Pete Seeger
1919 - 2014
Woody Guthrie: Hard Travelin'
Jim Brown
Arlo Guthrie, Pete Seeger
A warmhearted memorial to the folk singer whose songs galvanized organizers and guitar-pickers across the United States. Part biography, part travelogue and part hootenanny, it follows the singer's son, Arlo Guthrie, as he retraces his father's steps and collects reminiscences from his father's family, friends and musical partners.
Woody Guthrie: Hard Travelin'
Smothered: The Censorship Struggles of the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
Maureen Muldaur
Tom Smothers, Dick Smothers
The history of the irreverent "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour" and the content battles it fought with its television network.
Smothered: The Censorship Struggles of the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
Freedom Summer
Stanley Nelson
Robert Moses, Anthony Harris
In the summer of 1964, more than 700 students descended on violent, segregated Mississippi. Defying authorities, they registered voters, created freedom schools, and established the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. Fifty years later, eyewitness accounts and never-before-seen archival material tell their story. Not all of them would make it through.
Freedom Summer
Paul Robeson: Here I Stand
St. Clair Bourne
Paul Robeson, Harry Belafonte
Paul Robeson: Here I Stand presents the life and achievements of an extraordinary man. Athlete, singer, and scholar, Robeson was also a charismatic champion of the rights of the poor working man, the disfranchised and people of color. He led a life in the vanguard of many movements, achieved international acclaim for his music and suffered tremendous personal sacrifice. His story is one of the great dramas of the 20th century, spanning an international canvas of social upheaval and ideological controversy.
Paul Robeson: Here I Stand
The Ballad of Ramblin' Jack
Aiyana Elliott
Jack Elliott, Arlo Guthrie
With the help of her mother, family, friends, and fellow musicians, Aiyana Elliott reaches for her father, legendary cowboy troubadour, Ramblin' Jack Elliott. She explores who he is and how he got there, working back and forth between archival and contemporary footage. Born in 1932 in Brooklyn, busking through the South and West in the early 50s, a year with Woody Guthrie, six years flatpicking in Europe, a triumphant return to Greenwich Village in the early 60s, mentoring Bob Dylan, then life on the road, from gig to gig, singing and telling stories. A Grammy and the National Medal of Arts await Jack near the end of a long trail. What will Aiyana find for herself?
The Ballad of Ramblin' Jack
Woody Guthrie: Ain't Got No Home
Peter Frumkin
Woody Guthrie, Peter Coyote
Every American who has listened to the radio knows Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land." The music of the folk singer/songwriter has been recorded by everyone from the Mormon Tabernacle Choir to U2. Originally blowing out of the Dust Bowl in Depression-era America, he blended vernacular, rural music and populism to give voice to millions of downtrodden citizens. Guthrie's music was politically leftist, uniquely patriotic and always inspirational.
Woody Guthrie: Ain't Got No Home
The Foolish Frog
Gene Deitch
Pete Seeger
A farmer wanted words to go with the tune he was playing when he saw a frog sitting on the bank of the stream. The frog did something silly which gave the farmer the words for his song. The farmer went to the corner store to sing his song for people there.
The Foolish Frog
Festival
Murray Lerner
Horton Barker, Fiddler Beers
Black and white footage of performances, interviews, and conversations at the Newport Folk Festival, from 1963 to 1966. The headliners are Peter, Paul and Mary, Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, and Bob Dylan, who's acoustic and electric. Son House and Mike Bloomfield talk about the blues; John Hurt, Howlin' Wolf, and Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee show its range. The Osborne Brothers perform bluegrass. Donovan, Johnny Cash, Judy Collins, Mimi and Dick Farina, and others less well known also perform. Several talk musical philosophy, and there's a running commentary about the nature and appeal of folk music. The crowd looks clean cut.
Festival
