Pete Seeger, who died in 2014, wasn't entirely comfortable with having his name on Bruce Springsteen's high-profile 2006 project with the Seeger Sessions Band (hence a respectful change along the way to simply the "Sessions Band"), but his life's work of collecting, performing, amplifying, and preserving traditional folk songs remains a prime Sessions inspiration no matter the name.
His ambivalence is clear in this never-before-seen footage from director Nick Mead (Clarence Clemons: Who Do I Think I Am?). Seeger ruminates on "too much publicity," but he also grants, "I'm a lucky old musician, to know that I've got musical grandchildren and great-grandchildren all over the country."
Nick Mead gives us the back story for this short film:
"Many, many years ago I was having dinner with Jeff Lynne, and I asked him, 'So how'd you get into this guitar business, then?'
"Without missing a beat he said, 'I was in bed at 11 one morning, and my mum came upstairs with a cup of tea and said, "Only musicians stay in bed until 11," so I went out and got a guitar.'
"This inspired me to embark on a very personal journey around the world talking to - and filming - the greatest guitar players and songwriters.
"I really wanted to talk to Pete Seeger but couldn't find a manager or a record company who'd respond. So I went to Beacon, New York, and asked a mailman for his address. I was all ready to bung the postie $20 but he said, 'Pete? Oh, he lives up that trail' - so off I went. Pete wasn't in, but his dog was wandering around, so - and this as close to being a stalker as I've ever been - I got his phone number off his dog's collar.
"He was ever so nice when he called the next day: he never asked how I got his number, just apologized for not being in. Said that the price of an interview was some help laying a new concrete floor for his sloop club…. he took children out on the Hudson on a sloop called The Woody Guthrie.
"Anyway, after a day slinging concrete, he was as good as his word. This is part of the interview I shot with him.
"It's for an ongoing bigger project about guitars and the inspiration, aspiration, motivation, and dedication it takes to pick one up and do something with it. To 'make it talk,' so to speak.
"I hope this is a little inspirational in these troubled times."
Негізгі бет Pete Seeger (Nick Mead Film)
Пікірлер: 1