The Weavers

St. James Encyclopedia of Pop Culture, Jan 29, 2002 by Pamela L. Shelton

Formed in 1948 by folksinger and banjoist Pete Seeger, the Weavers were considered the quintessential U.S. folk music group of its era, popularizing such classic tunes as "On Top of Old Smokey" and "Goodnight Irene" before falling under the shadow of McCarthyism in the 1950s. When they began performing, the four members of the group had collectively amassed a repertoire exceeding 700 traditional ballads and folk songs; before disbanding in 1963, the Weavers had recorded many of these on popular albums, successfully bringing American folk music to the attention of a mass audience. Though their smooth, polished sound ruffled the feathers of a few folk-music purists, the Weavers have been credited for fueling the careers of the numerous young performers who followed them, prompting the formation of the Newport Folk Festival series in the late 1950s and what would later be known as the American Folk Revival.

Unlike most popular folk-music performers of the mid-twentieth century, which included the Kingston Trio, Peter, Paul & Mary, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, the Clancy Brothers & Tommy Makem, and Canada's husband-and-wife team Ian & Sylvia, the members of the Weavers were significantly older than their fans (Seeger was born in 1919). Rather than their youth, it was their enthusiasm and their folk-music credentials that earned the Weavers their legions of fans. Seeger, in particular, had ties to many folk performers of earlier decades, including the legendary Woody Guthrie, with whom he had performed as part of the Almanac Singers during the early 1940s.

The Weavers--Seeger, Lee Hays, Fred Hellerman, and female vocalist Ronnie Gilbert--debuted at New York City's Village Vanguard folk club in 1948. The Manhattan-born Seeger had abandoned a promising Harvard education to learn to play the long-necked banjo and to hitchhike across the United States for the purpose of collecting the nation's folk songs. His growing expertise later earned him a position as folk archivist for the Library of Congress. By contrast, Hays, with his deep, rumbling voice, had begun his career singing in the rural churches of his native Arkansas. The two younger members of the group, guitarist Hellerman and vocalist Gilbert, had become friends upon recognizing their common interest in folk music while working as summer-camp counselors in New Jersey.

The four musicians met during folk-music hootenannies in Greenwich Village during the mid-1940s, and quickly decided that their combined vocals, backed by Seeger's banjo and recorder and Hellerman's acoustic guitar, made for a good mix. Sponsored by the Socialist-leaning People's Songs, the foursome also received encouragement from folk-music fans wherever they performed. A six-month gig at the Village Vanguard, where such folkies as Burl Ives and Richard Dyer-Bennett had gotten their starts, earned the group $100 a week for its musical mix of everything from work-gang songs from the Old South to Indonesian lullabies.

Eventually the Weavers sparked the interest of Decca Records, which recorded two of the group's favorite songs: "Goodnight, Irene," by bluesman Leadbelly, and the Israeli hora "Tzena, Tzena, Tzena." Both tunes were timely: Leadbelly had died only a year before, while the nation of Israel had only just come into being. Within a year, both songs made the hit parade, with record sales to the college crowd cresting the million mark. The Weavers moved to Manhattan's Blue Angel nightclub, and from there to Broadway's Strand Theater, where its take-home pay rose to $2,250 a week. The group was soon on its way to national prominence, with offers for bookings from venues in 30 U.S. cities.

The Weavers' meteoric rise to national prominence abruptly ended in 1952, when Seeger's leftist leanings caused the group to fall under the shadow of the "Red Scare" that was fueled by Senator Joseph McCarthy and by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). Included among those entertainers suspected of pro-communist sentiments, the group was blacklisted by theatre owners and radio and television stations. Forced to return to the smaller folk clubs and coffeehouses where they had got their start, the Weavers continued their career in the folk community for another ten years before finally disbanding in 1963. During this period, the Weavers recorded several albums for both Decca and Vanguard, among them Weavers Almanac, Weavers on Tour (1958), Travelling with the Weavers (1958), and The Weavers at Carnegie Hall (1955), the last considered the group's finest album. Many of their songs continue to be available on album reissues.

While Seeger's political convictions may have ultimately ended the career of the Weavers--he was cited for contempt of Congress in 1961, although his conviction was ultimately overturned--he eventually emerged undaunted, and has continued to entertain generations of Americans with songs that have become modern-day folk classics, as well as composing "If I Had a Hammer" and "We Shall Overcome," both of which became anthems of the civil rights movement of the 1960s.