The Lena Spencer Award,

The Pickin' & Singin' Gatherin' Honors incredible folks

There is a progressive social tradition embedded in American folk music and the folk community has long been defined by certain attitudes about how folk music should be made. In “true” folk music as defined by this tradition, there are no celebrities or hits, no big distinctions between performers and audience, no elaborate musical productions. Folk places emphasis on the human voice.

As Pete Seeger would say, "Our songs are like you and me, the product of a long human chain."
With the “Lena,” we honor some of those voices in that chain.

We wish to partially repay the debt we all owe to some of the folks who have made it possible for us to enjoy these great music weekends year after year. We begin a tradition, in 2002, of celebrating the lives of different leaders within the folk community each year at our Memorial Day Weekend Gotta Get Gon Festival. In order to accomplish this the PSG has created the Lena Spencer Award.

Lena Spencer, of Caffè Lena, created something that would become a landmark, not only for folk music, but for the entire country. Dylan’s first tour, Don McLean’s “American Pie,” Tom Paxton, and a multitude of others, as well as a home for the P & SG. She did it all. It continues through the work of many. We are all the fortunate children of that work.

In addition to Lena Spencer, whose name appears prominently on the plaque, the first three to receive the “Lena” are Jackie Alper, Pete Seeger and Vaughn Ward.

Jackie Alper Pete Seeger Vaughn Ward

“Mostly Folk” radio show on WRPI, has been a mainstay of the acoustic music community here in upstate New York since 1971. Although new listeners might be surprised by some of the politics wedged in between the music, regulars know that politics and music
have been the two driving forces in Jackie’s life.
During the late forties Jackie left the now legendary Weavers, which included Pete Seeger, in order to help defend victims of the growing anti-communist witch hunts. Going from being the fifth Weaver and singing songs was a natural move for Jackie for, to her, the songs and politics sprang from the same roots.
She says now, "I think it’s great that folk singers are seen as artists today, and not as political afterthoughts, or fillers in the program. And really, these days, just singing an honest song is a political statement.” Pete Seeger first picked up ukulele and guitar in his early teenage years. But at 17, he heard a five stringed banjo played for the first time and his life was changed forever.
Now a most respected musician, singer, songwriter, folklorist, labor activist, environmentalist, and peace advocate, in the 40's he and Woody Guthrie formed the Almanac Singers along with Lee Hays and Millard Lampell and traveled the country in support of leftist causes. They fused traditional folk music with social protest focused on contemporary issues.
During the fifties and sixties, Pete became a clarion voice of the civil-rights and antiwar movements.
He is an institution in American folk and pop music, a father figure whose contributions as an artist and writer were valued by people of all ages in and out of the music field.
Pete Seeger is arguably the most influential folk artist in the United States. He was instrumental in popularizing the indigenous songs of his country, as well as songs of his own that have served as anthems for an entire generation of Americans. From the steps of her parents house in cattle country, Clayton, New Mexico, you could look across open prairie to see the lights of Texline, Texas, eleven miles away.
Two years out of college found Vaughn teaching at Niskayuna High School and attending summer school at Middlebury. She was in culture shock when confronted with “social class” in graduate school, a concept foreign to her in Oklahoma and New Mexico. She was teaching in the corporate community which was the source for the infamous study, “The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit.”
At Niskayuna, she created a folklore course as a high school English elective. The New York Folklore Quarterly devoted an entire issue to her students’ field work and she published a taxonomy for teachers linking folklore field study to the goals of academic disciplines. But the Niskayuna Folk Festival, run entirely by a student board and staff, usually overshadows the other work in people’s memories.
She founded the Adirondack Liars club, The Black Crow Network, and edited 5 volumes of folklore. Through it all she sang.

Conceived of and written by Linda Crump April 2002 for PSG.

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Jackie Alper	Pete Seeger	Vaughn Ward
“Mostly Folk” radio show on WRPI, has been a mainstay of the acoustic music community here in upstate New York since 1971. Although new listeners might be surprised by some of the politics wedged in between the music, regulars know that politics and music have been the two driving forces in Jackie’s life. During the late forties Jackie left the now legendary Weavers, which included Pete Seeger, in order to help defend victims of the growing anti-communist witch hunts. Going from being the fifth Weaver and singing songs was a natural move for Jackie for, to her, the songs and politics sprang from the same roots. She says now, "I think it’s great that folk singers are seen as artists today, and not as political afterthoughts, or fillers in the program. And really, these days, just singing an honest song is a political statement.”	Pete Seeger first picked up ukulele and guitar in his early teenage years. But at 17, he heard a five stringed banjo played for the first time and his life was changed forever. Now a most respected musician, singer, songwriter, folklorist, labor activist, environmentalist, and peace advocate, in the 40's he and Woody Guthrie formed the Almanac Singers along with Lee Hays and Millard Lampell and traveled the country in support of leftist causes. They fused traditional folk music with social protest focused on contemporary issues. During the fifties and sixties, Pete became a clarion voice of the civil-rights and antiwar movements. He is an institution in American folk and pop music, a father figure whose contributions as an artist and writer were valued by people of all ages in and out of the music field. Pete Seeger is arguably the most influential folk artist in the United States. He was instrumental in popularizing the indigenous songs of his country, as well as songs of his own that have served as anthems for an entire generation of Americans.	From the steps of her parents house in cattle country, Clayton, New Mexico, you could look across open prairie to see the lights of Texline, Texas, eleven miles away. Two years out of college found Vaughn teaching at Niskayuna High School and attending summer school at Middlebury. She was in culture shock when confronted with “social class” in graduate school, a concept foreign to her in Oklahoma and New Mexico. She was teaching in the corporate community which was the source for the infamous study, “The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit.” At Niskayuna, she created a folklore course as a high school English elective. The New York Folklore Quarterly devoted an entire issue to her students’ field work and she published a taxonomy for teachers linking folklore field study to the goals of academic disciplines. But the Niskayuna Folk Festival, run entirely by a student board and staff, usually overshadows the other work in people’s memories. She founded the Adirondack Liars club, The Black Crow Network, and edited 5 volumes of folklore. Through it all she sang.