By Daniel Stoller
As Peggy Seeger finger-picked a banjo, she introduced the last song of her performance.
“This one’s going to have to be the final song, since we’re heading home, and that’s the name of this song,” she said.
Seeger, a visiting scholar for the music department who is famous for her American folk songwriting, visited Raytheon Amphitheater to perform a concert open to the public Wednesday night. Part of the Gender Matters at Northeastern University series, Seeger’s section was titled “I Come From Women” and songs featuring themes like gender struggles, sexism and differences in how women and men are viewed using traditional folk songs.
At one point, Seeger asked nine audience members to come to the microphones, placing the women on her left and the men on her right. Folk songs from the point-of-view of bachelors “are all happy, unless they’re mourning the happy times before marriage,” Seeger said. “Songs from women are all like, ‘Please come marry us right away.'”
After teaching the women and men the choruses of their respective songs, Seeger alternated singing a verse and chorus with each gender, demonstrating the contrast for the audience.
Switching between the banjo, a 1907 Martin guitar and a piano, Seeger sang about a variety of other topics including body image, fascism and political involvement.
While some of her songs, including five she wrote about activist Frances Crowe, were focused on social issues, many were personal. Seeger told the story of her relationship with Ewan MacColl, a British folk singer-songwriter.
After MacColl’s death, Seeger entered a period grieving. Seeger’s friend Irene Pyper-Scott helped her return to emotional stability and the two developed a relationship, formalized by a civil union in December 2006.
“Call Your Name,” written about a rough patch in the relationship, is a personal song in which Seeger taught the crowd the chorus and asked them to sing along.
Judith Tick, a music history professor, wrote the first biography of Ruth Crawford Seeger, Peggy’s mother. Tick first met Peggy when interviewing her for her mother’s book and they became close friends over the years. Tick was one of the driving forces behind Seeger’s installation as a guest professor and in the planning of the concert.
Tick said students could learn much from Seeger, because, “her music welcomes them all.”
Baird Caner, a junior music industry major, said he enjoyed Seeger’s ability to connect with the audience.
“There is nothing that she won’t talk about comfortably,” Caner said. “Many of her songs are inappropriate for certain settings,” which Caner said contributes to Seeger’s ability to relate with students decades younger than she.
Tick said Seeger’s music is an important example of contemporary music.
“She’s an American treasure,” Tick said. “She understands how music and song reflect experience.”
