Sue just announced the launch of a new blog, “Wasn’t That a Time.” With it, she hopes to combine her “interest in music and history intersect to provide look at the musicians and songwriters who documented their life and history in song.”
Her first post on June 9 focuses on The Weavers, probably one of the most influential of all folks groups. Its members were Pete Seeger, Ronnie Gilbert, Lee Hayes and Fred Hellerman. Although many of their songs were about union issues and social justice, they’re perhaps best known for a ballad by Leadbelly, “Goodnight Irene.”
The Weavers learned a lot from Leadbelly, but unfortunately, he died a month before the Weavers played the Village Vanguard [their first big concert in 1949]. They dedicated the last song of their concert to Leadbelly by playing his song, “Goodnight Irene.” It became the signature closing at every Weaver’s concert thereafter.
“Goodnight Irene” is the first song I can ever remember hearing as a child. I didn’t pay much attention to the song as an adult, until I started listening to early Weaver recordings. Besides the songs deep roots in the early folk culture, it is a good example of the end of one musical era and the beginning of another. The early Weaver songs incorporated the big band sound of swing and jazz, which was popular in the 1940s and early 1950s.
Great stuff for history and music and folklore buffs!
