The Weavers encouraged sing-alongs in their concerts, and sometimes Seeger would shout out the lyrics in advance of each line in lining out style. 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' (which reached #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 new approach proved a success, leading to many bookings and increased demand for the group's recordings. 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. Because of this, some folk song fans criticized them for watering down their beliefs and commercializing their singing style. 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. ) 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. (Pete Seeger later wrote that total sales were about two million records. 'Goodnight, Irene' sold one million copies in 1950. The recording stayed at number one on the charts for 13 weeks, the first folk song arrangement to achieve such success. 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. This led to their discovery by arranger-bandleader Gordon Jenkins and their signing with Decca Records. At Hellerman's suggestion, the group took its name from a play by Gerhart Hauptmann, Die Weber ( The Weavers 1892), a powerful work depicting the uprising of the Silesian weavers in 1844 which contains the lines, 'I'll stand it no more, come what may'.Īfter a period of being unable to find much paid work, they landed a steady and successful engagement at the Village Vanguard jazz club. The Weavers were formed in November 1948 by Hays, Seeger, Ronnie Gilbert, and Fred Hellerman. The Almanac Singers disbanded after the U.S. The Almanacs supported the change and produced many pro-war songs urging the U.S. In June 1941, when Germany invaded the Soviet Union, the APM changed its name to the American People's Mobilization and followed the Party line by altering its focus to supporting U.S. The Almanacs featured many songs opposing entry into the war by the U.S. In 1940, Lee Hays and Pete Seeger co-founded the Almanac Singers, which – along with American folk songs and ballads – promoted peace and isolationism in the years preceding World War II, working with the Communist Party-backed American Peace Mobilization (APM).

Wimoweh weavers