Mike Seeger

The story of the American music dynasty, the Carters and Cashes, and their decades-long influence on popular music.

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In 2009, filmmaker Yasha Aginsky accompanied the great old-time musician Mike Seeger and his wife Alexia on recording trips through the Southeastern United States, documented by Yasha and his assistant, Slava Basovich. A tireless collector, performer and advocate of old-time music and musicians, Mike was on a mission to record a survey of contemporary traditional-style banjo playing.

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The Banjo Project is a cross-media cultural odyssey: a major television documentary, a live stage/multi-media performance, and a website that chronicle the journey of America’s quintessential instrument—the banjo—from its African roots to the 21st century. It’s a collaboration between Emmy-winning writer-producer Marc Fields and banjo virtuoso Tony Trischka (the Project’s Music Director), one of the most acclaimed acoustic musicians of his generation.

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Mike Seeger teaches traditional American banjo styles. 18 tunes are taught: Molly Dear, Snowdrop, French Waltz, Reuben's Train, Tom Dooley, John Brown's Dream, Backstep Cindy, Old Corn Likker, Marching Jaybird, Soldier's Joy, Needle Case, Baptist Shout and White House Blues

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A biographical documentary about the life Hazel Dickens profiling a modern woman dealing with contemporary issues from a feminist perspective that is the product of her experiences being Appalachian, being displaced physically and culturally, being poor and working class, being a woman artist in a man’s world, and being a bearer of tradition.

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A history of rural southeastern traditional American music, as told and played by Mike Seeger and Alice Gerrard. Mike and Alice recount their own involvement with this music, and briefly trace its history as we meet their mentors: the late Tommy Jarrell, Lily May Ledford, Roscoe Holcomb, Elizabeth Cotton and many other musicians. Filmed in 1978 and 1979 in the states of Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, Washington and California, the film follows Mike and Alice home, and to folk music festivals where a new generation of musicians are picking up and passing on American traditional music. The filmmaker grew up with this rich and beautiful music and wanted to share it with younger generations who might not be aware of it and its role in American cultural history.

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