Search - Pete Seeger's Rainbow Quest - Johnny Cash and Roscoe Holcomb on DVD

The Man in Black AND Roscoe Holcomb!

Oscar Stern | Brooklyn, NY United States | 11/18/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Wow. It's sweet to see Pete Seeger's well-meaning homespun folksy show, but his guests always steal the show. Here we have Johnny Cash and June Carter in the 60's. Johnny is skinny and jittery as a June Bug--might be the speed and booze. The minute Johnny tears into a song however, he's calm and collected with driving energy. Absolutely amazing performance. Even June sings a song here. That's not all, Roscoe Holcomb sings with a high-lonesome voice that was stolen from the ghosts of Appalachia. He plays guitar and banjo with such power and force, singing with a voice that'd raise the hairs on the back of your neck all the while chewing gum. A nice slice of the best. Thanks to Pete Seeger."

The Problem Has Been Fixed

Music Fan | NYC | 07/28/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I too received a DVD with the wrong show on it, but I returned the item and got one with the ocrrected show, so it looks like they have fixed the problem. Great folk/country music from the mid-1960s!"

Low Quality B/W TV, but High Quality Visit with Johnny & Jun

Bryan E. Leed | Dayton, OH USA | 08/27/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"PETE SEEGER'S RAINBOW QUEST series on DVD seems to be an interesting find. This one featuring JOHNNY CASH and JUNE CARTER (before they got married), is very interesting for very serious Johnny Cash and June Carter fans. The TV picture often looks distorted, though acceptable given the obscurity of the original source. The quality of the performance more than makes up for the weaknesses of the picture and sound quality.

There is only about 40 minutes of screen time with Johnny & June, but it is all good. Johnny looks like he is in the final stages of his druggy era. He is emaciated, very skinny, like a concentration camp prisoner, and he acts pretty fidgety and nervous. He takes off his Beatles boots and sits through most of the show in his socks, chain smoking cigarettes. But luckily, as readers of his biography books know, despite his drug problems, the drugs usually never destroyed his ability to sing and play! He sings a few songs on the acoustic guitar, and June, Johnny and Pete talk and take turns singing telling stories.

This DVD is actually better as a talk show than as a music show. Johnny and June talk a lot about the Carter Family, their music tour of the Korean US troops, Peter LaFarge (their recently deceased mutual friend who was an American Indian activist and singer/songwriter), and introduce each song's origin before playing it.

This informal "jam" session is very laid back and oozes with the Folk Music attitude of the early 1960s. All the music is unplugged acoustic playing and singing on guitars and banjo.

I don't know what to make about Pete Seeger. He totally botches his introduction of June Carter by screwing up his explanation of the Carter Family's relations and key family tree. June actually corrects him, later, and they laugh it off, but it is weird that he screws up the facts with such a friendly, sincere look on his face (like he is schooling us on these obscure facts, but true fans immediately catch the boners and realize he is a bit clueless). It makes me wonder if the other stuff he says is accurate, and he says a ton of stuff during this entire DVD.

This is my first real look at Pete Seeger. He has a calm quality about him, like a less wimpy Mr. Roger's Neighborhood type guy. He loves to spontaneously burst into song, which is equally relaxing and pretentious. I will give him the benefit of the doubt, for now, since his TV show seemed to be a magnet for showcasing rootsy musicians, back then, 40 years ago. Pete redeems himself with his capable singing and playing, and his performance of the Peter LaFarge song, "Ki-Yo-Ti," (coyote), is very memorable and enjoyable.

There are two episodes on this DVD, which is part of a line of DVDs, if you feel like more, afterwards. Roscoe Holcomb and Jean Redpath are the guests in the second episode. Roscoe is an old codger, guitar and banjo player who sings with a high pitched whine. It appears that he was featured in an indie documentary film, back then, which they show a few clips from while he sings. Jean Redpath is a thirtysomething folk singer for Scotland, who usually sings accapella, between chatting about folks songs and music. Pete Seeger makes three, and it is an odd combination when the three of them sit around the table.

I bought this DVD just for Johnny and June's episode, and I find it very entertaining and informative, but this is from Johnny's folk music era, so his biggest hits are virtually ignored, and the theme is how cool can you get playing folk music and talking about the folk scene. That's cool, but it is not what Johnny is best known for these days, 40 years later.

If this still sounds interesting to you, then you will probably enjoy this DVD like I do!"

In Pete Seeger's House- The Real "Walk The Line" Couple, Joh

Alfred Johnson | boston, ma | 08/10/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In a year that has featured various 90th birthday celebrations it is very appropriate to review some of the 1960's television work of Pete Seeger, one of the premier folk anthologists, singers, transmitters of the tradition and "keeper" of the folk flame. This DVD is a "must see" for anyone who is interested in the history of the folk revival of the 1960's, the earnest, folksy style of Pete Seeger or the work of the also tradition-oriented , although that fact was previously unknown to me, Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash (she of the famous Carter Family tribe. How is that for traditional bloodlines?). This is not only a musical treat seeing the real subjects of the hit movie of a few years ago, "Walk The Line" that got me interested, at least somewhat, in Johnny Cash's music but filled with information about the Carter Family that I have been interested in for a long time. Pete, by the way, couldn't be more pleased in working with this pair and they regale us with some old Carter Family songs like "Worried Man Blues".


Also included on this DVD is a performance by the legendary Kentucky mountain music man Roscoe Holcombe that John Cohen, a previously reviewed performer on this series with the New Lost City Ramblers, did great service to the folk revival by bringing out of the Kentucky hills in the early 1960s to the wilds of ..... Greenwich Village. Pete wears his "world music" hat in this segment as well as he also brings in Scottish folksinger Jean Redpath in to link up the music of the Scotch-Irish immigrant Kentucky hills and the old country. A nice folk history moment.

This DVD contains some very interesting and, perhaps, rare television film footage from two of Pete Seeger shows, packaged in one DVD, entitled "Rainbow Quest" (the whole series consists of six DVDs). Each show is introduced (and ends, as well) by Pete singing his old classic "If I Had A Golden Threat" and then he proceeds to introduce, play guitar and banjo and sing along with the above-mentioned artists.

One final note: This is a piece of folk history. Pete Seeger is a folk legend. However, the production values here are a bit primitive and low budget. Moreover, for all his stature as a leading member of the folk pantheon Pete was far from the ideal host. His halting speaking style and almost bashful manner did not draw his guests out. Let's just put it this way the production concept used then would embarrass a high school television production class today. But, Pete, thanks for the history lesson.
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