'Loud, Strong, Committed, and Always in Search of America'

Pete Seeger, who died at 94 on Monday, inspired generations of musicians to think about music in a particular way - or, it turns out, many particular ways, depending on the musician. Some were inspired to think about the nature of the instruments they played, and for banjo players in particular, he was a role model and a master teacher. For most, though, he was the consummate political singer, a campaigner for free speech and the right to protest, and the champion of causes of all sorts, whether to do with personal rights, or the state of the environment. In the days since Mr. Seeger's death, several musicians and others who were inspired by him spoke about their experiences with Mr. Seeger.

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN

'When Pete was on the blacklist in the early '60s, his old friend, the legendary music man John Hammond, came to the rescue and signed him to a Columbia Records contract. In the early '70s, the same John Hammond signed an unknown kid from New Jersey to a Columbia record contract. When John died in 1987, both Pete and I were asked to play at his funeral and that was the first time I laid eyes on Pete.

'I had missed most of the Hootenanny folk revival and really didn't have that clear an idea of what Pete actually did. Well, Pete gets up at the memorial, his beautiful voice long since shot, and strums his powerful fingers over his 12-string guitar, ringing out a simple chord, which all by itself sounded simply stirring. He then described the origins of 'We Shall Overcome,' and proceeded to talk the audience through the song until every person at that gathering was singing loud and strong.

'Loud, strong, committed, and always in search of America - all of it - with a heart of gold and a spine of steel - that was Pete. We got to know each other in the years that followed, and I wound up being so deeply affected by his music that I released an album called 'The Seeger Sessions,' inspired entirely by Pete's artistry.

'One of my favorite memories is of flying down to D.C. with Pete to perform together at President Obama's inauguration concert. With the great statue of Abe Lincoln behind him and a broad and massive cross section of America at its most hopeful in front of him, he led us all in singing 'This Land is Your Land.' As Pete liked to say, he would only sing it with 'all the verses,' the last several of which are the most radical and are usually left out. And, as I've said before, that, too, was Pete. He always sang 'all of the verses.'

JIM MUSSELMAN, president of Appleseed Recordings Appleseed put out 10 of Mr. Seeger's later albums.

'I got to spend a lot of time with Pete, and I was amazed at his vitality. I'd be chopping wood with him at his house up in Beacon, and I'd be tired, though I was much younger, and he'd be still going strong. It was through my conversations with Pete that I started the record label, and called it Appleseed, which was the name of the column he wrote for Sing Out! magazine. The idea of the label, like the column, was to plant seeds in musicians' heads. One of our earliest projects was 'Where Have All the Flowers Gone: The Songs of Pete Seeger,' for which 85 artists performed 85 of Pete's songs. As part of that set, Bruce Springsteen recorded 'We Shall Overcome.' He loved the way Bruce changed it around so that it could keep moving on and have new meaning. After 9/11, NBC News asked whether they could use that recording, and they played it every hour on the hour, with video of the rescue workers. When I showed the tape to Pete, he said 'If that's all I've done in my life, to bring that song to help people heal, then I've lived a complete life.' '

STEVE EARLE, guitarist and songwriter Mr. Earle performed at Mr. Seeger's Clearwater Festival and joined him on the stage during the folk singer Odetta's memorial at Riverside Church in 2009.

'At the Odetta memorial, the plan was that after the big finale, everybody was supposed to leave the stage and march down the center aisle, but as it turned out, the only people who did it were me and Pete. The last time I saw him was at a Woody Guthrie tribute at Brooklyn College [in October 2012]. Everyone was waiting to play, and Pete was walking around backstage talking to people. The show got longer and longer, and dragged on and on, and eventually, Pete asked if anyone had a chair. He was in his 90s, and everyone thought, wow, Pete never sits when he performs - maybe he's getting tired. But he kept walking around, talking to people, dragging the chair and the banjo with him. When it was time for him to play, he walked out and unfolded the chair. Then he turned it backward, reached into his pocket and took out the lyrics to the Woody Guthrie song he was going to sing, and put it on the chair, as if it were a music stand. He stood and sang for 35 minutes.'

Several musicians - among them, Roger McGuinn, the founder of the Byrds, Bill Staines, the folk music singer and songwriter, as well as Bonnie Raitt, whose music veers toward the blues - all said they were influenced decisively by Mr. Seeger, musically and in other ways. ROGER McGUINN, guitarist and leader of the Byrds

'Pete Seeger was the person who inspired me to play five-string banjo, 12-string guitar and to achieve my lifelong dream of becoming a troubadour. It was his guitar and banjo style that I carried over into the instrumental sound of the Byrds. I will always admire his positive influence on the world and on my life.'

BILL STAINES, folk singer and songwriter

'When I was young, in junior high school, I was playing rock and roll. One day I heard the 'Weavers at Carnegie Hall' album, and that opened the door to me to folk music and that was it. I traded in my electric guitar for an acoustic guitar and banjo.'

BONNIE RAITT, singer-songwriter

'Pete made such a huge impact on my falling in love with folk music and combining standing up for peace, social justice and the environment. I learned the guitar from his and Joan Baez's albums. Loved him as we all did, in Selma, at Ban the Bomb rallies. Then later we played together on No Nukes and antiwar rallies, and at his Clearwater Festival. He was and will always be such a hero and inspiration. His abiding love for [his wife] Toshi, the simple, country life - his whole life being of service and standing up for what's right. There is no one more significant in my generation connecting those valiant struggles of the past with ours and ongoing.'

ARLO GUTHRIE, folk singer and son of Woody Guthrie Mr. Guthrie was a close friend and colleague of Mr. Seeger.

'During the 1960s, I would meet up with him at demonstrations or concerts, or wherever the occasion required someone to sing and play. It could be about civil rights, No Nukes, the environment, Pete was here for all of it. I learned a lot watching him, not only on stage, but on the street. He would walk along, playing that banjo that you could hear a block away. I also bought my first car from Pete. It was actually his son's car, a 1957 MGA - the kind Elvis Presley drove in the movies. When I told my mother I was buying it, she said, 'Arlo, folk singers don't drive sports cars!' And I said, 'Mom, Pete Seeger is selling me this car,' and there was nothing more she could say.

'Last year, I began to get the feeling that he might not be with us too much longer and rather than do a tribute to him after his death, I thought it would be wonderful to have him perform with us at Carnegie Hall. So I asked him if he'd come and do a show with my family. We spent three days rehearsing Pete's songs on our own, because Pete said at first that he couldn't remember any of them, but I knew that as soon as we started singing them, they'd come back to him, and that's what happened.'

JOHN MELLENCAMP, rock singer-songwriter Mr. Mellencamp was a founding member of Farm Aid, which presents concerts to bring attention to the financial problems of farmers. Mr. Seeger played at the last Farm Aid concert in October.

'Probably my most inspirational moment with Pete was playing at his 90th birthday concert, at Madison Square Garden. I asked him, 'What do you think of this?' He said, 'It's awfully nice. But you know, if you want to make a difference, you've got to keep things small. Keep it small, John. These big things are fine occasionally, but they make a big noise and then people forget them.' And I think he was right. Farm Aid is an example: it's small, but we keep plugging away.'

CHRISTINE LAVIN, folk singer and songwriter

'About 10 years ago, I was part of a concert at Merkin Concert Hall for the 10th anniversary of the radio show 'Woody's Children,' and I got to sit next to Pete. In the middle of the show, while someone else was performing, he leaned over to me and said, 'Would you like a joke for your performance?' I was startled - I didn't want to talk while someone was playing, but I didn't want to be rude to him. But I said, 'Yes, I was hoping you'd bring me one.' And he said, 'Look out at your audience and ask if anyone believes in reincarnation. And if people raise their hands, say, 'It's nice to see you again.'  '

NOEL PAUL STOOKEY, folk singer and songwriter of Peter, Paul and Mary

'Once, Peter and Mary and I were playing at a concert in Central Park, and there was a real competition for stage time, and a lot of issues in play, and everyone wanted a piece of the action. A group from the Black Power movement took the stage at one point, and though we were all told that we could perform for seven or eight minutes, this group was already past minute 15. Those of us waiting to perform were getting impatient, but Pete just said, 'They've waited so long.' And of course, we all knew he was right.'

PETER YARROW, folk singer and songwriter of Peter, Paul and Mary

'His son had called me and said that Pete had maybe a couple of days, and then texted me and asked me to bring my guitar. His family was there, and we sang union songs, Spirituals, sloop songs, 'Where Have All the Flowers Gone,' 'If I Had a Hammer.' He was aware, and it seemed as if he was trying to sing along from time to time. Of course, there was some sadness, but there was more of a sense of celebration of being together. And it was emblematic of who he was.

'He was the one who really showed all of us folk singers how to combine music with advocacy, and let the music bring people together. For him, music was not about escaping, or entertainment. It was the soundtrack of what he cared about - the world, the nation, the civil rights movement, the women's movement, anti-apartheid, the environment, anti-fracking. It was a way of being, and we all learned from him. I got to finally just kiss him on the head and tell him I loved him. I went away from the hospital with a full heart.'

JUDY COLLINS, folk singer Ms. Collins spent time with Mr. Seeger in the hospital a few hours before he died, singing and playing to him.

'I was fortunate to be able to visit him for about an hour and a half, and I sang to him - 'Bells of Rhymney,' 'Turn! Turn! Turn!' and a new song I wrote in honor of the Clearwater, and my Irish background, called 'New Moon Over the Hudson.' He couldn't see me, but he could hear me, and he held my hand as I spoke to him.'

'I spent a good amount of time with him and Toshi in the last few years. Toshi was an amazing woman who really kept that train rolling, and they lived in a house they bought in Beacon in 1947. He would be out there with the ax chopping wood for their fireplace, carrying water. It was very rugged - comfortable but rugged. He was the same person on the stage and off: he was an amazing storyteller, and his stories always had to do with positive things. I asked him how he felt about the world, and he said, 'I've never been so optimistic.' I said, ' Really? ' And he said, 'Don't think about the big leaders - look at all the small leaders around the world, and the people who are doing good things.' '

RY COODER, roots-rock guitarist

'When we recorded the track for 'My Name Is Buddy,' I visited his house, and I really hope they preserve that place as a national shrine. It's full of photographs, notes tacked onto the wall - it's like Paul Bunyan lived there. He never stopped being at the forefront of the whole concept of solidarity - the idea that there are more of 'us' than 'them.' He took his banjo to the House Un-American Activities Committee, and said, 'Would you like to hear some of these songs you think are Un-American?' and they refused. But his concept was always peaceful. Woody Guthrie had a guitar that said, 'This Machine Kills Fascists.' Pete's banjo said, 'This Machine Surrounds Hate and Forces It to Surrender.' If Woody was a hand-to-hand fighter, Pete was the guy who said, 'Let's stop and see if we can get anything done.' '

STEVE MARTIN, comedian, actor and Grammy-winning bluegrass musician

'There weren't even terms for the types of moves that banjo players used. There were in violin - pizzicato and all that - but Pete invented the terms of hammering on and pulling off, and he discussed all the different styles of playing. He described a style called the basic strum, which a young kid could learn practically instantly. That was my first move on the banjo.'

In his 20s, as a writer for CBS's politically astute and unrepentantly left-leaning 'Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour,' Mr. Martin first met Mr. Seeger, who was a guest performer on the program, and with whom he developed a pointed presentation of Mr. Seeger's song 'Waist Deep in the Big Muddy.'

'He was going to sing the song against Vietnam War footage. And the chorus of the song is, 'We're waist-deep in the big muddy and the big fool says to push on.' It was mostly his idea and he loved it.'

TIM ROBBINS, actor and folk singer

Tim Robbins probably first met Pete Seeger at a folk show at the age of 4 or 5. (His father was Gil Robbins the folk musician and a member of the folk group the Highwaymen.) Mr. Robbins interviewed Mr. Seeger at his Beacon, N.Y., cabin for Pacifica Radio, where he came upon the folk singer chopping wood, which he did each day to keep in shape. 'He's in his late 80s and he's got the constitution of a 30-year-old. The man was strong as hell.'

After Mr. Seeger was blacklisted by the House Committee on Un-American Activities, he continued to tour the country with his banjo and play impromptu concerts. 'This is, in essence, what created the folk-music revival. It's turning a terrible oppression and tragedy into a movement of social change.' Years later, it also made possible Mr. Robbins's performance of 'Michael Row the Boat Ashore,' with his son Miles, at a 2009 concert in honor of Mr. Seeger's 90th birthday. 'It was a pretty amazingly warm, sold out crowd, and it went on for four hours and nobody left.'

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