Search - Pete Seeger's Rainbow Quest - with Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee, and Mississippi John Hurt, Hedy West, & Paul Cadwell on DVD

Rare Historic Performances

Music Fan | NYC | 07/28/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Shanachie is doing a gret service to all fans of folk and blues by reissuing the mid-1960s "Rainbow Quest" TV show hosted by Pete Seeger on DVD. Each DVD features two shows. This one has an hour of Pete with the great folk-blues players Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry and a second hour show featuring Pete swapping songs and stories with Hedy West, John Hurt and Paul Cadwell. Hedy was an underappreciated singer of old time ballads and other material--she sings a civil rights song in German here--who recorded for Vanguard, among others. It is very hard to find much of her material in print these days, so it is great to get some perfomrance footage on DVD. Mississippi John was one of the great blues rediscoveres in the 1960s and his gentle perfomances and stories are charming. Paul Cadwell is a mean banjo picker of turn of the 20th century tunes. Pete is Pete--a consummate singer, musician and host. It is just a shame that the show is only an hour long as each performer deserved additional time in the spotlight. Cudos to Shanachie for putting two one-hour shows on each DVD, rather than just one. It would have been nice to get an information booklet telling more about the performers, but I'm just happy these shows are coming out on DVD, so I will not complain."

Pete Seeger casual

Paul A. Moore | North San Juan, CA USA | 06/09/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Rainbow Quest was a locally and privately produced folk music show that was hosted by and featured Pete Seeger when he was blacklisted. He has brought in a marvelous range of other talent. Pete is the focus, but he makes ample room for his guests to shine. Each show is a delightful relaxed program of great music and interesting conversation."