Mike Seeger, half-brother of the better-known Pete Seeger, used the above words to describe American folk music. During my youth, the folk songs I heard touched on the everyday lives of unremarkable men and women and their efforts to take on life’s challenges, survive, and overcome them.

Lead Belly sang of his unfaithful woman. Tennessee Ernie Ford made his audience aware of the hardship of working in a coal mine with “Sixteen Tons.”

Peter, Paul and Mary, and Pete Seeger addressed the need for social justice. Woodie Guthrie described the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. In the 1960s, some voices rose on behalf of organized labor and Civil Rights, and later, they opposed the Vietnam War.

Below, you will find all these voices, the Weavers (one of whom was Pete Seeger), and one more: Judy Collins singing Seeger’s song “Turn, Turn, Turn,” along with the composer, whose lyrics were taken from Ecclesiastes in the Bible.

I imagine we will be reminded of more and more of these old tunes by new performers. The moment calls for it. Don’t miss the final offering below: Seeger again, singing the gospel song, “We Shall Overcome:”