The Weavers were an American folk music quartet based in the Greenwich Village area of New York City originally consisting of Lee Hays, Pete Seeger, Ronnie Gilbert, and Fred Hellerman. Founded in 1948, the group sang traditional folk songs from around the world, as well as blues, gospel music, children’s songs, labour songs, and American ballads. 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-bandleader Gordon Jenkins and their signing with Decca Records. The group had a big hit in 1950 with Lead Belly’s “Goodnight, Irene”, backed with the 1941 song “Tzena, Tzena, Tzena”, which in turn became a best seller. The recording stayed at number one on the charts for 13 weeks, the first folk song arrangement to achieve such success. “Goodnight, Irene” sold one million copies in 1950. (Pete Seeger later wrote that total sales were about two million records.) In keeping with the style of the time, these and other early Weavers’ releases had violins and orchestration added behind the group. For example, on their hit, Lonesome Traveller which Lee Hays wrote, they were backed by Jenkins and his orchestra.
Because of the deepening Red 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 criticised them for watering down their beliefs and commercialising their singing style. But the Weavers felt it was worth it to get their songs before the public, and to avoid the explicit type of commitment which had led to the demise of the Almanacs. The new approach proved a success, leading to many bookings and increased demand for the group’s recordings.
The successful concerts and hit recordings of the Weavers helped introduce to new audiences such folk revival standards as “On Top of Old Smoky” (with guest vocalist Terry Gilkyson), Woody Guthrie’s 1935 “So Long, It’s Been Good to Know Yuh”, the B side of Lonesome Traveller, (which reached No. 4 in 1951), “Follow the Drinking Gourd”, “Kisses Sweeter than Wine”, Tony Saletan’s adaptation of “Michael, Row the Boat Ashore”, “The Wreck of the John B” (a/k/a “Sloop John B”), “Rock Island Line”, “The Midnight Special”, “Pay Me My Money Down”, “Darling Corey” and “Wimoweh”. The Weavers encouraged sing-a longs in their concerts, and sometimes Seeger would 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 speciality 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”. Despite their popularity, the Weavers were blacklisted during much of the 1950s. During the Red Scare, members of the group were followed by the FBI and denied recording and performance opportunities, with Seeger and Hays called in to testify before the House Committee on Un-American Activities. Pete Seeger left the group in 1958. His tenor and banjo part was covered in succession by Erik Darling, Frank Hamilton and finally Bernie Krause until the group disbanded in 1964.
The group was inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2001. In February 2006, the Weavers received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Represented by members Ronnie Gilbert and Fred Hellerman, they struck a chord with the crowd as their struggles with political witch hunts during the 1950s were recounted. “If you can exist, and stay the course – not a course of blind obstinacy and faulty conception – but one of decency and good sense, you can outlast your enemies with your honour and integrity intact”, Hellerman said.
