Bring Me Home

Album review

While Peggy Seeger was active as an artist as early as the 1950s, and while she played a vital role within the traditional faction of the folk revival, she seems to have recorded infrequently until recent years. Beginning in 2000, however, she has released a steady stream of albums on Appleseed, a folk label aptly suited for her bare-bones, traditional style. Many of Bring Me Home's songs, "Dink's Song," "Wagoner's Lad," and "O the Wind and Rain," will be familiar to fans of traditional music. As to why she has remained committed to these golden folk oldies, she comments in the liner notes: "These old songs...I wouldn't know how to live without them. I don't choose the songs for these albums -- they choose me." In fact, Seeger's style and choice of material has changed very little since the 1950s (and she has always clung tighter to strict tradition than her half-brother Pete Seeger). The arrangements are very simple on Bring Me Home, acoustic guitars, banjos, and harmonium, allowing Seeger's vocals to hold the center. What makes Bring Me Home more fascinating than the average traditional album is that Seeger and a few other musicians proceed with relaxed confidence: they easily fall into the moment, allowing each song to unfold naturally. This easy-flowing confidence makes Bring Me Home easy to like.
© Ronnie D. Lankford, Jr. /TiVo