The Weavers

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The Weavers were an American folk group from New York that was founded in 1948 by Pete Seeger and others . They sang traditional folk songs from all over the world, but also blues, gospel and work songs and children's songs. Her best-known songs included Wimoweh , a song from South Africa, and Good Night Irene (written by Leadbelly ). At the height of their popularity, they sold millions of records.

history

The band was founded in the tradition and succession of The Almanac Singers in November 1948 by Pete Seeger , Lee Hays , Fred Hellermann and Ronnie Gilbert in Greenwich Village , New York .

In 1950, the group received a contract with Decca and played in a row with the piece Goodnight Irene by Leadbelly a hit one, the thirteen weeks at number one was the American charts and two million have been sold. The group reached further chart positions with the song So Long, It's Been Good to Know You and On Top of Old Smokey, written by Woody Guthrie . This made the Weavers the first folk band to succeed in addressing a broad audience beyond insider circles.

In mid-1950, due to their great popularity, they were offered their own television show, which was officially prevented. Since the members of the Communist Party were very close or were members, they were blacklisted in the anti-communist climate of the McCarthy era , which was tantamount to a performance ban, as organizers or similar. endangered themselves. So the band broke up in 1952.

In 1955, Harold Leventhal brought the Weavers back together for a Christmas concert at New York's Carnegie Hall .

In 1958, Pete Seeger left the group. This was followed by new appointments with Bernie Krause , Erik Darling and Frank Hamilton. Together with these musicians, the group gave one last concert at Carnegie Hall in their original line-up in 1963 , only to finally break up. They came together to reunions from time to time in the following years, most recently in 1980 with the original line-up at Carnegie Hall. Lee Hays died a year later. This appearance was recorded in the documentary Wasn't That a Time (1982), which he still wrote .

The Weavers have a firm place in US folk music. Their influence reached well into the folk revival of the 1960s and paved the way for groups like the Kingston Trio and Peter, Paul and Mary .

In 2001 The Weavers were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame . In February 2006 they received the Grammy Award for their life's work ( Lifetime Achievement Award ).

Discography

  • The Weavers Greatest Hits
  • The Weavers at Carnegie Hall (Live)
  • Wasn't that a time! (Box set)
  • Best of the Vanguard Years
  • The Weavers Reunion at Carnegie Hall, 1963 (Live)
  • Rarities from the Vanguard Vault
  • Kisses Sweeter Than Wine (Live)
  • The Almanac
  • The Best of the Decca Years
  • Ultimate Collection
  • The Weavers Classics
  • Best of the weavers
  • Gospel
  • We Wish You a Merry Christmas
  • The Weavers on Tour (Live)

Award

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bruce Eder: The Weavers (Inducted 2001). ( Memento of the original from April 9, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.vghf.org archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Vocal Group Hall of Fame homepage , accessed October 10, 2011.

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