Pete Seeger sing-along planned in La Grange

Wesley’s Place Live Music Listening Room will welcome back folksinger and songwriter Mark Dvorak for a special “Pete Seeger Birthday Celebration Sing-Along Concert” at 7 p.m. May 5 in La Grange.

The event takes place at the First United Methodist Church of La Grange, 100 W. Cossitt Ave.

Seeger was born in New York City on May 3, 1919.

“Thousands upon thousands of people over the years have taken up the banjo, the guitar, and began opening their ears to the world of music because of Pete,” Dvorak said in a news release. “Pete taught us how to use music to grow our communities and celebrate our heritage. He also demonstrated over many decades the importance of using art and song to help build a more just and peaceful world.”

After a long life filled with music and activism, Seeger died at age 94 in January 2014.

After World War II, Seeger, along with Fred Hellerman, Ronnie Gilbert and Lee Hays, enjoyed a number of chart hits as The Weavers, introducing the work of seminal folk artists like Woody Guthrie and Lead Belly, and reintroducing American listeners to their own roots music traditions.

Seeger left The Weavers in the mid-1950s after being called to testify before the House on UnAmerican Activities. He was consequently banned from radio and television. At the same time, he and his wife, Toshi, were raising a family in a log cabin they had built near Beacon, N.Y., on the banks of the Hudson River.

Seeger scrambled to earn an income. He embarked on a long string of performances at community centers, colleges and grade schools, crystallizing the powerful essence of American folk music.

By 1969, The Sloop Clearwater was launched, a 106-foot-long replica sailing vessel common on the Hudson in the 19th century. The Clearwater served to draw attention to the problem of pollution of the Hudson River, which included mercury contamination, PCBs and raw sewage.

Seeger’s greatest legacy may have been saving the Hudson, according to those who worked with him to preserve the waterway. And his environmental activism didn’t stop with the river. In the autumn of 2013, he put in a surprise appearance with Willie Nelson and Neil Young at a Farm-Aid benefit. Seeger added an extra verse to “This Land Is Your Land” by singing, “This land was made to be frack-free.”

“There is a very strong community singing tradition here in the Chicago area,” said Dvorak, who is resident artist for the community organization Music & Potlucks, and who also performed with Seeger on a handful of occasions. “Pete has led the way for a lot of years. He’s still leading the way.”

Dvorak has performed in 38 states and in parts of Europe and Canada. He has won awards for journalism and children’s music. In 2008, he received the Woodstock Folk Festival Lifetime Achievement Award and the Lantern Bearer Award from Folk Alliance International in 2013. In 2012, WFMT 98.7 FM “Midnight Special” host Rich Warren named him Chicago’s “official troubadour.”

General admission costs $15. For a reservation, visit www.wesleysplacemusic.com. To learn more about Dvorak, go to www.markdvorak.com.