“Joe Hill” Is Latest Rare Recording To Be Unveiled From Pete Seeger: The Smithsonian Folkways Collection (Out May 3)

On May 3, on what would have been Pete Seeger's 100th birthday, Smithsonian Folkways is releasing the definitive anthology on the iconic folk musician and advocate. The collection celebrates Seeger's long lasting legacy with 6 CDs of music, a 200-page book and 20 previously unreleased recordings. Today, Vanity Fair has an interview with Smithsonian Folkways archivist Jeff Place -- a key curator of the set, and one of the authors in the book -- with a previously unreleased recording of Seeger performing the protest anthem “Joe Hill.”

Listen to “Joe Hill” here: https://bit.ly/2HRdWdn

Read the Vanity Fair piece here: https://bit.ly/2V5IHim

"Joe Hill" was popularized by Joan Baez at the Woodstock Music and Art Fair in 1969, and is an ode to an industrial worker and songwriter, who was convicted of murder in 1915 under unsure circumstances. Seeger was a relentless advocate for the industrial workers movement, so covering the song came with purpose, as he pushed for fair treatment and rights.  This recording is from 1946, and is an outtake from his Roll The Union On disc. As the book describes the song:

"Joe Hill (1879–1915) was a member of the Industrial Workers of the World (I.W.W., known as the Wobblies) and their most important song-writer. Through The Little Red Songbook, the Wobblies used music extensively and were the great singing union. Hill wrote “The Preacher and the Slave,” “Casey Jones, the Union Scab,” and “The Rebel Girl,” among others. He was born Joel Hagglund in Gävle, Sweden, and moved at age 23 to the United States, where he joined the Wobblies. Hill was accused, tried, and convicted of murder in Salt Lake City in 1915 and subsequently executed by firing squad. There has been disagreement over the years whether Hill was really guilty (Place 2006). This song about Hill was composed by Earl Robinson and Alfred Hayes, and was performed by Joan Baez at the Woodstock Music and Art Fair in 1969, which gave much wider exposure to Hill and the Wobblies."

Pete Seeger: The Smithsonian Folkways Collection is a 6-CD, 200-page set that comes in a 12 by 12 inch hardbound book. It’s produced by Jeff Place and Robert Santelli, the same team who produced the acclaimed box sets Woody at 100 and Lead Belly: The Smithsonian Folkways Collection, rounding out a trilogy commemorating three of Folkways’ most iconic recording artists. Featuring photos and stories from all eras of Seeger’s life, from his first recording sessions with Folkways founder Moses Asch to performing at Barack Obama’s presidential inauguration, the set contextualizes the songs and provides valuable insight into the personality that created this classic music.

Pre-Order the collection here: https://orcd.co/spiritofseeger