I was a fan of Pete Seeger’s but never learned to play any of his songs while he was with us. I had a special fondness because he shared a birthday with my grandmother Ana Maria, and he turned me on to Woody Guthrie tunes. Also because he once sent me a postcard (more on that in a minute).

I’d seen Pete in concert a few times, but never met him in person until April 11th, 2013. I was at the launch party at DIA:Beacon for his Pete Seeger: The Storm King audio book, produced by Jeff Haynes, a guy I knew from high school. There are about 50 musicians on this CD, including Dar Williams, Bianca Merkley, Emile Menasche, Richie Stearns, and Sanjay Cherubala, to name a handful. I thought I’d introduce myself, because how many more chances was I likely to get? So I walked up and said “Hi, I just wanna thank you… I’m Ana… wherein Pete broke in and said “I just thought of a song.” He revved up into the chorus of Pat Lamanna’s Peace Pilgrim: “I will walk until I’m given shelter. I will fast until I’m given bread. I will remain a wanderer until mankind has learned to live in peace.” I was amazed because we’d never laid eyes on one another before, yet there he was, Pete Seeger, singing the chorus to the one song that I’d recorded on this project. I always knew it worked like this, and that Pete was the real deal, but it sure is nice to have the ineffable realities occasionally reaffirmed.

So, about that postcard: back in the late 1980’s I sent a demo tape to Pete and received this postcard in response. I love Pete outrunning the horsemen while skipping and banjoing. I don’t usually save things, but came across it years later and decided to keep it. Now it wanders around my room, sometimes living on the music stand, or visiting the desk, and always disappearing for long stretches, only to turn up right after I give up looking for it. How many zillions of these little encouragements do you think Pete Seeger mailed out over the years? Whose life can you brighten by taking a few minutes to write and mail a card?

Thanks, Pete – and Happy Birthday.