The Emmy-winning special SONGS TO KEEP: TREASURES OF AN ADIRONDACK FOLK COLLECTOR opens a musical time capsule from a hundred years ago. Marjorie Lansing Porter (1891-1973) dedicated her life to preserving the rare folk songs of the Adirondacks. Throughout the 1940s and '50s, Porter traveled throughout New York State, interviewing and recording traditional musicians and singers in the hopes of creating a comprehensive collection of previously unpublished folk songs, transcripts and other writings before the last living tradition bearers died. The Marjorie L. Porter Collection of North Country Folklore consists of more than 300 traditional ballads, songs from lumber camps and iron mines, Irish and French-Canadian songs, and Iroquois chants. SONGS TO KEEP features contemporary folk musicians Lee Knight, David Ruch, Dan Berggren, Alex Smith and others discussing and performing these traditional tunes. Kevin and Michael Bacon (The Bacon Brothers) offer a rendition of "My Adirondack Home," which reflects their love for the Adirondack region. The documentary also features interviews with folk musicians Peter Yarrow and Noel Paul Stookey of Peter, Paul and Mary, and the legendary Pete Seeger, a close personal friend of Porter's, in his last formal television interview.
Songs to Keep: Treasures of an Adirondack Folk Collector airs on Monday, November 10th at 9 pm on channel 3.