Mike Seeger has devoted his life to singing and playing the traditional music of the rural American South. With a rich repertoire of ballads, topical blues, and dance tunes, and his truly astonishing instrumental versatility on guitar, fiddle, banjo, pan pipes, autoharp, harmonica, and dulcimer, Mike illuminates the roots of American folk music. His authentic renditions, spiced with all the high lonesome tones and sliding pitches that give the music its unique character, convey the full depth of feeling, sheer energy, and infinite variety of the music. Along with his sister Peggy and brother Pete, Mike absorbed a hefty dose of folk music from his musicologist and composer parents, which he later supplemented by studying with legendary musicians such as Elizabeth Cotton, Maybelle Carter, and Dock Boggs. A powerful figure in the traditional folk revival since the late 1950s when he co-founded the pioneering New Lost City Ramblers, Mike is a five-time Grammy nominee. His most recent project is 1999's Retrograss (Acoustic Disc), an old-timey retrofitting of bluegrass, country, r & b, and rock n' roll tunes recorded with David Grisman and the late John Hartford.