The Weavers
The Weavers - Legendary folk music quartet. The Weavers came out of the leftist/labor folk movement of the 30s and 40s. The band was made up of Pete Seeger (not Jewish), Lee Hayes (not), Ronnie Gilbert (Jewish), and Fred Hellerman (Jewish). They had two major hits in 1950--"Tzena, Tzena"-a Yiddish song--which went high on the charts--and "Goodnight, Irene"-which stayed #1 for 13 weeks. The bands popularity declined with the McCarthy "witchhunt" era. But a 1955 reunion concert sparked the folk music revival of the 50s & 60s. Seeger left in 58, but the band continued with replacements for him. A final reunion concert, with Seeger, was held in 1980. Through Dylan and others, they profoundly influenced both modern folk and rock music.
