Anglo-American folk legend Peggy Seeger stops by Chevy Chase on Saturday -- Gazette
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Folksinger, activist Peggy Seeger visits her old
neighborhood
by Virginia Terhune
Peggy Seeger in Conversation with Mary Cliff
When: 4 p.m. Saturday
Where: Chevy Chase Village Hall, 5906 Connecticut
Ave., Chevy Chase
Tickets: Free; first come, first served
For information: 301-656-6141,
chevychasehistory.org
Peggy Seeger concert
When: 8 p.m. Saturday
Where: Washington Ethical Society, 7750 16th
Street, N.W., Washington
Tickets: $15; free for FSGW members
For information: 703-981-2217, fsgw.org,
peggyseeger.com
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Anglo-American folk legend Peggy Seeger stops by Chevy
Chase on Saturday
Photo by Ursy Potter
Folk singer, songw riter and activist Peggy Seeger w ill visit
Chevy Chase Village Hall on Saturday for a discussion
before performing that evening in Washington, D.C. Sister of
Michael Seeger and half-sister of the late Pete Seeger,
Seeger lived in Chevy Chase as a teenager and played a
major role in the folk revival in England during the 1960s,
1970s and 1980s.
2. Staff Writer
Flying back and forth across the pond is nothing new for longtime folk singer, songwriter and activist Margaret “Peggy”
Seeger, who lived in Chevy Chase as a teenager before marrying and raising her family in England.
Half-sister of the late Pete Seeger, Peggy Seeger is back in the states for her two-week “I Just Can’t Stay Away” tour of
concerts and lectures at venues on the East Coast and in the Chicago area.
One of her first stops is Chevy Chase, where she will chat in-person with radio host Mary Cliff on Saturday afternoon at
the Chevy Chase Village Town Hall, near the house on Kirke Street where she once lived.
Cliff hosts the “Traditions” radio show, which previously aired on American University’s WAMU 88.5 and is now heard
on Saturday nights on Bluegrass Country at 105.5 FM.
Sponsored by the Chevy Chase Historical Society, the late afternoon talk is free and open to the public on a first-come,
first-served basis.
Later in the day, Seeger will perform at the Washington Ethical Society on 16th Street in Washington, D.C., not far from
the Silver Spring MARC station. The concert is sponsored by the Folklore Society of Greater Washington based in
Cabin John.
“I’ll be singing half traditional and half new songs,” said Seeger, who has recorded 23 solo CDs and plans to release
her next CD, “Everything Changes,” in August.
Still to come in the pipeline is “Love Unbidden,” an album of love songs and poetry.
Traveling with her on the tour will be one of her nine grandchildren, Alex MacColl, 23.
“My grandson will be driving me around — he’s my roadie and companion, and he’ll be singing one or two songs,”
Seeger said.
“He’ll [also] be lifting everything,” joked Seeger, who turns 79 in June.
Sister of the late Michael Seeger and half-sister of the late Pete Seeger, Peggy Seeger and her late husband, Ewan
MacColl, helped drive the folk revival in England in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. They preserved traditional songs and
worked with Charles Parker on their groundbreaking BBC show, “Radio Ballads,” a series of radio documentaries
featuring music and the recorded voices of working people.
Two of Seeger’s most best-known songs are the feminist classic, “I’m Gonna Be an Engineer” and “The Ballad of
Springhill” about a 1958 mining disaster in Nova Scotia.
Music in the making
Seeger grew up in a musical household. Her father was folklorist and musicologist Charles Seeger, and her mother
was his second wife, Ruth Porter Crawford, a modernist composer.
Seeger went to Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School and spent two years in Radcliffe College in the early 1950s before
moving to Holland and then to England where she met MacColl.
Seeger was the inspiration for MacColl’s song, “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” recorded in 1973 by Roberta
Flack.
She and MacColl also performed at venues around Great Britain for 30 years.
“We had a little van and could go anywhere in two to three hours,” she said.
Following her husband’s death in 1989, Seeger moved to North Carolina in 1994 and continued to perform, driving to
venues in the eastern U.S. in a small motor home, until she returned to England in 2010 to be closer to family.
Steeped in traditional folk music and still politically active, Seeger continues to write new songs about global issues,
including the ongoing — and in her view, possibly irreversible — degradation of the natural environment.
“It’s an ecological disaster,” she said. “What we do affects everything — all human beings need to be all working at the
same issue, or we’re sunk.”
Related for her is the issue of population growth.
“It has tripled in my lifetime,” she said. “There’s so much space in the U.S., but in Europe you really notice it.”
Also a committed feminist, Seeger said one organization that helps women around the world is Women for Women
International, a nonprofit with offices in Washington, D.C., and London.
By contributing, individuals can directly support one woman, enabling her to learn to read, write and become financially
independent.
“It can take women out of abusive situations,” she said.
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![Staff Writer
Flying back and forth across the pond is nothing new for longtime folk singer, songwriter and activist Margaret “Peggy”
Seeger, who lived in Chevy Chase as a teenager before marrying and raising her family in England.
Half-sister of the late Pete Seeger, Peggy Seeger is back in the states for her two-week “I Just Can’t Stay Away” tour of
concerts and lectures at venues on the East Coast and in the Chicago area.
One of her first stops is Chevy Chase, where she will chat in-person with radio host Mary Cliff on Saturday afternoon at
the Chevy Chase Village Town Hall, near the house on Kirke Street where she once lived.
Cliff hosts the “Traditions” radio show, which previously aired on American University’s WAMU 88.5 and is now heard
on Saturday nights on Bluegrass Country at 105.5 FM.
Sponsored by the Chevy Chase Historical Society, the late afternoon talk is free and open to the public on a first-come,
first-served basis.
Later in the day, Seeger will perform at the Washington Ethical Society on 16th Street in Washington, D.C., not far from
the Silver Spring MARC station. The concert is sponsored by the Folklore Society of Greater Washington based in
Cabin John.
“I’ll be singing half traditional and half new songs,” said Seeger, who has recorded 23 solo CDs and plans to release
her next CD, “Everything Changes,” in August.
Still to come in the pipeline is “Love Unbidden,” an album of love songs and poetry.
Traveling with her on the tour will be one of her nine grandchildren, Alex MacColl, 23.
“My grandson will be driving me around — he’s my roadie and companion, and he’ll be singing one or two songs,”
Seeger said.
“He’ll [also] be lifting everything,” joked Seeger, who turns 79 in June.
Sister of the late Michael Seeger and half-sister of the late Pete Seeger, Peggy Seeger and her late husband, Ewan
MacColl, helped drive the folk revival in England in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. They preserved traditional songs and
worked with Charles Parker on their groundbreaking BBC show, “Radio Ballads,” a series of radio documentaries
featuring music and the recorded voices of working people.
Two of Seeger’s most best-known songs are the feminist classic, “I’m Gonna Be an Engineer” and “The Ballad of
Springhill” about a 1958 mining disaster in Nova Scotia.
Music in the making
Seeger grew up in a musical household. Her father was folklorist and musicologist Charles Seeger, and her mother
was his second wife, Ruth Porter Crawford, a modernist composer.
Seeger went to Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School and spent two years in Radcliffe College in the early 1950s before
moving to Holland and then to England where she met MacColl.
Seeger was the inspiration for MacColl’s song, “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” recorded in 1973 by Roberta
Flack.
She and MacColl also performed at venues around Great Britain for 30 years.
“We had a little van and could go anywhere in two to three hours,” she said.
Following her husband’s death in 1989, Seeger moved to North Carolina in 1994 and continued to perform, driving to
venues in the eastern U.S. in a small motor home, until she returned to England in 2010 to be closer to family.
Steeped in traditional folk music and still politically active, Seeger continues to write new songs about global issues,
including the ongoing — and in her view, possibly irreversible — degradation of the natural environment.
“It’s an ecological disaster,” she said. “What we do affects everything — all human beings need to be all working at the
same issue, or we’re sunk.”
Related for her is the issue of population growth.
“It has tripled in my lifetime,” she said. “There’s so much space in the U.S., but in Europe you really notice it.”
Also a committed feminist, Seeger said one organization that helps women around the world is Women for Women
International, a nonprofit with offices in Washington, D.C., and London.
By contributing, individuals can directly support one woman, enabling her to learn to read, write and become financially
independent.
“It can take women out of abusive situations,” she said.
Woman charged with using 5-year-old daughter in
pornography video
1.
Union wants criminal investigation of county
leaders on Question B
2.
Wind does not slow runners at Coyote Invitational3.
Sherwood wins again against Northwest4.
QuickHits: Weekend picks for Montgomery, Prince
George’s and Fairfax counties
5.
Fire engulfs home in Dickerson6.
Sherwood defeats Good Counsel for 46th straight
win
7.
County students earn Comcast scholarships8.
Montgomery looking at ways to avoid cost overruns9.
Gaithersburg’s proposed budget holds line on
property taxes
10.
2014 Scion
iQ
$16,105
Fitzgerald's Auto Mall Gaithersburg
Gaithersburg, MD | 855-679-9643 | http://w w w .fitzmall.com/
See all internet specials
See all>FEATURED JOBS
SALES
ST. MARY'S ENTERPRISE - Waldorf
Warehouse Associate
BLH Technologies, Inc. - Rockville
Forklift Operator
BLH Technologies, Inc. - Rockville
Gazette Health:
Special Seniors'
Edition
The lowdown on dentures;
What seniors need to know
about food safety; How solving
a sleep problem changed a
local man's life
MOST READ](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)