Hootenanny was a musical variety television show in 1963 and 1964. Hosted by Jack Linkletter, the show featured pop-oriented folk music acts, including The Limeliters, the Chad Mitchell Trio, The New Christy Minstrels, The Brothers Four, Ian & Sylvia, Hoyt Axton, Judy Collins, Johnny Cash, The Carter Family, Flatt & Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys, The Tarriers and the Smothers Brothers. Even before it hit the air, Hootenanny created controversy in the folk music world in early 1962 when word circulated that the producers would not invite folk singer Pete Seeger, nor Seeger’s former group, The Weavers, to appear on the show. Both Seeger and the Weavers were alleged to have overly left-wing views; in Seeger’s case, he had been convicted of contempt of Congress for refusing to discuss his political affiliations with HUAC in 1955 – although the conviction had been overturned on appeal in May of 1962. Both popular and influential, the program is primarily remembered today for this controversy and the show’s blacklisting of certain folk music acts.

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Remembering Hootenanny