Pete Seeger

Whether you're a longtime fan of folk revival's patron saint or a newbie who got turned on to Pete Seeger by Bruce Springsteen's loving tribute We Shall Overcome -- The Seeger Sessions, you need to hear this album. The concluding installment of American Favorite Ballads was originally recorded in 1962, and it brims over with timeless traveling songs that hark back to a time when picking a banjo from inside an empty, speeding freight car was more patriotic than all the magnetic yellow ribbons in the world.