Mike Seeger

Once described by Bob Dylan as having old-time music "in his genetic makeup," Mike Seeger is among the most important figures in the genre born after 1930. Born to musicological parents, Mike Seeger excels at banjo, autoharp, dulcimer, guitarist, and fiddle and, from a young age, became the undeniable instrumentalist in a folk family that also included his siblings, Pete and Peggy Seeger. In 1958, Seeger formed the New Lost City Ramblers with Tom Paley and John Cohen. The preeminent string band of the folk revival, the New Lost City Ramblers revived not only the sound of old-time musicians, but their unpolished, raucous spirit as well. Seeger dabbled with bluegrass throughout his career and joined the Strange Creek Singers featuring Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard from 1968 to 1970. As a solo artist, Seeger has released countless, exhaustively authentic albums in which he approaches many forms of pre-war acoustic music as a student, professor, and virtuoso.