Ewan MacColl

Peggy Seeger, Cecil Sharp House, review: a masterclass from a folk veteran

• Peggy Seeger is steeped in the folk tradition. Over a 65-year career, she has released over 70 albums, over half of which were recorded with her late husband, the singer Ewan MacColl. Her father was renowned folklorist Charles Seeger and her mother was composer Ruth Crawford Seeger, her brother was Mike Seeger and her half-brother was If I Had A Hammer icon Pete Seeger. And MacColl’s daughter from a previous marriage was the singer Kirsty MacColl, who died in 2000. So I slightly feared that this concert by Seeger, now 85, in the home of English folk – the imposing Cecil Sharp House in Camden – would be one for the purists: rather serious and slightly austere. But it was nothing of the sort. Seeger, who was born in New York but has largely lived in the UK since the 1950s, imparted her wise and optimistic worldview with joy and a wonderful lightness of touch. This was a masterclass in storytelling through music, as though delivered by a favourite aunt. She was joined on stage in the venue’s wood-panelled Kennedy Hall by her son Calum MacColl, an accomplished musician in his own right. “I’m very glad to half-see you all,” Seeger joked as she looked out at the mask-wearers in the socially-distanced and seated crowd. “One good thing about lockdown is we’ve learnt to smile with our eyes,” she added. The music was packed with life lessons. One of the themes of the evening was ageing and anonymity. ‘The Invisible Woman’ was about how society marginalises its older members, while ‘Nobody Knew She Was There’ was a haunting song penned by her husband about his mother’s night job washing endless floors in an office block. Seeger has said that she “revels” in songs, “tasting their words as I sing”. But she has long been a student of folk’s form and context. During the folk revival of the 1960s, Seeger and MacColl set up The Critics Group, a sort of study circle that educated its members about the genre’s disciplines and history. The goal was to preserve truth and respect tradition. And yet, while Seeger clearly does that, there was a refreshing sense of “dogma be damned” about this show as well.