Date: 2010-10-15
The Work O’ the Weavers with Peg Espinola opening
‘If I Had A Hammer,’ ‘Midnight Special,’ ‘The Sloop John B,’ ‘Goodnight, Irene,’ ‘This Land Is Your Land, ‘Tzena Tzena,’ ‘Wimoweh,’ ‘House Of The Rising Sun,’ ‘Michael Row The Boat Ashore.’ Songs such as these have become part of our collective consciousness. But few recall that these songs were written or first popularized by The Weavers. The seminal link between an obscure past and contemporary culture, The Weavers introduced a stream of authenticity into the current of American popular music that endures to this day. Much of the modern American folk revival rests on the shoulders of an earlier folk revival in the 1930s. Back then, the ravages of the Great Depression had many wondering whether the capitalist system would survive and compelled many to look for viable alternatives. In the process, the era witnessed a burgeoning union movement, an increase in radical politics, and a simultaneous reawakening of interest in American folk music.During this period, both Pete Seeger and Lee Hays cut their musical teeth. Having grown up in the puritanical northeast as the son of a concert violinist and a musicologist, Pete dropped out of Harvard to work with Alan Lomax cataloguing folk music for the Library of Congress. There he vowed not to dig up old songs from one graveyard just to bury them in another. Lomax introduced him to Woody Guthrie and the two roamed the country together learning, singing and writing songs for unions and other groups. With faithful adherence to their original arrangements, we seek to recall the spirit of The Weavers, providing an echo of their music and some insight into their story, one that resonates ever so strongly in these troubled times when an American’s right – and indeed, responsibility – to dissent is once again being challenged. It is therefore a distinct privilege for us, and it is with profound pleasure that we present the timeless music and the timely message of ‘Work o’ The Weavers’.
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