Waist Deep in the Big Muddy and Other Love Songs

Includes liner notes by Pete Seeger.
As a member of the Almanac Singers (which included Woody Guthrie) and the Weavers, Seeger was part of "modern" folk's first generation, a diehard protest singer, whose idealism was always backed by pragmatism and a strong melodic sense. In the mid-'60s, there was so much sociopolitical strife afoot that many of the songs he'd been singing for decades seemed to have a renewed relevance. As a response to the circumstances, he combined these older songs with some new compositions on WAIST DEEP.
The mix of old and new works well. Seeger's mellifluous voice and nimble banjo and guitar take on Guthrie's "The Sinking of the Reuben James," Ed McCurdy's antiwar "Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream," and the spiritual "Down By The Riverside." These chestnuts rub shoulders with Seeger originals that mix contemporary concerns with old school folk melody. Most impressive is the title cut, an allegory that uses the tale of a beleagured platoon to illustrate modern political difficulties.