Various Artists - Pete Seeger's 90th Birthday Benefit, Madison Square Garden, New York City, 5-3-2009, Part 2

Here's the second out of three parts for Pete Seeger's 90th Birthday Benefit concert in 2009.

The concert was quite long, so I decided to split it into three parts. Perhaps in retrospect it would have made more sense to split it into two parts, because the concert reached a sort of emotional peak right in the middle with a group singalong of "We Shall Overcome." It seems an intermission followed that. But what's done is done, and I think it's a good listen this way as well.

Also, Seeger's direct participation is rather strange. He stayed off the stage for most of this concert that was dedicated to him, but he occasionally took part. For instance, he did a solo version of "Amazing Grace" in this part. He returned for the final part. 

One weird thing about this part of this concert is that one song, "Garbage, Garbage, Garbage," was basically a duet between Tom Chapin, a human, and Oscar the Grouch, a Muppet famous for his long role on the TV show "Sesame Street." Normally, I would find this sort of thing silly or gimmicky. But in this case, I think it worked nicely. You can decide for yourself. 

By the way, when I first posted "Part 1" a few days ago, I forgot to include "Part 1" in the title and artwork. That has now been fixed. So you might want to re-download it.

Also, note that the numbering in the song list starts with 21, in case you want to put all three of the albums from this concert into the same folder, to make it easier to listen to the entire concert all at once. 

This album is 51 minutes long.

21 Dink's Song [Fare Thee Well] (Bruce Cockburn, Kate & Anna McGarrigle & Rufus & Martha Wainwright)
22 talk (Tony Triaschka)
23 D-Minor Flourish - Blue Skies - Goofing-Off Suite - Happy Birthday (Bela Fleck & Tony Triaschka)
24 Waist Deep in the Big Muddy (Tom Morello & Taj Mahal)
25 Where Have All the Flowers Gone (Joan Baez)
26 Bring 'Em Home (Ben Bridwell, Patterson Hood, Tao Rodriguez-Seeger, Tyler Ramsey & Warren Haynes)
27 We Shall Overcome (Everyone)
28 talk (Norman Lear)
29 talk (Pete Seeger)
30 Amazing Grace (Pete Seeger)
31 talk (Tom Chapin & Oscar the Grouch)
32 Garbage, Garbage, Garbage (Tom Chapin, Michael Mark & Oscar the Grouch)
33 talk (Kris Kristofferson)
34 A Hole in the Bucket (Kris Kristofferson & Ani DiFranco)
35 Little Boxes (Tommy Sands Irish Band)
36 Michael, Row the Boat Ashore (Rufus & Martha Wainwright, Kate & Anna McGarrigle, Tony Trischka & Tim Robbins)
37 Freedom (Richie Havens) 

https://pixeldrain.com/u/KRkaXqaV

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/ggUyjMIHnWrDd5Q/file

The cover image is taken from the video of this exact concert. It shows Kris Kristofferson and Ani Di Franco when they duetted on the song "A Hole in the Bucket." 

Various Artists - Pete Seeger's 90th Birthday Benefit, Madison Square Garden, New York City, 5-3-2009, Part 1

Pete Seeger had a remarkable music career, and a remarkably long one. By the time of this concert, he was truly a living legend. This concert celebrated his 90th birthday. (He went on to live four more years, until 2014.) It's staggering to consider he began performing music in public before the start of World War II, and he was still going at this concert, sixty years later! This concert was a benefit for the Clearwater Project, which Seeger had been involved in for a long time. But it also was a tribute to Seeger, and a celebration of his career, including his progressive activism. It's such a big concert that I decided it was best to split it into three parts. This is the first part.

Seeger made such a big musical impact that practically everyone in the folk music genre, and lots of people in other genres like rock, jazz, and country, wanted to be a part of this concert. There are quite a few guests mostly singing Seeger songs, and songs associated with Seeger, for this album, as you can see from the song list. But keep in mind this is just the first of three parts, and most of the "big names" were saved until later.

The music here has never been officially released in an audio format, as far as I know. But it has been released on DVD. It also has been shown on PBS stations. I converted the video to audio, then chopped it into mp3s. Due to that source, the sound quality is excellent.

This album is 50 minutes long. 

01 talk (Native American Indian Cultural Alliance)
02 Blessing of the River (Native American Indian Cultural Alliance)
03 talk (Tim Robbins)
04 talk (John Mellencamp)
05 If I Had a Hammer (John Mellencamp)
06 talk (John Mellencamp)
07 A Ride Back Home (John Mellencamp)
08 talk (Ani DiFranco)
09 Which Side Are You On (Bruce Cockburn & Ani DiFranco)
10 John Henry (Tom Paxton, Tom Morello, Eric Weissberg & Jacob Silver)
11 talk (Michael Franti)
12 Dear Mr. President (Michael Franti, Laura Cortese, Eric Weissberg & Patterson Hood)
13 Oh Freedom (Patterson Hood, Toshi Reagon, Bernice Reagon, Abigail Washburn, Guy Davis & Jacob Silver)
14 talk (Billy Bragg)
15 L'Internationale (Billy Bragg)
16 Union Maid (Billy Bragg, Mike & Ruthy Merenda & Dar Williams)
17 talk (Toshi Reagon)
18 Sailin' Up, Sailin' Down (Pete Seeger, Taj Mahal, Steve Earle, Toshi Reagon & Warren Haynes)
19 False from True (Guy Davis, Steve Earle & Warren Haynes)
20 The Water Is Wide (Emmylou Harris with Teddy Thompson, Kate & Anna McGarrigle & Rufus & Martha Wainwright)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/q3gpWv1z

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/rnhWiIfmBLCCUty/file

The cover image of Seeger is a screenshot I took from a video of this exact concert.

Bob Weir & Warren Haynes - Weir Here, TRI Studios, San Rafael, CA, 7-31-2013

Once again, I feel obliged to begin this write-up by pointing out that Bob Weir, formerly a member of the Grateful Dead, died last month. (I write this in February 2026.) I've already posted three albums celebrating his musical legacy. But when I putting the last one, which was an episode of his 2013 webcast "Weir Here," I got interested in another episode of that webcast and decided to post it too. For this one, Weir was joined by lead guitarist Warren Haynes.

Here's what Wikipedia has to say about Haynes:

"Warren Haynes (born April 6, 1960) is an American musician, singer and songwriter. He is best known for his work as longtime guitarist with the Allman Brothers Band and as founding member of the jam band Gov't Mule. Early in his career he was a guitarist for David Allan Coe and The Dickey Betts Band. Haynes is also known for his associations with the surviving members of the Grateful Dead, including touring with Phil Lesh and Friends and the Dead."

Jerry Garcia, lead guitarist for the Grateful Dead, was born on August 1, 1942. So this performance took place one day before the anniversary of his birth. The episode had Garcia in mind. As a result, most of the songs were ones that were usually co-written and sung by Garcia, not Weir. Both Weir and Haynes sang lead vocals, separately and together.

Weir and Haynes were supported by a small backing band, while generally staying in acoustic mode: Jeff Chimenti on keyboards, Lincoln Schleifer on bass, Jeff Sipe on drums, and Alecia Chakour and Jasmine Muhammed on backing vocals. Some of these other band members sang lead vocals occasionally, especially on "The Weight."

Like the other "Weir Here" episode, I converted the video to audio, then cut it into mp3s. I haven't seen this circulating as an audio bootleg, but hopefully that will change now. Everything here is unreleased, and the sound quality is excellent. 

Also like that other episode, there were two long discussions that took place during breaks in the middle of the performance. I made those two bonus tracks, so one can hear the music without interruption. 

This album is an hour and 20 minutes long, not including the bonus tracks. 

01 Walkin' Blues (Bob Weir & Warren Haynes)
02 talk (Bob Weir & Warren Haynes)
03 The Weight (Bob Weir & Warren Haynes)
04 Bird Song (Bob Weir & Warren Haynes)
05 West L.A. Fadeaway (Bob Weir & Warren Haynes)
06 Sugaree (Bob Weir & Warren Haynes)
07 talk (Bob Weir & Warren Haynes)
08 Crazy Fingers (Bob Weir & Warren Haynes)
09 talk (Bob Weir & Warren Haynes)
10 Shakedown Street (Bob Weir & Warren Haynes)
11 China Cat Sunflower - I Know You Rider (Bob Weir & Warren Haynes)

Discussion 1 (Bob Weir & Warren Haynes)
Discussion 2 (Bob Weir & Warren Haynes)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/ijoSHxFp

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/pAZtoA5ZfQ0WKVE/file

The cover photo is from this exact concert. It's a screenshot I took from a YouTube video. I used KreaAI to improve the image quality.