12 Facts About Mike Seeger

Mike Seeger was an American folk musician and folklorist.

Mike Seeger was a distinctive singer and an accomplished musician who mainly played autoharp, banjo, fiddle, dulcimer, guitar, harmonica, mandolin, dobro, jaw harp, and pan pipes.

Mike Seeger desired to make known the caretakers of culture that inspired and taught him.

Mike Seeger was posthumously inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame in 2018.

Mike Seeger was born in New York and grew up in Maryland and Washington DC His father, Charles Louis Mike Seeger Jr.

Mike Seeger's eldest half-brother, Charles Seeger III, was a radio astronomer, and his next older half-brother, John Seeger, taught for years at the Dalton School in Manhattan.

Mike Seeger was a self-taught musician who began playing stringed instruments at the age of 18.

Mike Seeger sang Sacred Harp with British folk singer Ewan MacColl and his son, Calum.

At about the age of 20, Mike Seeger began collecting songs by traditional musicians on a tape recorder.

Mike Seeger received six Grammy nominations and was the recipient of four grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, including a 2009 National Heritage Fellowship, which is the United States government's highest honor in the folk and traditional arts.

Mike Seeger was a popular presenter and performer at traditional music gatherings such as Breakin' Up Winter.

Eight days before his 76th birthday, Mike Seeger died at his home in Lexington, Virginia, on August 7,2009, after stopping cancer treatment.