Pete Seeger’s “American Favorite Ballads, Volume 1-5 ” clobbered Spinitron’s weekly playlist chart for February 2, as college deejays across the country rushed to honor the legendary folk singer. Seeger died in Manhattan late last month at the age of 94.
The Smithsonian Folkways Seeger album came in number one at 151 “spins” according to the playlist tracking service. It includes beloved folks songs such as “Stagolee,” “St. James Hospital,” “Ain’t it a Shame,” and “St. Louis Blues.” Broadcasters running tributes to Seeger’s work included the University of Montana’s KBGA-FM, KVSC of St. Cloud State, Minnesota, Harvard’s WHRB, KZSC at UC Santa Cruz, and Grand Junction community station KAFM.
The album pushed a small gaggle of popular performers down a notch, at least for a week, among them Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks, and Dum Dum Girls. But Seeger’s album “If I had a hammer: songs of hope and struggle” also took spot number four on Spinitron’s Chart, getting around 20 spins more than rock bands Mogwai and Warpaint.
Every week Spinitron lists the Top 25 disks played at all its member stations.
