We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions by Bruce Springsteen
We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions, released in 2006, is the fourteenth studio album by Bruce Springsteen. This is Springsteen's first and so far only album of non-Springsteen material and contains his interpretation of thirteen folk music songs made popular by activist folk musician Pete Seeger. As an activist and artist of folk music, Seeger did not write any of the songs on the album. His life's work focused on popularizing and promoting the ethic of local, historical musical influences and recognizing the cultural significance of which folk music embodies. The record began in 1997, when Springsteen recorded "We Shall Overcome" for the Where Have All the Flowers Gone: the Songs of Pete Seeger tribute album, released the following year. Springsteen had not known much about Seeger given his rock and roll upbringing and orientation, and proceeded to investigate and listen to his music. While playing them in his house, his 10-year-old daughter said, "Hey, that sounds like fun," which caused Springsteen to get interested in further exploring the material and genre. Via Soozie Tyrell, the violinist in the E Street Band, Springsteen hooked up with a group of lesser-known musicians from New Jersey and New York, and they recorded in an informal, large band setting in Springsteen's New Jersey farm. In addition to Tyrell, previous Springsteen associates The Miami Horns as well as wife Patti Scialfa augmented the proceedings. This group would become The Sessions Band. The album was Springsteen's second consecutive non-E Street Band, non-rock music project. The critical reception to the album was very positive, with E! Online calling it his "best album since Nebraska and Allmusic labeling it "rambunctious, freewheeling, [and] positively joyous". PopMatters called it a "a sonic transfusion on the order of the Mermaid Avenue records", which were Woody Guthrie songs recorded by Billy Bragg and Wilco. Seeger himself was pleased by result, saying "It was a great honor. He's an extraordinary person, as well as an extraordinary singer." The album, like its predecessor Devils and Dust, has been released on DualDisc, in a CD/DVD double disc set, and as a set of two vinyl records. For the DualDisc and CD/DVD sets, the full album is on the CD(-side), while the DVD(-side) side features a PCM Stereo version of the album and a short film about the making and recording of the album. Two bonus songs also appear on the DVD(-side). The subsequent Bruce Springsteen with The Seeger Sessions Band Tour took this musical approach even further. On October 3, 2006, the album was reissued as We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions - American Land Edition with five additional tracks (the two bonus tracks from before and three new numbers that had been introduced and heavily featured on the tour), new videos, an expanded documentary and liner notes. Rather than a DualDisc release, the American Land Edition was released with separate CD and DVDs. Added sales were minimal. The album won the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album at the 49th Grammy Awards held in February 2007. The album had sold 700,000 copies in the United States by January 2009; the RIAA certified it with gold record status.
A late-1990s gathering at Bruce Springsteen’s farm with a band of friends, family members and other musicians was the foundation for <i>We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions</i>, released in 2006. Despite the earnest title, this record is meant to be a celebration: As Springsteen himself writes in the album’s liner notes, the songs on <i>We Shall Overcome</i> consist of “street corner music, parlour music, tavern music, wilderness music, circus music, church music, gutter music”. The record, a lively collection of folk songs and traditional American music popularised by Pete Seeger, the folk singer and activist who believed that music could help everyday people change the world. Springsteen introduced him as “a walking, singing reminder of all of America’s history” when the two appeared onstage together at Barack Obama’s 2008 inauguration celebration. The album sounds and feels like a hootenanny, a term popularly used to describe impromptu, open mic-type folk-music gatherings featuring communal singing. Springsteen and his Seeger Sessions Band emphatically continue that spirit with their performances of traditional folk standards such as “O Mary Don’t You Weep”, “We Shall Overcome”, “Eyes on the Prize”, “Pay Me My Money Down” and even “Froggie Went A-Courtin’”. But unlike a hootenanny—which often features limited instrumentation—the Sessions Band were expansive: A horn section adds texture on <i>We Shall Overcome</i>, as do banjo, accordion, fiddle, tuba, mandolin and even a penny whistle for good measure. Springsteen took an expanded version of the Sessions Band on tour, including a notable post-Katrina appearance at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, where songs like “We Shall Overcome” and “O Mary Don’t You Weep” had special resonance.
