Pete goes on: “In a small village near Calcutta, in 1998, a villager who could not speak English sang me What Did You Learn In School Today? It was a beautiful summer afternoon, as Tom Paxton picked up his acoustic guitar under a bright tent at the Clearwater Festival in Croton Point Park, some 30-plus miles north of New York City. Paxton has been an integral part of the songwriting and folk music community since the early 60’s Greenwich Village scene, and continues to be a primary influence on today’s “New Folk” performers.

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Paxton tried out for the gig (borrowing a guitar for the session from then-18-year-old Jim McGuinn, later known as Roger McGuinn, of the Byrds). in Chicago and, when he was 10, the family moved to Arizona, where Paxton discovered the songs of Burl Ives, an early inspiration. In 1964, he took part in the Freedom Summer and visited the Deep South, with other folk musicians, to perform at voter registration drives and civil rights rallies.Eric Weissberg, John Gorka, Robin and Linda Williams, among others, also performed; and the album was titled Live: For the Record. In 2006, Paxton received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the North American Folk Music and Dance Alliance. They include: "In Florida", about the 2000 election; "Without DeLay", a song about the former congressman; "Bobbitt", about John and Lorena Bobbitt; "Little Bitty Gun", which lampoons Nancy Reagan; "I'm Changing My Name to Chrysler", about the federal loan guarantee to Chrysler in 1979 (which was rewritten in 2008 as "I Am Changing My Name to Fannie Mae" about the 700 billion dollar "bailout of the U.

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Paxton is now in "semi-retirement", though he still performs occasional shows and did a ten-venue UK tour in 2017. Paxton met his future wife, Margaret Ann Cummings (known as "Midge"), at the Gaslight one night in January 1963 after being introduced to her by David Blue. I have sung Tom’s songs for three decades and will go on doing so in the new century, for they are beautiful and timeless, and meant for every age.Paxton's 1979 album, Up and Up, contains the song "Let the Sunshine", which addresses issues concerning environmentalism and solar energy. The tour was the beginning of a still-thriving professional relationship that has included yearly performances there. A few days later, he received three Wammies (Washington, DC, Area Music Awards); as Best Male Vocalist in the "traditional folk" and " children's music" categories, and for Best Traditional Folk Recording of the Year for "Under American Skies" (2001).

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and performed alongside such folksingers as Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs, Eric Andersen, Dave Van Ronk, and Mississippi John Hurt. His 1983 album Bulletin includes a song about Woody Guthrie entitled "They Couldn't Take the Music". In 1963, Paxton and a group of other folk musicians performed and offered moral support to striking coal miners in Hazard, Kentucky.Paxton's own compositions began to be increasingly recognized within folk music circles, and in other genres. In 1967, the rock group Clear Light recorded a menacing and lengthy psychedelic version of Paxton's song "Mr. Tom Paxton has become a voice of his generation, addressing issues of injustice and inhumanity, laying bare the absurdities of modern culture and celebrating the tenderest bonds of family, friends, and community. The Hostage,” about New York State’s Attica prison uprising of 1971, is a harrowing lyric from the viewpoint of a murdered guard—who blames government authorities, not the prison’s inmates. In 2001, he released an album with Anne Hills entitled Under American Skies, and in 2002, he released an album of all new songs entitled Looking for the Moon (Appleseed Recordings).