had a long and successful career in rock, folk, and country since the mid-1980s. While he hasn't had many hits, he's gained lots of respect as a songwriter, with many big names covering his songs. He's also won three Grammy Awards. Here's his Wikipedia link if you want to know more:

Steve Earle - Wikipedia 

Diana Jones released her first album in 1997. But, as he Wikipedia bio points out, "Jones's career gained wider critical acclaim in 2006 with the release of her album, 'My Remembrance of You.' The album made a number of critics end-of-the-year 'best of' lists." Her music has mixed country and folk. Here's the rest of her Wikipedia entry:

Diana Jones (singer-songwriter) - Wikipedia 

Finally, there's Tom Morello. He first came to fame as the lead guitarist for the band Rage Against the Machine. He's also been a member of the rock bands Audioslave and Prophets of Rage. However, he's done very different music in a parallel solo career, often under the name the Nightwatchman, consisting of acoustic folk music. That also is more of an outlet for his socialist, political views. The music he performed in this concert is in his solo style, and miles away from his rocking Rage Against the Machine style. Here's his Wikipedia entry:

Tom Morello - Wikipedia 

The Songwriter's Circle show didn't last long. There were a few episodes in 1999. Then it seemed the show was cancelled, but it came back for more episodes in 2010 and 2011. There were just three final episodes in 2012, and this was one of them. 

I got this from Peter as one big, high-quality video file. I converted it to audio, then broke it into mp3s. The music is unreleased and the sound quality is excellent. 

This album is 57 minutes long. 

01 talk (Steve Earle)
02 Guitar Town (Steve Earle)
03 If I Had a Gun (Diana Jones)
04 talk (Tom Morello)
05 Black Spartacus Heart Attack Machine (Tom Morello)
06 talk (Steve Earle)
07 The Rain Came Down (Steve Earle)
08 talk (Diana Jones)
09 Pony (Diana Jones)
10 talk (Tom Morello)
11 No One Left (Tom Morello)
12 talk (Steve Earle)
13 Mountain (Steve Earle)
14 talk (Steve Earle & Diana Jones)
15 Henry Russell's Last Words (Diana Jones)
16 talk (Tom Morello)
17 The Garden of Gethsemane (Tom Morello)
18 talk (Steve Earle)
19 The Devil's Right Hand (Steve Earle)
20 talk (Diana Jones)
21 Poverty (Diana Jones)
22 talk (Tom Morello)
23 One Man Revolution (Tom Morello)
24 talk (Tom Morello, Steve Earle & Diana Jones)
25 This Land Is Your Land (Tom Morello, Steve Earle & Diana Jones)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/VXxT9Nzu

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/zL4vJV8JznMzioe/file

The cover image is a screenshot I took from a video of this exact concert. From right to left: Steve Earle, Diana Jones, and Tom Morello.