Word: banjo
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Because Hays and Gilbert only sing, the whole responsibility for instrumental background falls on Darling and Fred Hellerman. The extraordinary competence of both, particularly Hellerman on the guitar, is a large factor in the cohesion and warmth of the group. Darling sticks to the long-necked banjo most of the time, but switched to guitar for a solo number where he gave a fairly good rendition of some bottle neck blues...
Despite the high quality of the concert, however, it proved that the Weavers lost a lot when Seeger left. Darling, Seeger's replacement, has a better voice than Pete, but his banjo lacks originality, spirit, and personality. To a large extent this is the Weavers' problem: they haven't progressed without Seeger, and good as they are, they grow less interesting with each hearing
People spend a lot of breath telling other people (if the subject comes up) that there is a boom in folk music. This is correct, one needs only to see the happy faces of coffee- house owners, guitar-and-banjo-makers, professional folksingers to verify the fact. Some people, including myself, will tell you folk music suffers from renaissance--the trios and quartets (which shall be nameless) begin turning out corrupt, oompah versions of perfectly good folk songs; no lover of folk musics enjoys hearing the lush, superfatted, slick results. The task of separating what we like from the phony...
...Sheridan, is the land of happy wars and sad love songs. So we are informed, at any rate, by one of the singers on a Columbia album called "A SPONTANEOUS RECORDING!" The spontaneous performance is given by the Clancy Brothers (Tom, Pat, and Liam), Tommy Makem, Pete Seeger (on banjo), Bruce Langhorne (on guitar), and what is described as "a 200-voice singing audience." The audience is not omnipresent, and all of the songs (like all Irish songs, I'm convinced) have the gift o' th' gab. The performers, too, are ebullient, effervescent, and effusive, a welcome change from...
Singing in English. French. Hebrew, and Spanish, the group is a kind of Kingston Quintet, doing a spread of folk songs. American and foreign. All five play the guitar, and beyond that they diversify into a variety of instruments that includes five-string banjo, recorder, autoharp, maracas, a ten-string South American charango made from an armadillo shell, and a Nigerian talking drum. Their style is controlled and relaxed, with faultless rhythm, but minus Michael and United Artists, they could be any good college group...