7/30/2019 lifestyle of weavers
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The Weavers
The Weavers were an Americanfolk music quartet based in the
Greenwich Village area ofNew
York City. They sang traditional folk songs from around the
world, as well as blues,gospel
music, children's songs, labor songs, and Americanballads, and
sold millions of records at the
height of their popularity. Their hard-driving string-band style
inspired the commercial " folk
boom" that followed them in the 1950s and 1960s, including such
performing groups as The
Kingston Trio and Peter, Paul, and Mary.
History
The Weavers were formed in November 1948 by Ronnie Gilbert, Lee
Hays, Fred Hellerman,
andPete Seeger. In 1940 and 1941, Hays and Seeger had co-founded
a previous group,
theAlmanac Singers, which disbanded during the war. The new
group took its name from a play
by Gerhart Hauptmann, Die Weber(The Weavers 1892), a powerful
play depicting the uprisingof the Silesian weavers in 1844,
containing the lines, "I'll stand it no more, come what may".
After a period of being unable to find much paid work, they
landed a steady and successful
engagement at the Village Vanguard jazz club. This led to their
discovery by arranger-
bandleaderGordon Jenkins and their signing withDecca Records.
The group had a big hit in
1950 with Leadbelly's "Goodnight, Irene", backed with the 1941
Israeli song "Tzena, Tzena,
Tzena", which in turn became a best seller. The recording stayed
at number one on the charts
for a lengthy 13 weeks. In keeping with the audience
expectations of the time, these and other
early Weavers' releases had violins and orchestration added
behind the group's own string-
band instruments. Because of the deepeningRed Scare of the early
1950s, their manager, Pete
Cameron, advised them not to sing their most explicitly
political songs and to avoid performing
at "progressive" venues and events. Because of this, some folk
song fans criticized them for
watering down their beliefs and commercializing their singing
style. But the Weavers felt it was
worth it to get their songs before the public.
The Weavers' successful concerts and hit recordings helped
introduce to new audiences such
folk revival standards as "On Top of Old Smoky" (with guest
vocalist Terry Gilkyson), "Follow
the Drinking Gourd", "Kisses Sweeter than Wine", "The Wreck of
the John B" (aka "Sloop John
B"), "Rock Island Line", "The Midnight Special", "Pay Me My
Money Down", and "Darling
Corey". The Weavers encouraged sing-alongs in their concerts,
and Seeger would sometimes
shout out the lyrics in advance of each line in lining out
style.
Film footage of the Weavers is relatively scarce. The group
appeared as a specialty act in a B-
movie musical, Disc Jockey(1951), and filmed five of their
record hits that same year for TV
producer Lou Snader: "Goodnight, Irene", "Tzena, Tzena, Tzena",
"So Long", "Around the
World", and "The Roving Kind".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folk_musichttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folk_musichttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenwich_Villagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Cityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Cityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blueshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blueshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospel_musichttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospel_musichttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balladhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balladhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balladhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folk_revivalhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folk_revivalhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kingston_Triohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kingston_Triohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter,_Paul,_and_Maryhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronnie_Gilberthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Hayshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Hellermanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Seegerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Seegerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almanac_Singershttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerhart_Hauptmannhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Weavers_(play)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Silesia#Uprising_of_the_Silesian_weavershttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Silesia#Uprising_of_the_Silesian_weavershttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Village_Vanguardhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Jenkinshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decca_Recordshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decca_Recordshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leadbellyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leadbellyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodnight,_Irenehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tzena,_Tzena,_Tzenahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tzena,_Tzena,_Tzenahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Scarehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Scarehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_Top_of_Old_Smokyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Gilkysonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kisses_Sweeter_than_Winehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_John_B._Sailshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_John_B._Sailshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_Island_Line_(song)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midnight_Special_(song)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pay_Me_My_Money_Downhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darling_Coreyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darling_Coreyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lining_outhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Roving_Kind_(song)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folk_musichttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenwich_Villagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Cityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Cityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blueshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospel_musichttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospel_musichttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balladhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folk_revivalhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folk_revivalhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kingston_Triohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kingston_Triohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter,_Paul,_and_Maryhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronnie_Gilberthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Hayshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Hellermanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Seegerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almanac_Singershttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerhart_Hauptmannhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Weavers_(play)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Silesia#Uprising_of_the_Silesian_weavershttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Silesia#Uprising_of_the_Silesian_weavershttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Village_Vanguardhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Jenkinshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decca_Recordshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leadbellyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodnight,_Irenehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tzena,_Tzena,_Tzenahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tzena,_Tzena,_Tzenahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Scarehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_Top_of_Old_Smokyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Gilkysonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kisses_Sweeter_than_Winehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_John_B._Sailshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_John_B._Sailshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_Island_Line_(song)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midnight_Special_(song)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pay_Me_My_Money_Downhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darling_Coreyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darling_Coreyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lining_outhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Roving_Kind_(song)
