“Chopping Wood”
Join long time folk-singer David Bernz and and his son Jacob Bernz for a readings, stories and music from Pete Seeger on March 14th at 3pm. Free and open to all. Books will be on sale for signing and purchase. Please RSVP to save a seat.
David and Jacob Bernz are a father-son team of folksingers and songwriters hailing from Beacon New York. David’s performance ensembles have included “Dave, Perry, Rande, “Stone Soup” and “Work o’ the Weavers” and he has released CDs with each. David has also received two Grammy Awards producing CDs for Pete Seeger including Best Folk Album 2008 and best children’s album 2010. Jacob is a prolific young songwriter with five CDs of original material. Combining many influences into a genre all his own, Jacob’s delivery is uniquely poetic and personal, together they weave a tapestry of songs old and new.
Chopping Wood is Pete Seeger up close and personal like never before. Derived from years of conversations between Seeger and his close friend and collaborator David Bernz, it takes readers on a uniquely personal journey through this legendary folksinger and songwriter remarkable life and career, in his own words.
Listen in as Pete unabashedly shares historical and family stories; tells of learning the banjo, traveling with Woody Guthrie, and finding commercial success with The Weavers; explains how he wrote books and put together songs; delves into controversial subjects like communism and the Peekskill Riots; and highlights those he admired and respected, including Bruce Springsteen, who honoured Pete with his Seeger Sessions album in 2006.
Pete and David share the heavy lifting as they tackle subjects such as the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, Pete’s relationship to Greenwich Village, and the need for copyright reform. Together, they describe how Pete put his worldview into practice in his local community, how he lived with local hero status in later life, and how they made recordings together that resulted in two Grammy Awards.
Minimally edited to preserve Seeger’s trademark cadence, the book is punctuated by historical images and additional commentary by David Bernz, as well as remembrances from other musicians and friends and a foreword by Arlo Guthrie. Readers will come to know Pete more deeply as they hear this gentle, principled man’s voice resonate in their own heads and bear witness to his humility and willingness to respect those whose opinions differed greatly from his own—vital qualities in these troubled and divisive times.