Ahootenanny is a freewheeling, improvisatory musical event in theUnited States, often incorporating audience members in performances. It is particularly associated withfolk music.[1]
Hootenanny is anAppalachiancolloquialism that was used in the early twentieth centuryU.S. as aplaceholder name to refer to things whose names were forgotten or unknown.[1] In this usage, it was synonymous withdoohickey,thingamajig orwhatchamacallit, as in: "That hootenanny that she shovels her bread with—that long-handled majigger, you know" (fromSim Greene: A Narrative of the Whisky Insurrection [1906]).[1][2]
Hootenanny is also a rural word for "party" or get-together. It can refer to afolk music party with anopen mic, at which different performers are welcome to get up and play in front of an audience.
According toPete Seeger he first heard the wordhootenanny inSeattle, Washington, in the summer of 1941 while touring the area with Woody Guthrie.[3] It was used byHugh DeLacy'sWashington Commonwealth Federation[4] to describe their monthly music fund raisers.[5] After some debate the club voted inhootenanny, which narrowly beat outwingding. Seeger,Woody Guthrie and other members of theAlmanac Singers later used the word in New York City to describe their weeklyrent parties, which featured many notable folksingers of the time.[5] In a 1962 interview inTime,Joan Baez made the analogy that a hootenanny is to folk singing what ajam session is to jazz.[6]
During the early 1960s at the height of theAmerican folk music revival, the clubGerdes Folk City at 11 West 4th Street inGreenwich Village started a folk music hootenanny tradition every Monday night. It featured an open mic and welcomed a broad variety of performers.[7]The Bitter End at 147 Bleecker Street—not far from Gerdes—continued the folk music hootenanny tradition every Tuesday night.[8][9]
A weekly hootenanny has been held during the summers atAllegany State Park most years since 1972.[10]
Hootenanny with the Highwaymen is a 1963 album by folk bandthe Highwaymen.[14]
"Surfin' Hootenanny" is a surf pop/rock song written byLee Hazlewood (tune) andAl Casey, and performed by Al Casey withthe K-C-Ettes (akathe Blossoms). It opens Casey's 1963 albumSurfin' Hootenanny (issued bySundazed Music Inc.). The song re-appeared in 1996 (in remastered version) on theCowabunga! Set 2: Big Waves (1963) compilation.Cowabunga! Set 2: Big Waves (1963) is a second disc fromRhino Records'Cowabunga! The Surf Box 4-CD set compilation that contains songs from the four-decade long history ofsurf music.
The Glencoves had a hit single with their release "Hootenanny", which peaked at No. 38 on theBillboard Hot 100 in 1963.
Eels released an album titledShootenanny! in 2003.[15] The album's title is aportmanteau of the words "shoot" and "hootenanny".
In 1963 and 1964, aBBC 1 showThe Hoot'nanny Show, recorded inEdinburgh, was broadcast.[19] Two albums with the same title were released, with contributions fromArchie Fisher, Barney McKenna (before he joinedThe Dubliners), andThe Corries.
^Schofield, Derek (25 May 2011)."Gil Robbins obituary".The Guardian.Archived from the original on 30 September 2013. Retrieved25 April 2025.Robbins shifted the Highwaymen's repertoire to include more songs with a political message, and his baritone voice and accompaniment on the guitarrón, a large Mexican guitar, were heard on five albums, including March On, Brothers (1962), Hootenanny With the Highwaymen (1963) and Homecoming! (1964).
