Born to parents who loved and taught music, Pete Seeger fell in
love with the banjo and folk music at an early age. Seeger left
Harvard University in the middle of his sophomore year, setting out
to absorb American folk music from its source in communities across
the country. He formed his first folk group, The Almanac Singers,
with Woody Guthrie and other musicians in 1940. They traveled
throughout the U.S. and Mexico as singer-activists, bolstering
labor movements and other social causes. In 1942 Seeger joined the
U.S. Army and continued playing music, often performing for his
fellow soldiers. In 1945, after being discharged from the Army as a
corporal. Seeger founded People’s Songs, Inc., a musicians’ union
helping bind the labor movement to folk music in an effort to
advance both. In 1948 he co-founded the famous Weavers, a
folk-singing quartet that recorded many hit songs. Many of Seeger’s
recordings supported civil rights and the environment while
protesting war.