#fred hellerman

The Weavers—from left to right, Ronnie Gilbert, Pete Seeger, Lee Hays, and Fred Hellerman—gave a concert on December 26, 1952, that was broadcast on WNYC. The clip above is the final number. Their message of peace and unity did not please HUAC, and they were blacklisted for the rest of the decade.

Tune du Jour: “Draft Dodger Rag” – Phil Ochs THE CLASH of Cover Tunes: Disappear Fear vs. Kind of Like Spitting vs. Pete Seeger and Fred Hellerman VOTE, COMMENT, then DO SOMETHING NICE FOR YOURSELF CoverMeImpressed.blog CoverMeImpressed.blog CoverMeImpressed.blog Everybody’s Dressin’ Funny … Cover Me Impressed! Phil wrote some of the greatest topical political protest songs of all time. Most…

Fred Hellerman (May 13, 1927 – September 1, 2016)

Fred Hellerman, who met fellow member of the folk quartet Ronnie Gilbert at summer camp, died at the age of 89 on September 1. The influential folk singers first met as camp counselors at Camp Wo-Chi-Ca in New Jersey. They would later join Pete Seeger and Lee Hays to form the folk group The Weavers in November 1948. Camp Wo-Chi-Ca was a left leaning summer camp in Port Murray, New Jersey founded…

Folk group The Weavers are banned by NBC after refusing to sign a loyalty oath

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The Weavers, one of the most significant popular-music groups of the postwar era, saw their career nearly destroyed during the Red Scare of the early 1950s. Even with anti-communist fervor in decline by the early 1960s, the Weavers' leftist politics were used against them as late as January 2, 1962, when the group's appearance on The Jack Paar Show was cancelled over their refusal to sign an oath of political loyalty.

The importance of the Weavers to the folk revival of the late 1950s cannot be overstated.

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The Weavers helped spark a tremendous resurgence in interest in American folk traditions and folk songs when they burst onto the popular scene with "Goodnight Irene," (written by Huddie “Lead Belly” Ledbetter)  a #1 record for 13 weeks in the summer and fall of 1950. 

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And then it came to light that members of the group had openly embraced the pacifism, internationalism and pro-labor sympathies of the Communist Party during the 1930s. When word of their political past spread, the backlash was swift. The Weavers' planned television show was canceled, the group was placed under FBI surveillance and Seeger and Hays were called to testify before Joseph McCarthy's House Un-American Activities Committee. The Weavers lost their recording contract with Decca in 1951, and by 1953, unable to book most concert venues and banned from appearing on television and radio, they disbanded.

The Weavers enjoyed a significant comeback in the late 1950s, but the group never shook its right-wing antagonists. On the afternoon of January 2, 1962, in advance of a scheduled appearance on The Jack Paar Show, the Weavers were told by NBC officials that their appearance would be canceled if they would not sign a statement disavowing the Communist party. Every member of the Weavers refused to sign. 

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