Bernice Johnson Reagon

was quite a moment.

I'm wondering, connecting to Bernice Johnson Reagon, who had no separation whatsoever between the songs of the people and the power of music to manifest the power of the communities.

Did you think of yourself as...

As an activist? Not at that time.

In sum, 39 episodes were filmed.

Of the many people who Pete interviewed and hosted, these included but were not limited to Tom Paxton, Tommy Makem and the Clancy Brothers, Puerto Rican musicians Rosa Valentin and Rafael Martinez, Elizabeth Cotten, Yiddish folklorist Ruth Rubin, Jean Ritchie, Bernice Reagon, Doc Watson with Fred Price and Clint Howard, Grant Rodgers, a Catskill dweller who appeared with Norman Studer, the former camp director of Camp Woodland, Malvina Reynolds, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Sonia Malkin, Theodore Bikel with Palestinian poet Rashid Hussein, British folk musician Donovan, Irish folk musician Sean Phillips, the Reverend Gary Davis, Patrick Sky, female singing group the Pennywhistlers, bluegrass group the Greenbriar Boys, Judy Collins, Kentucky banjo player and high lonesome singer Roscoe Holcomb, Scottish singer Jean Redpath, Canadian and Indigenous songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie, as well as June Carter and Johnny Cash.

If you're wondering about the title for the show, it comes from a line from Pete's song "Oh, Had I a Golden Thread," a tune about how all the variety in the world should give us strength and wisdom, which appeared on Seeger's 1960 Folkways album titled Rainbow Quest.

[folk music][singing] Oh, had I a golden thread and needle so fine, I'd weave a magic strand of rainbow design, of rainbow design.