He was one of
Bob Dylan's biggest advocates among the folk scene. When Dylan went "electric" (with a backing band) at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965, however, Seeger was reported to be enraged and even, some claim, tried to severe the power to the amplifiers with an ax. Seeger, for his part, said this never happened but admitted to being annoyed at the time, not because Dylan was "turning his back" on folk music but because he and his friends couldn't hear any of the words over the rock music on what they felt was an overly loud, poorly mixed sound-system.