Considered by many to be the most important revivalist American folk singer of all time, Pete Seeger’s recordings and concerts have introduced literally millions of people around the world to American (and international) folk traditional songs.  His style of presenting and performing  this “every man’s music” straddles a fine line quite effortlessly. He can inhabit any song he sings--however ancient or removed from his own experience --in a way that feels and sounds “right,” while at the same time drawing in modern audiences and helping them to experience all that is special about the music.

In the 1950s, Seeger (1919 - ) participated in Milt Okun’s Adirondack Folk Song and Dance Festival in Schroon Lake where he came in contact with numerous local musicians and their music.  From that experience, he learned of the intense collecting of regional music by Marjorie Lansing Porter.  In 1960, Seeger recorded his own renditions of songs from the Porter collection, including Iroquois and French-language pieces and instrumental fife tunes with the more commonly heard British and American songs and ballads.  Folkways Records released this effort under the title Champlain Valley Songs.

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