AN EXCELLENT COPY OF THIS CLASSIC FOLK 78 FROM  PETE SEEGER AND THE WEAVERS TOGETHER WITH PETE GILKYSON

ON TOP OF OLD SMOKY   

b/w  ACROSS THE WIDE MISSOURI

The Weavers were an influential American folk music quartet based in the Greenwich Village area of New York City. They sang traditional folk songs from around the world, as well as blues, gospel music, children's songs, labor songs and American ballads, selling millions of records at the height of their popularity. They inspired the commercial "folk boom" that followed them in the 1950s and 1960s, including such acts as The Kingston Trio and Peter, Paul and Mary.

The Weavers group was formed in November 1948 by Ronnie Gilbert, Lee Hays, Fred Hellerman and Pete Seeger. (In 1940 and 1941, Hays had sung with Seeger's Almanac Singers.) The name came from an 1892 drama of the same name by Gerhart Hauptmann. After a period of being unable to find much paid work, they finally landed a steady 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 1949 with Leadbelly's Goodnigh Irene, backed with the 1941 Israeli song Tzena, Tzena, Tzena. In keeping with the commercial taste of the time, these and other early Weavers releases had violins and orchestration added behind the group's own guitars and folk instruments.

The Weavers' records and concerts helped popularize many of the songs now considered standards in the folk repertoire, including "On Top of Old Smoky" (with guest vocalist Terry Gilkyson), "Follow the Drinking Gourd," "Kisses Sweeter than Wine," "The Wreck of the 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.

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."

The Weavers eventually came under political pressure because of their history of singing protest songs and folk songs favouring labour unions, as well as for the leftist political beliefs of the individuals in the group. They avoided recording the more controversial songs in their repertoire, and refrained from performing at controversial venues and events. The left wing press derided them as having sold out their beliefs in exchange for popular success. Despite their caution, however, they were placed under FBI surveillance and blacklisted by parts of the entertainment industry during the McCarthy era, from 1950. Right-wing and anti-Communist groups protested at their performances and harassed promoters. As a result of the blacklisting, the Weavers lost radio airplay and the group's popularity diminished rapidly, reducing them to playing smaller venues for occasionally hostile audiences. Decca terminated their recording contract and deleted their songs from its catalogue in 1953.

Pete Seeger continued his solo career after the group disbanded in 1952, although he continued to suffer from the effects of blacklisting. In December 1955, the group reunited to play a sold-out concert at Carnegie Hall. The concert was a huge success. A recording of the concert was issued by the independent Vanguard Records, and this led to their signing by that record label (by the mid-1950s, folk music was surging in popularity and McCarthyism was fading).

The Weavers were hired to provide the vocals for a TV commercial, the product being a brand of cigarettes. Seeger, opposed to the dangers of tobacco and discouraged by the group's apparent selling out to commercial interests, spent his last year with the Weavers honouring his commitments, but feeling like a prisoner. He left the group on April 1, 1958.