In what has to be one of the best‑orchestrated exits in musical history, Pete Seeger made his final major concert appearance on Saturday, November 30th, 2013, at Carnegie Hall. Less than two months later, on January 27th, 2014, at the age of 94, Pete Seeger passed away. Having his final concert at Carnegie Hall was the culmination of almost 70 years of appearances at that revered venue.

Seeger appeared at Carnegie Hall as early as April 20th, 1946, if not before. On that occasion he was part of a virtual who’s who of the then‑current crop of folk singers, including Josh White, Lee Hays, Woody Guthrie, Earl Robinson, Bess Lomax Hawes, Lead Belly, and—if not quite a folk singer, certainly a luminary of the musical world—Billie Holiday. Also appropriate was that this American Folk Music Concert was a benefit, as were so many of Pete Seeger’s concerts and appearances.

Making his final appearance at Carnegie Hall that night in 2013 was a perfect pairing, because the concert was led by Arlo Guthrie, whom Pete had known literally from his birth as the son of Pete’s close friend and fellow Almanac Singer, Woody Guthrie. And it wasn’t as if Arlo was a newcomer to the Carnegie Hall tradition as he had been appearing there since 1967. He had inherited the Thanksgiving weekend concert slot from Pete, who had continued it as a solo artist following the Weavers’ holiday concerts at Carnegie.

My last opportunity to see Seeger occurred on May 12th, 2013, when he performed a concert with his half‑sister, Peggy Seeger. This concert was a quintessential Seeger event. Like so many of his concerts, it was a benefit. This one was to raise money for a summer camp in Vermont that had been damaged in Hurricane Irene. The connection was a close one: the camp was run by John Seeger, Peggy and Pete’s brother. By the time the hurricane hit, the camp had come under the direction of John’s daughter Kate and her husband Dean Spencer. The concert, which aimed to raise money to repair the damage, came about in an almost impromptu manner. Peggy was coming over from her home in England to visit, and she and Pete thought they might put on a little benefit concert to help the camp out. They called the Eighth Step folk club in Schenectady, New York, and asked if they could hold the concert there. Margie Rosenkranz, the director of the Eighth Step, immediately agreed, of course but the theater they use seats only 400. When the concert was announced, it sold out within minutes. Realizing they had a groundswell of people wanting to see Seeger as many knew that at 94 there might not be many more opportunities, they quickly moved to the 2,600‑seat main stage at Proctors, and it completely sold out.

The concert was a typical Seeger event, with Pete walking onstage alone, a guitar in one hand and a banjo in the other. Peggy followed him with her guitar, and they sat down, made a few opening remarks, and proceeded to play for nearly 3 hours.

In his later years was that Pete had basically lost his singing voice. It was so bad in his late 80s that when he made an album called At 89, he talked and whispered through it while others did most of the singing. Fortunately, the enforced rest actually improved his voice somewhat, and his singing returned, although it was nothing like it had been in his prime. But the thing with a Seeger concert is that it’s not about Pete’s singing. It’s about Pete being Pete—connecting with an audience, engaging them. You are in his kitchen. You are with him. He sweeps you along so that you are singing, and everyone becomes part of the choir.

Peggy Seeger is also a wonderful performer, singer, and entertainer, and she did some of her best‑known songs, such as “I’m Gonna Be an Engineer” and “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” written for her by her then‑husband Ewan MacColl.

Pete and Peggy did some of Pete’s best‑known songs, including “Turn, Turn, Turn” and “If I Had a Hammer.” It was a magical night beginning with the standing ovation that went on and on when they first walked out onstage. At that point we could have all gone home and felt we’d gotten our money’s worth, happy to support the little camp in Vermont, and mostly happy to be in community with these marvelous people. But as always with Seeger, we got so much more, and we were so lucky to have had that experience and to have had Pete Seeger in our world.

As a perfect coda to Pete’s last concerts, in his final days in the hospital his friends came to visit, and of course they sang to him as if the heavenly choir had come to escort him home. The final song, “To My Old Brown Earth,” a Seeger composition, was led by longtime friend and former Clearwater Sloop singer Pat Humphries. It was, of course, a sing‑along, with Seeger’s family and close friends at his bedside as he passed.

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Ron Cooke is the author of a book of short stories and poems entitled Obituaries and Other Lies (available at Amazon); writes a well-received blog (ASSV4U.com/blog); and hosts a weekly radio show called Music They Don’t Want You to Hear on KTAL-LP in Las Cruces, NM.  He is also a founding director of A Still Small Voice 4U, a not for profit supporting arts, culture and community that presents folk concerts, sponsors artists, festivals and community groups. Ron is an avid cyclist, racer, blogger, sculptor and ne’er-do-well.