Pete Seeger

The first authorized biography of Pete Seeger will air on PBS television stations, February 27.  Entitled Pete Seeger: The Power of Song, the documentary by three-time Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Jim Brown is part of the American Masters series of primetime specials delving into the lives, works and creative processes of some of our cultural icons. 

Pete Seeger: The Power of Song has been hailed by Variety as “ a terrific, multilayered portrait of a singer…,” while a critic for the Chicago Sun Times awarded the documentary four stars, commenting that it “isn’t simply an assembly of historical materials and talking heads (however eloquent), but a vibrant musical film as well.”

The documentary incorporates never-before-seen archival footage and personal films made by Seeger and his wife, Toshi, as well as more recent interviews with Seeger to chronicle the life of this living musical legend, political activist and humanitarian whose songs (like “If I Had a Hammer,”  “We Shall Overcome” and “Where Have All The Flowers Gone?”) have helped to provide a musical backdrop for many of the historical movements of the past 50-plus years.  An array of artists whom he has inspired over the years — including Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Natalie Maines, Peter, Paul and Mary, Tom Paxton, Bonnie Raitt, the Smothers Brothers and Bruce Springsteen, among others — also share their insights in the filmed documentary. 

Brown — whose previous works include 1981’s Wasn’t That A Time, the critically acclaimed documentary about The Weavers, and American Roots Music, the four-part PBS series that aired in 2001 — has known Seeger most of his life.  He credits Seeger, now 88, with inspiring or being connected in some way to all of his work as a documentary filmmaker.  The two first met when Brown was a teenager working as a gardener for Lee Hays, Seeger’s late friend and fellow member of The Weavers.  Like Seeger, who has been an ardent environmentalist and champion for cleaning up and protecting the Hudson River, Brown makes his home in New York’s Hudson Valley.   

Pete Seeger’s connection to the environment in which he lives figures prominently in the film.  Brown cites Seeger’s idealism — his dedication to humanity, the earth and the environment — as inspirational.  In an interview posted on the PBS “American Masters” Web site (www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters) along with film clips, Brown notes that he “wanted to use nature throughout the film because nature was something that’s very important to Pete, what he stands for.  It’s also where he spends a lot of time to think things out.”  Says Brown, “I used the Hudson River and the seasons.  Here’s a man in the winter of his life, so we used winter a lot as a metaphor through making the film.” 

Brown believes it is fitting that his documentary portrait of Pete Seeger will air on PBS, maintaining that “public television represents freedom of the airwaves, freedom of speech that Pete has been so associated with.”  Indeed, Seeger was blacklisted for a number of years during the 1950s and 1960s because he had the audacity to speak and sing out on controversial issues and perform for organizations that stirred controversy.  As the American Masters Web site notes, Pete Seeger has never stopped singing out – and speaking up.

Says Brown, “I think, to some degree, Pete Seeger and public television share the belief that to have a democratic society it’s important to have a place to speak out and speak freely without corporate influence.  I’m very happy that public television and American Masters is the place we’re showing Pete Seeger: The Power of Song.”

The documentary airs February 27 at 9 p.m. ET on most PBS stations.  Check your local TV listings or the American Masters Web site.