What Was Hootenanny Music ?

[Roburt]

Popular in the US around 1963 / 64, this form of music gave its name to the 1963/64 US ABC TV music show 'Hootenanny' ..... But what type of music was it exactly ???

It seems to be some sort of mixture of gospel / pop songs done with a folksy type backing (acoustic guitar, etc). It rose like a phoenix in the US in 63 only to crash & burn just a quickly.

By all accounts, a black duo (Joe & Eddie) were / are the top rated exponents of this type of music ..... Here they are from a TV show in 1965 ....

... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDYTf3TH5TM

Still don't really understand why it was deemed so different & tipped to be the 'next big thing ' in 1963.

AND PLEASE DON'T GIVE SILLY ANSWERS that refer to Jools Holland or the like !!

[Guest bedge]

Try this

Edited April 23, 2012 by bedge

[Mike]

stirred my interest to have a look about and wikipedia shed some light

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hootenanny

Woody Guthrie and other members of the Almanac Singers later used the word in New York City to describe their weekly rent parties, which featured many notable folksingers of the time. [2] In a 1962 interview in Time, Joan Baez made the analogy that a hootenanny is to folk singing what a jam session is to jazz. [3]

[Amsterdam Russ]

If I remember correctly, on the album The Four Tops Live, there is a point in the proceedings where the group are about to have a sing-along with the audience and they describe it as like having a Hootenanny.

Therefore, they saw it as an event - a musical get-together or sing-along - rather than a style of music, pretty much the same as is described in the quote from Wikipedia.

Edited April 23, 2012 by Russell Gilbert

[macca]

It was also used in some folk circles to satirically to refer to the clean, safe, wholesome, ersatz folk of groups like the Kingston Trio which were being marketed by the major record companies at the time of the 'folk scare', i.e. 1958-1964... For every one of those artists there was a Rick Von Schmidt, Dave Van Ronk, Bob Dylan etc... Dylan used to lampoon them from the stage...

[Guest allnightandy]

I always thought it was this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqtFnAZu1YI

:lol:

Edited April 23, 2012 by allnightandy

[macca]

More like this... https://youtu.be/BImWFB6eeJc

As opposed to this... https://youtu.be/-wGgvbHcgyc

[macca]

Bugger all to do with Soul, this thread.

[Roburt]

Well if you think the Joe & Eddie track ("All Night Long") has got bugger all to do with Soul ...

... you can always ignore it & go play Paul Anka, Peggy March & Nancy Ames records.

[macca]

No need to be snotty, Roburt. I've contributed to the thread constructively.. twice in fact.

My comment was more to do with the true definition of Hootenany rather than with Joe & Eddie,

whom I don't consider really representative of that particular folk phenomenon, which I think

you might have been able to glean from my posts. The Chambers Brothers, Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee

often played Hoots, token blacks in a sea of white faces to show how 'right on' the Hoot folks were, probably...

You're also assuming a lot regarding those records you think I should go and play.

Mac,

[Henrun]

I have always wondered what Hootenanny was. I have an RnB compilation on Joy featuring Jimmy Reed, John Lee Hooker and the like called "Soul Meeting Saturday Night Hootenanny Style". What it has too do with hootenanny I am not sure.

Edited April 25, 2012 by henrun

[Amsterdam Russ]

I have always wondered what Hootenanny was. I have an RnB compilation on Joy featuring Jimmy Reed, John Lee Hooker and the like called "Soul Meeting Saturday Night Hootenanny Style". What it has too do with hootenanny I am not sure.

As has been explained, a Hootenanny is an informal musical gathering, a party of sorts. The word was once specific to folk music, but became more widely accepted (as is shown by the use of the word on your compilation).

Doing a little digging, I found the first time the word appeared in Billboard magazine. The clipping dates from 26th October 1946. It's a short read, but it has me intrigued now about the life and times of Texas folk singer, Dock Reese!

Also, going back to the origins of the word as described on Wikipedia, I found this brilliant anecdote that had been overlooked:

According to Pete Seeger, in various interviews, he first heard the word hootenanny in Seattle, Washington in the late 1930s. It was used by Hugh DeLacy's New Deal political club to describe their monthly music fund raisers. After some debate the club voted in the word hootenanny, which narrowly beat out the word wingding.

The first reference to a wingding in Billboard is from 23rd June 1945. Possibly then it predates hootenanny as a word used to describe an informal or impromptu musical event.

Now, anyone know how a wingding became a wang dang doodle?

[Henrun]

As has been explained, a Hootenanny is an informal musical gathering, a party of sorts. The word was once specific to folk music, but became more widely accepted (as is shown by the use of the word on your compilation).

Doing a little digging, I found the first time the word appeared in Billboard magazine. The clipping dates from 26th October 1946. It's a short read, but it has me intrigued now about the life and times of Texas folk singer, Dock Reese!

Also, going back to the origins of the word as described on Wikipedia, I found this brilliant anecdote that had been overlooked:

According to Pete Seeger, in various interviews, he first heard the word hootenanny in Seattle, Washington in the late 1930s. It was used by Hugh DeLacy's New Deal political club to describe their monthly music fund raisers. After some debate the club voted in the word hootenanny, which narrowly beat out the word wingding.

The first reference to a wingding in Billboard is from 23rd June 1945. Possibly then it predates hootenanny as a word used to describe an informal or impromptu musical event.

Now, anyone know how a wingding became a wang dang doodle?

Thanks for that.

Good to see democracy in action!

I also have an LP called Wingding party so the word survived despite loosing the vote.

[Amsterdam Russ]

Well, curiosity killed the cat. I couldn't resist trying to find out some info on the aforementioned Dock Reese. And I'm glad I did.

The clipping below comes from the sleeve notes to a 1967 album of folk music called "The Asch Recordings, 1939-1945 Vol 2". And it's well worth a read if you have any interest in the history of American roots music.

Moe Asch was in part inspired by Alan Lomax, who so famously made the countless field recordings of American/negro folk music in the 30s and 40s.

Having done this little bit of digging, I'm reminded of something that I'd forgotten - that 'folk music' was back then a generic term for all the diverse and unique forms of music that had evolved in the enclaves, mountains, backwoods, cotton fields, towns, villages and prisons of America. It was quite literally the music of the Amercan people.

It wasn't what we think of as folk music today, or even 50 years ago.

So, when the term Hootenanny was used to describe folk music gatherings in the 30s and after, it could be applied to a gathering of people of absolutely any race, creed or colour - it was just a musical gathering; a jam session; hoedown; knees-up; shindig; wang dang doodle; wingding or whatever...

Got any more questions like this one? I love 'em!

[Roburt]

Good work, Russell.

[Guest JJMMWGDuPree]

This is weird. I've known the answer to this for as long as I can remember. A Wing-ding is a party, a Hootenanny is a party at which they make their own music. It originated amongst the po' folks of the farming areas of the USA (In the cities they were more likely to have a Wang-dang-doodle ). It's very likely that Elvis Presley went to more than a few of these parties so in a way they may have been the real breeding ground of rock'n'roll.

Sheesh. You kids just know nuthin' these days.

A Wang-dang-doodle is a night out that gets a little... rowdy.