March on Washington: the day MLK – and Dylan and Baez – made hope and history rhyme
Sixty years ago, at the Lincoln Memorial, Martin Luther King changed America. But there was more to the day than just his ‘I have a dream’ speech. There was music too
May 2023
The Lion Sleeps Tonight: one song’s journey from 1930s South Africa to Disney money-spinner
Mbube – the vocal harmony song that ended up on The Lion King soundtrack – made its writer $2. But beyond the exploitation and legal battles lies a more inspiring story
November 2020
Teenage kicks
Neil Diamond's teenage obsessions: 'The Brooklyn Dodgers betrayed me and broke my heart'
As his 80th birthday approaches, Neil Diamond reminisces about Pete Seeger, the Everly Brothers and how a baseball team’s desertion led him to the guitar
October 2020
For Pete's sake: how Pete Seeger's bold legacy has inspired a string quartet
The Kronos Quartet’s new album celebrates the singer and activist who embraced music from across the world – and still has so much to teach us
September 2017
Civil rights anthem We Shall Overcome freed from copyright
The first verse of the song, which has come to symbolize the spirit of protest, is no longer under copyright after a New York verdict
April 2017
Music makes me cry my eyes out – here’s a guide to the tracks of my tears
Simon Hattenstone
Songs that induce weeping do you good, a study suggests. As a man who knows all there is to know about the crying game, I could have told you that
September 2016
Fred Hellerman obituary
Folk singer and songwriter who co-founded the Weavers
December 2015
FBI snooped on singer Pete Seeger for 20 years
Bureau amassed a massive 1,800 page file on composer of classic songs over suspicions about his links to the Communist party
June 2015
The playlist
The playlist: folk and world – Van Morrison, Peggy Seeger and Hindi Zahra
Ronnie Gilbert obituary
December 2014
Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie and others: Songs of the Spanish Civil War review – intriguing vintage folk laments
This intriguing compilation focuses on music made by and for US soldiers who joined the fight against fascism in Spain, writes Robin Denselow
February 2014
Letter: When Pete Seeger reduced a conservative audience to silence
