Hootenanny: Famous Folk Singers Quiz

Answer: The Clancy Brothers

The Clancy Brothers - Paddy, Tom and Liam - and Tommy Makem were largely responsible for making Irish music popular in the United States. They sang songs in both English and Gaelic, and Tommy was a prolific songwriter as well.
Paddy Clancy, Tom Clancy and Tommy Makem have all passed on, and Liam Clancy was the last surviving member of the group. He died on December 4, 2009. His autobiography, "The Mountain of the Women," is very interesting reading.

Answer: Paul Clayton

Paul "Pablo" Clayton was born Paul Clayton Worthington on March 3, 1931. He was a major influence on many more famous performers. He traveled extensively in the South, collecting songs which he later recorded. Some of his albums include "Bloody Ballads" and "Dulcimer Songs and Solos." His song, "Who's Goin' To Buy You Ribbons When I'm Gone?" was reworked by Bob Dylan into his hit "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right." This led to a lawsuit and the end of their friendship.

Paul Clayton committed suicide on March 30, 1967 by dropping an electric heater in his bathtub. It is thought by many that his rift with Bob Dylan was a major factor leading to his death.

Answer: Oscar Brand

Oscar Brand was born February 7, 1920 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He recorded almost 100 albums. In addition to his "Bawdy Ballads," he recorded a set of hilarious albums of US military songs, including "Tell It to the Marines," and "Every Inch a Sailor." Most of his early albums are marked "NOT for radio play." He was the host of "Oscar Brand's Folksong Festival" on WNYC AM 820 in New York City.

The show began on in 1945, and was the longest running show in radio history with the same host, running for 70 years. Brand died of pneumonia on September 30, 2016.

Answer: The Kingston Trio

The Kingston Trio burst onto the scene in 1958 with the smash hit "Tom Dooley," and never looked back. Other famous songs by them include "Scotch and Soda," "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" and "A Worried Man." Dave Guard left the group in 1961, and was replaced by John Stewart.

The group disbanded in 1967, but was reformed in 1969 as The New Kingston Trio by original member Bob Shane. Reynolds rejoined the group in 1988, and continued to perform with them until 1999. The present members of the group are Mike Marvin, Tim Gorelangton, and Buddy Woodward. Dave Guard died in 1991 of lymphatic cancer, and Nick Reynolds passed away on October 1, 2008. Bob Shane suffered a heart attack in 2004,and died on January 26, 2020.

Answer: Ian and Sylvia Tyson

Ian Tyson was born on September 25, 1933 in Victoria, British Colombia. His first career was as a rodeo cowboy; he took up music while recovering from injuries sustained in a fall. He met Sylvia Fricker in 1960, and they began singing together. The couple were married in 1964.

Their biggest hit, "Four Strong Winds," which was written by Ian, was released in 1963. Ian also wrote "Someday Soon," a lovely song that has been covered by many artists. Sylvia was also a songwriter; her song "You Were On My Mind," became a hit for the group We Five. Ian and Sylvia divorced in 1975.

They were inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1992. Ian died on December 29, 2022 at the age of 89.

Answer: Phil Ochs

Phil Ochs was born December 19, 1940 in El Paso, Texas to a Jewish father and a Scottish mother. His family moved frequently, eventually settling in Columbus, Ohio. After attending the Staunton Military Academy and Ohio State University, Ochs moved to New York City in 1962 and became part of the Greenwich Village folk music scene.

He became active in the anti-war movement; after his death, it was revealed that the CIA had a 500 page file on him and his activities. After the war was over, Ochs began drinking heavily and using drugs.

He hanged himself on April 9, 1976. Though he was never commercially successful as a singer, he remains a powerful influence as a songwriter to this day.

Answer: Woody Guthrie

Woodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie was born on July 14th, 1912 in Okemah, Oklahoma. He came of age during the Great Depression, and spent much of his youth traveling with migrant farm workers. Many of his songs are concerned with the problems faced by working class people during those trying times.

He wrote hundreds of songs; no one knows how many, because he was careless about copywriting his songs, and never seemed to care if he made much money off them. Guthrie died on October 3, 1967 from Huntington's Chorea, an inherited, degenerative disease of the nervous system.

His son, Arlo Guthrie, is also a famous folk singer. A movie of Guthrie's life, called "Bound For Glory," starring David Carradine as Woody, was released in 1976.

Answer: Steeleye Span

Steeleye Span is one of my favorite bands. They are known for taking traditional English folk ballads and performing them in modern rock arrangements. They have released over two dozen albums, and while the band has seen numerous changes in personnel, it has always maintained a distinctive sound. Maddy Prior has a lovely, versatile voice that always seems to bring out the best in her material.

Answer: Stan Rogers

Stan Rogers was born November 29, 1949 in Hamilton, Ontario. His voice is something that has to be heard; it can't be described. He was a consummate songwriter. Many of his songs have become classics, and have been covered by other artists. He was a big man, standing well over six feet tall. I had the privilege of meeting him once when he was performing in Chicago. On June 2, 1983, while returning from a concert in Texas, Rogers' plane had to make an emergency landing in Cincinnati, Ohio. A fire had broken out in one of the plane's bathrooms. 23 people died of smoke inhalation while the plane sat on the runway. Witnesses later said that Rogers lost his life while helping others to safety. Stan Rogers produced only nine albums during his brief life, four of them posthumously, but each one is a jewel. If you've never heard of Stan Rogers, give him a listen.

Answer: Pete Seeger

Pete Seeger was born into a musical family on May 3, 1919 in Patterson, NY. His father was a musicologist who collected folk songs, and his mother taught violin. After dropping out of Harvard, Seeger worked for the Library of Congress collecting American folk songs.

He served in the Army during WWII, spending his tour of duty entertaining troops "strumming his banjo." Seeger had joined the Communist Party in 1942, and was called to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1955.

He refused to answer their questions, which led to an indictment for contempt of Congress. His career was seriously hampered, but he reemerged during the 1960s as an outspoken critic of the Vietnam War. He was involved in environmental issues, particularly the cleanup of the Hudson River in his native New York, and recorded albums of American folk music for the Smithsonian on the Folkways label.

Answer: Tom Paxton

Tom Paxton was born October 31, 1937 in Chicago, Illinois. In 1948, his family moved to Oklahoma. After graduating from the University of Oklahoma in 1959, he enlisted in the Army Reserve, and was stationed at Ft. Dix, New Jersey (despite writing numerous anti-war songs, Paxton never served in Vietnam).

After receiving an Honorable Discharge, he moved to New York City, where he became involved in the Greenwich Village folk music scene. During this period he wrote "Ramblin' Boy" and "What Did You Learn in School Today?" He became active in the civil rights movement, and wrote "Goodman, Schwerner and Chaney" about three civil rights activists murdered in Mississippi.

He is still performing and writing songs today. Many of his songs, such as "Outward Bound," "Can't Help But Wonder Where I'm Bound," and "My Lady's a Wild Flying Dove" are considered classics.

He also writes a lot of satirical songs about current events.

Answer: Joan Baez

Joan Baez was born January 9, 1941 in Staten Island, New York. Her father was a teacher at MIT, and she began her career singing in clubs in the Boston area. She appeared at the Newport Folk Festival in 1959 and recorded her first album in 1960. In 1965, her cover of the Phil Ochs song "There But For Fortune" reached the #8 spot on the British pop charts, and her cover of The Band's "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" reached number three in the US in 1971. Like many other folk singers, Baez has been active any any number of left-wing causes, opposing war and the death penalty, and campaigning for gay rights and the environment.

She and Bob Dylan had a rather stormy relationship which lasted from 1962 to 1965, and each has written songs about the other. Joan's younger sister, Mimi Farina (died 2001), was also a noted singer.

Answer: Ewan McColl

Ewan McColl was born January 25, 1915 in Lancashire to Scottish parents. His birth name was James Henry Miller; he changed it in 1949 for reasons that are not clear, although it may have been due to the fact that he was under scrutiny by the government for being a Communist labor agitator and also an Army deserter during WWII.

He began his career as a playwright, but in the 1950s he left the theatre to concentrate on his music. In 1959 he left his second wife and married Peggy Seeger, the half-sister of American singer Pete Seeger.

They had been having an affair since 1956, and it was for Peggy that he wrote his most famous song, "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face." McColl remained a dedicated Communist until his death on October 22, 1989, although in his personal life he seems to have had no qualms about making and keeping as much money as he could. One of his children, Kirsty McColl, was also a famous singer.

She died in a tragic boating accident in Mexico in 2001.

Answer: Emmylou Harris

Emmylou Harris was born on April 2, 1947 in Birmingham, Alabama. She has a lovely, clear and expressive voice, and in her younger days she was also quite beautiful. In the days of my youth, I spent an inordinate amount of time thinking impure thoughts about her. Emmylou Harris began her career working with the legendary Gram Parsons; after his tragic death in 1973, she formed her own band and released her first major album, "Pieces of the Sky," in 1975.

This led to a contract with Warner Brothers Records, and a decade of hit songs.

Her later music is less commercial and more traditional. Emmylou Harris has won 12 Grammy Awards, including two for Best Contemporary Folk Album. She is active in the animal rights movement, and a member of PETA.

Answer: Bill Monroe

William Smith Monroe was born September 13, 1911 in the western Kentucky town of Rosine. After singing in a group with his brothers, Birch and Charlie, Bill formed the the Blue Grass Boys in 1938. By 1939, he was playing in the Grand Old Opry, and during WWII he developed the "high and lonesome" sound we now know as Bluegrass.

The music has its roots in the traditional British and Irish ballads brought to America by Scots-Irish immigrants around the time of the Revolutionary War. Many Americans were introduced to Bluegrass music by the television show "The Beverly Hillbillies," which featured Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs, former members of the Blue Grass Boys, as frequent guest stars. Bill Monroe is a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, and even the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Bill Monroe died September 9, 1996 from complications following a stroke.