Bring Me Home

Peggy Seeger

Appleseed Records - APR CD 1106

Available from Appleseed Records.


This is the final installment in Peggy's "home trilogy" of recent recordings for Appleseed, following 2003's Heading For Home and 2005's Love Call Me Home. It consists for the most part of newly-recorded versions of some of Peggy's favourite traditional (or near-traditional) folksongs from the US and UK, to which 12-track sequence is appended the beautiful, poignant, reflective self-penned title track, which forms the most fitting conclusion to (and consummation of) the trilogy that one could imagine. It's a deeply personal composition (how could it be otherwise, with lines like "The first time ever I saw his face, his heart became my own"?), and yet its sentiments and experiences also can be seen to have an embracingly universal import; this aspect, together with its very simplicity of expression, renders it profoundly moving. As for the traditional material, well these new renditions are uniformly superlative and often intriguing; not only do we get here the voice of a master interpreter of these songs of many years' standing, one who loves and knows the songs in depth and clearly truly understands them, but Peggy's also a lady who has immense experience of actually thinking about these songs and carefully choosing the ideal versions for her to perform. Not least with regard to the tunes she uses: a case in point is Molly Bond, which Peggy sings unaccompanied here, to a tune which conveys the intrinsic eeriness of the ballad and is commendably far removed from the significantly sweeter "usual" melody, while conversely her chosen tune for Newlyn Town is sweeter and more plaintive than the "usual" one for this broadside. In fact, some of the tunes Peggy calls into service here were new to me, and these prove especially intensely rewarding and refreshing. Peggy's choice of songs is an interesting one by any standards, containing as it does variants of the fairly well-known (Home Dearie Home, Hang Me, Roving Gambler, Little Birdie) alongside other material which, though not exactly obscure, can be regarded more as the province of the hardened folksong buff (the Texas holler Dink's Song and the industrial complaint Let Them Wear Their Watches Fine, for instance). Aside from Peggy's own excellent performances, the songs are also blessed with beautifully considered yet spontaneous-sounding down-home-style backings courtesy of Cary Findley, Calum and Neill MacColl, John Herrmann, Rosemary Lackey and Vollie McKenzie (in varying permutations), and a further contributing factor in the success of the whole enterprise must surely be the sympathetic yet upfront production by Calum himself. Not to mention the ingenuity of the at times uncannily simple instrumental arrangements (special mention for the ghostly drone-enhanced concertina-and-harmonium backing for O The Wind And The Rain and the unusual use of slide-guitar on the Napoleon ballad). This is an exceptionally lovely release; in fact, the whole trilogy has proved eminently treasurable - thanks, Peggy, for everything.

David Kidman
NetRhythms
January 2008
http://www.netrhythms.co.uk/reviews.html#peggy

It's really unfortunate that Peggy Seeger never got the same attention as her half brother. I know people will call this blasphemy, but I think they are fairly on par: both genius songwriters, genius players, and, well, essentially play the same songs. Younger than Pete by 16 years, and Mike by a few less, Peggy was born into music: musical parents, musical brothers, and a legacy to hold up.

She did well, let me tell you. Bring Me Home is the third in the "Home" trilogy: three albums worth of songs she learned when she was young, and re-imagined. She doesn't rely on fancy technology to make her music sound good. Most of the tracks star only her and her 5 string banjo or acoustic guitar, just how folk should be. "Hang Me" holds banjo playing that is a step up from phenomenal, and "Molly Bond" is strictly acapella, showcasing Seeger's slightly shaking voice which only adds more color to these recordings. I honestly cannot get enough of this!

The John Shelton Ivey List # 313
****Shelton's Single of the Week: "Peacock Street"****

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. (4-1/2 stars out of 5)
Ronnie D. Lankford, Jr.
All Music Guide
http://www.allmusicguide.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:3bfwxzlhld0e

Bring Me Home represents the conclusion of Peggy Seeger’s “Home Trilogy” of CDs (see Heading for Home and Love Call Me Home…both available from Appleseed).

Seeger has long been a staple of American and British Folk Music. Her first recording was released by Folkways Records in 1955! “bring me home” is a haunting collection of songs that feature minimal instrumentation (mostly banjo, guitar, and concertina), and a couple of a cappella cuts. Seeger’s voice is a bit rough around the edges, but I think this serves to make the songs seem more real and immediate.

The dozen songs on the CD are mostly traditional versions of timeless situations…deserving chaps headed for the gallows (“Hang Me” and Newlyn Town”)…wandering lovers (“Dink’s Song”, “Roving Gambler”)…lost love (“Molly Bond” where the young girl is mistaken for a swan and slain by a bowshot from her lover (used to happen all the time in days of old). You have to check out Seeger’s liner notes for the old chestnut “O the Wind and the Rain”…”Sister drowning sister, brother stabbing brother, fathers burning their daughters at the stake, mothers strangling their babies…ah, family life!”

The CD closes with the lovely and very personal title track…a gentle tribute to her extended family including her parents, half-brother Pete Seeger, brother Mike Seeger, husband Ewan MacColl, and her current partner, Irish vocalist Irene Piper-Scott. Backing musicians include her sons Callum and Neill. “bring me home” is a solid effort from one of the most respected folk musicians. At 73, she is still going strong with plans for a couple of CD releases in 2008, a concert tour, and academia (she’s a visiting professor of songwriting at Northeastern U in Boston.

Bob Olsen

A review written for the Folk & Acoustic Music Exchange
by Mike Jurkovic

These songs have been with Peggy Seeger her whole life. She has sung at the gallows (Hang Me, Newly Town) and she has known the women who rarely return from the no-gooder's charm (Roving Gambler). She has been acquainted with Molly Bond and Dink (Dink's Song).

As in the previous releases which make up the Home triology - Heading For Home (2003) and Love Call Me Home (2005) - her ageless and unaffected voice is accompanied by sparse, yet superior, instrumental support, namely her own banjo, guitar, and concertina. Son and producer Calum MacColl also enters the mix on guitar and harmonium as does other son Neill MacColl on autoharp and mandolin.

Track List:

Produced by Calum MacColl

David N. Pyles
Copyright 2008 Peterborough Folk Music Society

Back to tying up her home trilogy after a detour with her great birthday concert recording last year, the grande dame for the first family of folk music does not disappoint. Once you pass 70, you might not be as concerned with being an engineer as you once were, but you are concerned with comfort in your surroundings. The view of Seeger’s vision of home rounds out the trilogy nicely. When taken with the two preceding sets, this is a pretty grand contemporary folk statement. With a gentle message and touch, Seeger knows that love can take you home again, even when some of the songs here make you want to run as far and as fast as you can from there.
Chris Spector
Editor and Publisher
Midwest Record
January 3, 2008

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