BBC NEWS | Entertainment | A session with Seeger

Dropping yet more sugar into his cafe mocha, Pete Seeger laments the withering of his singing voice: “At my age the banjo-playing is shot too”.

In fact musician Seeger often seems 20 years younger than he is – although these days what excites him is less his music and more the well-being of the US environment.

But this weekend he will quit the Hudson Valley for his native Manhattan and a big concert to celebrate his 90th birthday.

On the bill are Bruce Springsteen, Baez and more than 30 other names.

Affection for Pete was not always so widespread.

In the 1950s he was blacklisted for his former membership of the Communist Party, and his performing career seemed all but over.

Typically, he refused to go away. In 1955 he declined to co-operate with the Un-American Activities Committee which was investigating radical activities of public figures.

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Vincent Dowd presents Archive on 4: Pete Seeger at 90 on Saturday 2 May at 2000 BST on Radio Four (the programme will be repeated at 1500 on Monday 4 May).

I heard an interview with Seeger on the Beeb this morning (my local public radio station WBEZ has it on between 7am and 8am Sunday mornings) and wanted to find some links for my friend Father Paul, who is a major Seeger fan.

The BBC Radio 4 show is available to listen online for 6 days or so:

Pete Seeger at 90 (requires Real Player)

Vincent Dowd celebrates the life and work of American folk singer and activist Pete Seeger, as he turns 90. Drawing on BBC archives and new interviews, Vincent explores Seeger’s continuing efforts to improve the world through the power of song.

He hears Seeger’s views on a range of issues and his hopes for the future under the leadership of Barack Obama, at whose inauguration he performed.

Featuring some of the musicians who have interpreted Seeger’s songs, including Marlene Dietrich, Joan Baez and Bruce Springsteen, and an unplugged version of This Land is Your Land by Seeger himself.