WEST BRATTLEBORO — Emma's Revolution, the award-winning activist duo of Pat Humphries and Sandy O, will perform in Brattleboro for the first time at the Pete Seeger 100th singalong concert on May 12, at 7 p.m., at the West Village Meeting House.
The duo had many connections with Seeger, a friend and mentor, during their career, as did the other performers scheduled for the concert, including Peter Siegel, Sally Rogers, Annie Patterson, and Peter Blood.
Pete Seeger would have been 100 years old this year, occasioning reflections on the impact he had on American music and politics.
In an interview on NPR years ago, Seeger said, “The powers that be can control the media, but it's hard to stop a good song. Pat's songs will be sung well into the 22nd century.”
Over the years, Humphries performed with Seeger in places as varied as Symphony Space's stage in New York City to the dockhouse in his hometown of Beacon, N.Y. She worked for the Sloop Clearwater, Seeger's environmental project which successfully cleaned up the Hudson River.
She also helped gather sap from the maple trees on Seeger's property, and visited, shared meals, and swapped stories with Seeger and his wife, Toshi. She sang at Toshi's memorial and, with Sandy O, later sang at Seeger's memorial service.
Remembering Seeger's last days, Humphries said in a news release, “When I heard he was in the hospital, I drove up to New York from the D.C. area, instinctively bringing my banjo, even though I hadn't been playing it much.
“At the hospital, a steady stream of family and friends were coming through to see Pete and sing his songs back to him in gratitude for all the times he had left home to sing to us. The day and evening wore on, until just a small circle of family and friends remained.
“As we sang our last songs to Pete, we sent him off onto his next adventure with our love and blessings.”
While the family stayed at the hospital, Humphries says, she went up to Pete's house to make sure everything was ok there.
“I turned on the lights and lit the fire from the neatly-arranged pile of kindling and firewood Pete had cut and placed in the woodstove, just the week before.
“On the drive up to the house, I had been thinking of all the remarkable ways Pete had touched my life. I took out my banjo and began writing Sing People Sing. Pete taught us how to sing together.”