Musician and folklorist Mike Seeger died from cancer Friday night at the age of 75. His importance to the kids music world is relatively minor compared to his half-brother Pete, but not without significance. He will be remembered much more for his musical output as a solo artist and with the New Lost City Ramblers, his collecting of traditional music, and his discovery of forgotten traditional musicians. But his mother was Ruth Crawford Seeger, who wrote one of the first important books of children's music, and he recorded a couple kids' albums, including American Folk Songs for Children with his sister Peggy.
Here's a clip of him playing "John Henry" a couple years ago. One of these days I'm going to learn myself some banjo...
Here, Mike plays and discusses "Walking Boss." Not nearly as much "kids music" per se, but still interesting to hear (and just as relevant to his life's work).
My condolences to his family.
