Pete and Toshi Seeger, their son Daniel, and folklorist Bruce Jackson visited a Texas prison in Huntsville in March of 1966 and produced this rare document of of work songs by inmates of the Ellis Unit. Worksongs helped African American prisoners survive the grueling work demanded of them. With...
A farmer wanted words to go with the tune he was playing when he saw a frog sitting on the bank of the stream. The frog did something silly which gave the farmer the words for his song. The farmer went to the corner store to sing his song for people there.
This film speaks to the need for solidarity between all maritime unions, vividly recounting the 1934 West Coast waterfront strike, which culminated in a police riot in which two workers were killed, and led to further strikes and greater solidarity. Includes a great score with union hymns performed...
A concert program about the current development of the free Latin American music presented by a wide range of artists, performers and groups from around the countries of the continent.
Chronicles the 50-year career of singer/songwriter Jean Ritchie, from Viper, Kentucky to the New York stage. Pete Seeger, Arlo Guthrie, and her family and friends in Eastern Kentucky are among those interviewed. A 1996 KET production.
When a young couple buys a contested home at auction from the U.S. government for $5,400, they become involved in a political and moral battle much larger than what they originally bargained for.
Full concert recorded live at Wolf Trap, VA for PBS broadcast. Arlo and Pete are joined onstage by the band Shanandoah on many of their well-loved Folk classics, across their long careers.
On the first hot day of summer, an old farmer goes fishing just as he has done for many years on the West Branch of the Delaware River. A young boy, his frequent fishing companion, eagerly takes him to see the first giant bulldozers, which are to begin construction on the Cannonsville Reservoir. In...
THE STREETS OF GREENWOOD (1962), looks at voter registration efforts by the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)and a concert in a cotton field in the Mississippi Delta. One of the first films made about the southern civil rights movement
A Sigh and a Wish tells the story of pioneer folklorist Helen Creighton and of the enduring appeal of her remarkable collections of song and story. Creighton helped define Maritime culture as we know it. Thanks to her, folk songs moved out of the kitchens and the fishing boats and into the...
“If there’s hope for the human race, there’s hope for the Hudson.” —Pete Seeger In the summer of 1969, legendary folk singer Pete Seeger launched the Clearwater, a 19th-century-style sloop with a singing crew of musicians and activists. His intention was to raise awareness of pollution...
Born in the coalfields of eastern Kentucky, Gunning suffered a life of bitter poverty which became the fuel for dozens of moving songs about working people, the mines, and the great coal strikes of the twenties and thirties. In Mimi Pickering's 1988 film, Gunning's a cappella roots music is...
Biographical notes on the American singer, actor and civil rights activist Paul Robeson (1898-1976). At the height of his fame and skill, Robeson’s career was cut short by Cold War anti-communist hysteria. This documentary includes historic footage of the US civil rights movement; clips of...
This short documentary offers a portrait of life on a cattle ranch, for both its human and animal inhabitants. Featuring sprightly music by folk singer Pete Seeger and narration by theatre actress Frances Hyland, the film is shot through the seasons on a large Canadian cattle ranch near Kamloops,...
Three of the top folksinger-composers - Tom Paxton, Phil Ochs, and Buffy Sainte-Marie - are featured here. These are the new "city" folksingers whose songs are strictly topical, commenting on the political and social issues of the day. Pete Seeger, an earlier singer in a similar tradition, talks...