AMERICAN folk legend Peggy Seeger will be in Okehampton later this month, making an appearance at the Baring-Gould Folk Weekend as a patron of Wren Music.

Peggy, 78, comes from a famous American folk dynasty, which includes her mother, Ruth Crawford Seeger, her father, Charles Seeger, her brother Mike Seeger and her half-brother Pete Seeger. Pete is regarded as the inspiration behind the American folk music revival and was described by Bob Dylan as 'a saint'.

As a patron of Wren Music, Peggy is appearing at the charity's Baring-Gould Folk Weekend, which takes place around Okehampton on Friday, October 25 to Sunday, October 27. She will be performing at Fairplace Church on the Saturday of the event.

She said: 'The concert will have a range of songs, from unaccompanied Anglo American traditional right through to a song I might have made up the day before yesterday.'

She will be singing some brand new songs from her latest album, Everything Changes. The title track, which follows a poem Peggy wrote eight years ago, is about her mother who died from cancer in 1953 aged just 52.

Peggy's connection with Wren has its origins in the 1970s, when Peggy and Ewan MacColl sang at Dartington. It was here that they met Paul Wilson, now musical director at Wren and then in a local trio called Staverton Bridge

Peggy said: 'Ewan and I actually taught at Dartington as visitors.

'We met Paul, who was working with Sam Richards and Tish Stubbs in Staverton Bridge, and we were very impressed with what they did. I'm still impressed with what Paul does, together with Wren's artistic director Marilyn Tucker.

'They've done what people should do with a tradition, which is to try to keep it alive and keep it moving throughout all of the ages that they deal with — older people, younger people, children. They've been such innovators and it's nice to be part of what they're doing.'

For Peggy, the Baring-Gould Folk Weekend is a rare opportunity to stay in the same place for more than a day and she hopes to take in some of the other concerts: 'I will love it! I will see the same people tomorrow as I saw today, and the day after tomorrow I'll see the same people I see tomorrow – that is a real treat for me.

'And it will be in the company of facilitators who know exactly what I'm talking about and I know exactly where they are and where they're going. That's why I'm a patron of the Wren Trust because I approve 150% of what they do.'

This year's weekend is the 15th Baring-Gould Folk Weekend and coincides with Wren Music's 30th anniversary. To mark the anniversary, Wren has introduced a special festival ticket price of £30. For the full programme and ticket information, visit http://www.baring-gould.co.uk">www.baring-gould.co.uk