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You can order Mike's best-known recent recordings here by PayPal or by mail. Prices include postage and handling for US & Canada only. Outside North America, overseas shipping charges applied. For track listings, click on the CD or DVD image.

NEW!
Release date 22 March 2011
Mike with his sister Peggy Seeger

Fly Down Little Bird
Fly Down Little Bird CD $16
Appleseed, 2011
Mike and Peggy revisit songs they learned as kids from field recordings. Not "children's songs," these have a wide range in sound and subject: the quirky fun of Fod, the Poor Little Turtle Dove's lovesick plaint, a ballad in unaccompanied octaves, social commentary in The Farmer Is The Man, the spooky religiosity of Blood-Stained Banders. The two singers play various combinations of banjo, guitar, fiddle, harmonica, mandolin, lap dulcimer, and piano. Included in the booklet are Peggy's vivid evocation of their early listening experience and several early photos.

Mike Solo

Early Southern Guitar
Early Southern Guitar Sounds CD $16
Smithsonian Folkways, 2007
On 28 songs and tunes, Mike plays a variety of the guitar styles used in the rural South from about 1850 to 1930, on 25 different types of guitars. Featured are banjo-like styles, rags, blues, parlor and parlor-based styles, slide styles, and many accompaniment styles. Includes a 36-page booklet covering Southern guitar history, notes on songs and styles, and color photographs of many of the instruments used. (See related instructional DVD below.)
True Vine
True Vine CD $16
Smithsonian Folkways, 2003
Mike performs 23 songs and instrumentals from rural Southern tradition, with a great variety of vocal and instrumental sounds. The extensive notes include the stories behind many of the pieces, reflecting Mike's life of documenting traditional singers and players and listening in depth to early recordings.
Southern Banjo Sounds
Southern Banjo Sounds CD $16
Smithsonian Folkways, 1998. Grammy Nominee
Mike plays 26 traditional instrumentals and songs in 26 banjo styles on 23 different banjos using 15 tunings. Styles range from a 19th-century African-American Mississippi style to a song played in the style evolved in the 1940s by North Carolinian Earl Scruggs. (See the series of three related instructional DVDs below.)
Solo: Oldtime Country Music
Solo: Oldtime Country Music CD $16
Rounder Records, 1991. Grammy Nominee
18 southern traditional-style rural ballads, songs, and instrumentals. Sung and played with banjo, gourd banjo, fiddle, guitar, autoharp, lap dulcimer, mandola, banjo ukulele, jew's harp, quills, and harmonica.

Mike with Others

Alice Gerrard & Mike Seeger: Bowling Green
Alice Gerrard & Mike Seeger: Bowling Green CD $16
5-String Productions, 2008
All the material from Alice & Mike's 1980 LP, now out of print, plus selections from a 1971 Japanese LP of live concert recordings and some archival selections from Mike's collection.
Retrograss with David Grisman and John Hartford
Retrograss with David Grisman and John Hartford CD $16
Acoustic Disc, 1999. Grammy Nominee
Popular, bluegrass, country western, and rock-and-roll songs from the 50s through the 80s played in various acoustic old-time and country styles reflect the meeting of three musician-friends with common musical roots and wide-ranging musical experiences.
Way Down in North Carolina with Paul Brown
Way Down in North Carolina with Paul Brown CD $16
Rounder Records, 1996
Two long-time musical friends play seventeen very traditional duets plus four solos. A variety of instruments including some unusual combinations.
Third Annual Farewell Reunion CD $16
Rounder, 1994. Grammy Nominee
Mike sings and plays 23 songs and instruments with 23 different soloists or bands, musicians he made music with over the years. These include the L-7s, Hazel Dickens, Bob Dylan, Tommy Jarrell, and Tim O'Brien.
American Folksongs for Children with Peggy Seeger 2-CD set $25
Rounder, 1977
94 traditional songs from Ruth Crawford Seeger's classic book of the same name. Children and parents love to sing these songs, add words, and make up games to play.
Animal Folksongs for Children - and Other People with Penny, Barbara, & Peggy Seeger et al. 2-CD set $25
Rounder, 1992
Children and grandchildren of Ruth Crawford Seeger sing all forty three songs from her animal folksongs book, plus an extra fifteen, in a rich variety of voices, instruments, and sounds. Notable Children's Recording, American Library Association. Good listening for adults as well.

By and about the New Lost City Ramblers

New Lost City Ramblers
50 Years: Where Do You Come From? Where Do You Go? 3-CD set $40
Smithsonian Folkways, 2009.
Two previously released CDs compiled from the Ramblers classic early Folkways recordings, plus a new compilation of Ramblers selections along with their field recordings of the traditional Southern musicians who inspired them, including Dock Boggs, Roscoe Holcomb, Tom Ashley, Maybelle Carter, and the Balfa Brothers. Each CD is accompanied by extensive notes.
40 Years of Concert Recordings
40 Years of Concert Recordings 2-CD set $20
Rounder Records, 2001
48 tracks, 16 of them previously unreleased. The songs and tunes are interspersed with commentary by the band, giving a lively sense of the Ramblers on stage.
There Ain't No Way Out
There Ain't No Way Out CD $16
Smithsonian Folkways, 1997. Grammy Nominee
The Ramblers recorded these twenty-six tracks in 1996, their first studio recording since 1973. They offer a fresh hearing of old-time, early bluegrass, and Cajun music played on a variety of acoustic instruments. The booklet contains essays and notes by all three Ramblers as well as a discography and photos.
Always been a rambler
The New Lost City Ramblers in Always Been A Rambler DVD $25
A film by Yasha Aginsky. Also with Dock Boggs, Maybelle Carter, Doc Watson, Elizabeth Cotten, and others.
Arhoolie Foundation, 2009
Celebrates fifty years of the Ramblers' music-making. Live footage of onstage performances, rehearsals, and informal music-making are combined with a wealth of archival material.

Music and Dance Documented by Mike

Close to home
Close to Home: Old Time Music from Mike Seeger's Collection, 1952 – 1967 CD $16
Smithsonian Folkways, 1997.
A collector's choice: 34 different old-time Southern soloists and groups, including Sara & Maybelle Carter, Arthur Smith, Dock Boggs, and Hattie and Ernest Stoneman, recorded by Mike on visits in the rural South.
Close to home
Talking Feet – Solo Southern Dance: Flatfoot, Buck and Tap 81-minute DVD $20
Smithsonian Folkways, 1984/2006
The first documentary about flatfoot, buck, hoedown, and rural tap dancing, the styles of solo Southern dancing which are a companion to traditional old-time music. Dances are done to hand-patting, talking blues, and singing, as well as old-time, bluegrass, and western swing-style music. Dancers range in age from 20 to 82. Featuring 24 traditional dancers filmed on location in WV, KY,VA, & NC.

Instructional DVDs

Southern Guitar Styles
Early Southern Guitar Styles 2-DVD set, totaling 3 hours 25 minutes. $40
Homespun Tapes, 2008
Mike teaches 25 songs and tunes, in a survey of traditional guitar styles from the rural South based on his Smithsonian Folkways CD (see above). Included are banjo-like styles, rags, blues, parlor guitar-based pieces, slide guitar tunes, and many song accompaniment styles, most of which Mike picked up directly from traditional players or their recordings - Maybelle Carter, John Hurt, Leadbelly, Sam McGee, Roscoe Holcomb, John Jackson, and Elizabeth Cotten, among others. Each piece is played through, followed by comments on style and a slow split-screen repetition.
Southern Banjo Styles
Southern Banjo Styles Three-Volume Set DVDs $70
Mike teaches many of the great variety of playing styles developed in the South during the nineteenth and early twentieth century. Each piece is played through, followed by comments on style and a slow split-screen repetition; and the many different banjos are shown in close-up. The enclosed booklet includes tabs, a banjo discography, how to choose and set up a banjo, and much more. Based on Mike's Smithsonian Folkways CD (see above). See below for details on each volume.
Southern Banjo Styles
Southern Banjo Styles, Volume 1 90-min DVD $30
Homespun Tapes, 2000
Volume One focuses on a family of styles generally considered to be of African origin and variously known as clawhammer, frailing, rapping, drop-thumb, and down-picking. Each video section features a song or tune with brief information as to its style and source, a complete performance of the piece, and detailed split-screen instruction on how to play it. Also shown are close-up views of each of the nine banjos used.
Southern Banjo Styles
Southern Banjo Styles, Volume 3 90-min DVD $30
Homespun Tapes, 2002
Volume Three focuses on mid-twentieth-century styles, the majority of them using finger picks. Each lesson features a complete performance of a song or tune, commentary on its style and source, and detailed instruction for playing it using split-screen camerawork. Also shown are close-up views of each of the eight banjos used.
Southern Banjo Styles
Southern Banjo Styles, Volume 2 90-min DVD $30
Homespun Tapes, 2001
Volume Two focuses on two- and three-finger techniques, some of which are the foundation for contemporary three-finger style. Each segment features a complete performance of a song or tune, comment on its style and source, and detailed split screen instruction for playing it. Also shown are close-up views of each of the nine banjos used.
Southern Banjo Styles
Guitar Styles of the Carter Family with Janette Carter 85-minute DVD. $30
Homespun Tapes, 2000
Mike teaches each of Maybelle's styles, along with appropriate songs: thumb lead (Wildwood Flower and Jimmie Brown the Newsboy), country blues style (The Cannonball), Hawaiian style (Little Darling Pal of Mine), and flat-pick style (You Are My Flower). Also included are Sara Carter's back-up style (Pretty Polly) and A.P. Carter's guitar style (I Never Will Marry). Janette Carter offers reminiscences of the family, demonstrates her mother Sara's guitar playing, and sings on most of the songs.
Southern Banjo Styles
Old-time Banjo Styles with demonstrations and performances by Etta Baker, Greg Hooven, Kirk Sutphin, Joe & Odell Thompson, & Doc Watson, as well as by Mike Seeger 90-minute DVD. $30
Homespun Tapes, 1994
Instruction in two- and three-finger picking, up-picking, clawhammer, and other dominant old-time banjo techniques, in a variety of tunings and regional styles. Eighteen songs and instrumentals are taught, including Molly Dear, Snowdrop, French Waltz, Reuben's Train, Tom Dooley, John Brown's Dream, Backstep Cindy, Old Corn Likker, Marching Jaybird, Soldier's Joy, Needlecase, Baptist Shout, and White House Blues.

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Mail to:
Mike's Music
PO Box 1592
Lexington, VA 24450

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