Back in 1971, the late Harry Chapin created a notable song called “Circle.” Originally written for his brother Tom’s TV show “Make a Wish,” the song has entered our folk canon partially due to the powerful lyrics describing a life as part of an endless cycle with “no straight lines” and where all the “roads have bends.” Life is a progression, and when we lose someone, it is a cause for reflection on where we have been and where we are heading.

The song has been running through my head over the past few weeks, more frequently than I would have liked. Our folk music community has lost several friends in recent months and while a few of the names may not be as well known as others, their passing provides an opportunity to reflect on the part each of us plays in this community. It also opens up the question, can anyone replace them?

Shortly after Pete Seeger passed in January, we also said goodbye to contradance musician and composer Bob McQuillen and storyteller Kathyrn Farnsworth. Like Pete, Bob and Kathyrn dedicated their lives to the folk art form that each embraced.

Bob McQuillen passed away on February 6 at age of 90. If you are a fan of contradance music in the Northeast, you are probably well aware of Bob. I recall first seeing Bob in the parking lot of the Old Songs Festival in Altamont, New York. As I was walking into the festival grounds, I noticed a unique truck parked under some trees. The back door was open to catch the slight breeze blowing through the hot and dusty fairground, and there was Bob – all alone and playing on a piano that had a home in the converted bread truck. While the sight of a standup piano in the back of the truck was unusual, the music that I was hearing was captivating and certainly at home at Old Songs.

I am always overwhelmed when I watch the contradances at Old Songs. There are so many generations that participate and dance together; I’ve seen young children and folks that were nearing Bob’s age enjoying an evening of fun together, plus a good workout and camaraderie.

While he may not be a household name, Bob McQuillen’s influence is far reaching. In 2002 he was awarded a National Heritage Fellowship by the National Endowment for the Arts, the highest honor for a folk artist in this country.

Bob started playing accordion and piano at dances in New Hampshire in the early 1950s. As a member of the Ralph Page Orchestra, he once told a reporter that he was a “lousy accordion player as they go” but was saved by the fact that the contradance band had two fiddlers playing melody and he made up for his supposed shortcomings by adding texture and accompaniment. Eventually he switched to piano and became a fixture with contradance bands in the region through the 1970s.

He had a wonderful sense of humor, which helped make him a great teacher, not only for musicians, but also in his “day job” as an industrial arts teacher. There was an outpouring of fond memories from his former students when Bob passed, evidence of how many lives he touched. It is estimated that Bob composed over 1300 tunes in his lifetime, many collected in a series of books published by Great Meadow Music. There is also a wonderful documentary about Bob called “Paid to Eat Ice Cream”, a nod to the financial rewards of his music career.

I was blessed with 2 left feet so dancing is not something I am good at, but I’ve grown to love the unique music with its strong sense of community and deep roots in the folk tradition. Bob McQuillen will be greatly missed, but each time a group of dancers take to the floor, Bob will be there. The tunes he wrote for square and contradances will certainly live on, and the students he taught will carry the traditions he shared on to future generations.

Kathyrn Farnsworth was also 90 years old when she passed away on March 12 at a retirement community in Oberlin, Ohio. She spent much of her life here in the northern New Jersey area telling stories to generations of children and their families.

As a young adult, Kathryn left her job as kindergarten teacher when her children were born. After they grew older Kathryn decided to return to work and found a job as a children’s librarian. She enjoyed telling stories to the children and began to study the art of storytelling. She enrolled in storytelling courses at Bank Street College of Education in New York and learned more about the skills required for the discipline including the use of gestures, vocal inflection, facial expressions, body language and how to utilize her own life experiences into the stories she told.

Her enthusiasm for storytelling grew. She enjoyed telling folk tales from the Brothers Grimm, fairy tales of Hans Christian Andersen as well as more contemporary stories from Isaac Bashevis Singer and Carl Sandburg and many others. In addition to telling stories in libraries in the region, she also shared her tales in many local schools and was a storyteller in residence at the eminent Elisabeth Morrow School in Englewood, New Jersey. She began a summer storytelling series in Paramus, New Jersey at Van Saun Park, a favorite common ground enjoyed by families in New Jersey. She also told stories at the famous Hans Christian Andersen statue in New York City’s Central Park, a beloved spot in the city for storytelling during the summer months.

Kathyrn shared her knowledge of storytelling with others, often lecturing on the subject and she was cited in the instruction book Storytelling: Art and Technique. She also instilled a passion for books and stories with own children and grandchildren as well as anyone who had the opportunity to watch her tell a story. The ancient art of storytelling provided Kathyrn with a vehicle to share folk tales with thousands of people over the years, and she inspired and created opportunities for others to do the same.

Pete Seeger’s death drew the attention of the international media on our folk community. Many pundits paused to reflect on what Pete meant to the world and the contributions he made. There has also been discussion on who will be his successor, as if it were an elected position. His passing, along with those of Bob McQuillen and Kathryn Farnsworth, certainly leaves a void in the folk community, but how do we honor their memory and carry on their legacy?

There are a number of tribute concerts and events being planned to honor Pete Seeger’s life and work and hopefully to inspire others to carry on.

In my neck of the woods, there are a couple of events on the calendar. The New Jersey Public Policy Network will hold a tribute concert at Fairleigh Dickinson University’s Teaneck/Hackensack campus on April 17 featuring Spook Handy, Cynthia Summers and Pace Goodman. The following week, an evening of music is planned at the Turning Point in Piermont, New York. Appropriately, this concert will be held on Earth Day, April 22, beginning at 7:30pm and will feature Guy Davis, Rik Palieri, Rick Nestler and Rick Illowite. 100% of the proceeds will benefit the Clearwater.

I’m betting that the future will see annual events like this to honor Pete. Last week, the New York State Senate passed a resolution memorializing Pete’s life. There are plans underway in Westchester County for a weekend event in his memory later this summer, and of course there will be a tribute to both Pete and Toshi Seeger at this year’s Great Hudson River Revival, the annual festival put together as a fund and awareness raiser by the Clearwater, the organization they helped to create.

There are also tribute albums being recorded, including one that will be released in April from Wepecket Island Records titled For Pete’s Sake – A tribute to Pete Seeger. The CD will feature some of Pete’s memorable songs recorded by Don Barry, Dan Berggren, Gordon Bok, Randy Burns, Sherman Lee Dillon, Garcia, Dale Robin Goodman, Hilary Hawke, Mike Higgins, Dawn Kenney, M.S.G. Acoustic Blues Trio, Jim McGrath, Rik Palieri & Alex Smith. Proceeds will benefit the Clearwater.

Pete would probably have been uncomfortable with this attention, but he was also quick to bring up a statement from Thomas Jefferson that he borrowed and tweaked – “The cost of liberty is eternal publicity.” Making changes in society does not happen without costs, both financial and personal.

Over the few weeks since he left us, I’ve seen several companies printing posters and T-shirts emblazoned with Pete’s face and a quote, an “honor” that Pete was against during his lifetime. I hope that profits from these sales will benefit the organizations that Pete supported, but I have not seen evidence of such.

It has become a ritual to honor such public figures with often-tacky novelties, and I hope in Pete’s case it will not escalate into such areas. We should keep Pete’s memory alive, but there is a much better way to do that.

One facet of Pete Seeger that is often overlooked in the various tributes is the fact that Pete was a teacher. His mission was to show that each of us owned the tools to carry out traditions and make new ones. Bob McQuillen and Kathyrn Farnsworth shared the same qualities as they reminded us that everyone can dance, sing or tell a story. These are folk arts meant for participation, not simply exhibition.

I was speaking with folksinger Rick Nestler shortly after Pete’s passing. Rick was a friend of Pete’s. A licensed captain, Rick spent hours serving with Pete on board the Clearwater as well as performing with Pete numerous times over the years. Pete recorded one of Rick’s songs, “The River That Flows Both Ways.” I asked Rick what rewards Pete enjoyed from his life’s work. Rick quickly answered “getting people to sing.”

If you ever attended a Pete Seeger concert, you will recall how he could get the audience singing. He would cup his hand over one ear and motion for everyone to join in the song. He also made a motion with his guitar or banjo, jerking the instrument forward as a sign to everyone that they should be making music with him.

When I interviewed Pete in 2000 about his then recently released book Pete Seeger’s Storytelling Book, he emphasized that each of us comes from a storytelling tradition with family histories as well as cultural and ethnic tales from generations past. The book was meant to be a “how-to” book to help people recognize their own abilities to tell stories.

Years earlier, shortly after I started my radio show, I also met with Pete at one of the Clearwater Festivals. I was describing my radio station, which had begun a roots music format called Music America. I told Pete that one of the catch phrases we were using on the air was that WFDU was “the home of Music America.” He shook his head and told me that folk music did not take up sole residency at a radio station – folk music was the sound of mothers singing lullabies to their babies, workers singing to help with their chores and people making their own entertainment.

That puzzled me initially, having been brought up on music heard on the radio, concert stages and LPs.  Until that conversation, I had not given much thought to the fact that folk music was something that people created on their own. The idea really hit home when I heard Arlo Guthrie remind an audience that recorded music has only been around for 100 years or so, before that, people would make their own music. While we are lucky to have recordings to share, we must not lose sight that homemade music is something very special.

Click on the arrow to listen to an excerpt from a 2000 interview with Pete Seeger on Ron Olesko’s WFDU-FM TRADITIONS radio show

Pete’s life, as well as the lives of Bob McQuillen and Kathryn Farnsworth, was spent teaching us how we can participate in the creation as well as showing a love of the folk traditions. The finest tribute to their memory is to share these traditions with others. They left us with concrete tools that are inherent in each of us, and we only need to look deeper to find them and put them to use. Pete, Bob and Kathryn and so many other friends from our community who have passed will never be replaced, and we hope their memories and lessons will continue to live on and inspire.

Woody Guthrie was quoted as saying that there will always be folk music because “there’s lots of folks!” With all the advances in technology, let us use these new tools as well as our inherent knowledge to make music, dance and tell stories so that future generations can do the same. It is now our duty to carry it on, create new opportunities for others and pass the message forward.