1. For Immediate Release, January 30, 2014
The Folklore Society of Greater Washington, http://fsgw.org
Press Contact: Liz Milner, Publicity Chair
Ph: (703) 658-0957; E-mail: publicity@fsgw.org
She Just Can’t Stay Away! Living Legend Peggy Seeger Makes Two Rare Appearances
What: Concert for the Folklore Society of Greater Washington
When: Saturday, March 15, 2014, 8:00 p.m.
Where: Washington Ethical Society, 7750 Sixteenth Street, NW, Washington DC, 20012
Admission: FSGW Members: FREE; $15.00 for Non-members
Information: fsgw.org or contact Marty Summerour at (703) 981-2217, msummerour@cox.net.
What: “Memories and Melodies: Peggy Seeger in Conversation with Mary Cliff” (sponsored by
the Chevy Chase Historical Society)
When: Saturday, March 15, 2014, 4:00 p.m.
Where: Chevy Chase Village Hall, 5906 Connecticut Avenue Chevy Chase, Maryland 20815
Songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, song-catcher, political activist, scion of the first family of folk
music, the Seegers, and inspiration for “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,“ — one of the
most beautiful love songs of our time (or any time) — Peggy Seeger is truly a living legend. Her
best-known compositions, Gonna Be an Engineer and The Ballad of Springhill are loved and
sung throughout the English-speaking world. Peggy, whom one fan describes as, “a woman
who is clearly at ease in her own skin,” served as a role model for the feminist song movement.
With her late husband, Ewan MacColl and their friends A.L. Lloyd and Alan Lomax, she was a
prime instigator of the English folk music revival of the 1950s and 1960s. Since then, Peggy’s
accomplishments and contributions to the folk music field in Britain and the U.S. have been vast
beyond counting.
Peggy has not been content to sit on her laurels as she continues her frenetic schedule of
writing, touring, recording and speaking out against injustice. For the past decade or so, she
has divided her time between America, the country of her birth, and England, the land where
she raised her children. After two “farewell to the U.S” tours, Peggy just can't stay away.

2. Traveling with her grandson Alex MacColl, Peggy will be doing a driving tour of the east coast,
which she calls her “Just Can’t Stay Away Tour,” and FSGW has been fortunate enough to snag
her for our concert on March 15. At the concert, Peggy will perform traditional songs and her
own compositions and she will also tell stories about her amazing career.
Speaking of stories, Peggy will also present a pre-concert program “Memories and Melodies:
Peggy Seeger in Conversation with Mary Cliff” at 4 p.m. that same day at the Chevy Chase
Village Hall. The program will feature Peggy’s memories of growing up in Chevy Chase in the
1940s and ‘50s. Her father, folklorist and musicologist Charles Seeger; her mother, modernist
composer Ruth Crawford Seeger; her brother, Mike Seeger, and her half-brother, Pete Seeger,
helped spark folksong revivals in mid-20th century America and Great Britain. Peggy’s songs and
stories combined with an extensive collection of photographs, will give audiences an in-depth
look at a remarkable American Family.
To learn more about Peggy, visit her website at http://www.peggyseeger.com/.
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Photo: Peggy Seeger in 2011 at the University of Salford, where she was awarded an honorary
doctorate. Courtesy of the University of Salford’s press office
Founded in 1964, FSGW is an all-volunteer, not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization. The Society
seeks to further the understanding, investigation, appreciation, and performance of the
traditional folk music and folklore of the American people. You can learn more about FSGW by
visiting our web site, fsgw.org.