Overview

A musician, documentarian, scholar, and one of the founding members of the influential folk revival group the New Lost City Ramblers, Mike Seeger (1933-2009) spent more than fifty years collecting, performing, and commemorating the culture and folk music of white and black southerners, which he called ""music from the true vine."" In this fascinating biography, Bill Malone explores the life and musical contributions of folk artist Seeger, son of musicologists Charles and Ruth Crawford Seeger and brother of folksingers Pete and Peggy Seeger. Malone argues that Seeger, while not as well known as his brother, may be more important to the history of American music through his work in identifying and giving voice to the people from whom the folk revival borrowed its songs. Seeger recorded and produced over forty albums, including the work of artists such as Libba Cotten, Tommy Jarrell, Dock Boggs, and Maybelle Carter. In 1958, with an ambition to recreate the southern string bands of the twenties, he formed the New Lost City Ramblers, helping to inspire the urban folk revival of the sixties. Music from the True Vine presents Seeger as a gatekeeper of American roots music and culture, showing why generations of musicians and fans of traditional music regard him as a mentor and an inspiration.

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9780807835104

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Reviews

Resistant to making his own life a central part of his legacy, [Mike Seeger] remained an enigma to many who'd long relished and built on his music. . . . The more obscure parts of the story are clarified in Bill C. Malone's biography, Music From the True Vine . <br>- The Wall Street Journal

Bill Malone, the dean of country music history, presents a fascinating life-and-times biography of master musician Mike Seeger, one of the folk revival's most influential and under-recognized figures. There is no better person to tell Seeger's story. --Ronald D. Cohen, Emeritus Professor of History, Indiana University Northwest, editor of Alan Lomax, Assistant in Charge: The Library of Congress Letters, 1935-1945

[An] excellent and affectionate biography. <br>- Times Literary Supplement

Resistant to making his own life a central part of his legacy, [Mike Seeger] remained an enigma to many who'd long relished and built on his music. . . . The more obscure parts of the story are clarified in Bill C. Malone's biography, Music From the True Vine. -- The Wall Street Journal

Author Information

Bill Malone is professor of history emeritus at Tulane University.

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