A journalist, disc jockey and musician, Jarnow has written an engaging account of the rise, fall, resurrection and legacy of the Weavers ... Jarnow employs an engaging, colloquial tone that captures the distinctive personalities and the intertwining voices that made up the Weavers ... Unfortunately, Jarnow’s feel for the Weavers’ music is not matched by his grasp of the left-wing political milieu from which they emerged.
Extensively researched, Jarnow’s deep and accomplished portrait of these iconic musicians reverberates with a mastery that will appeal to both fans and everyone interested in the history of music.
So much has been written about the folk band the Weavers being blacklisted from performing in the 1950s that it obscures the far more important fact that they still became one of America’s most influential music groups ... Jarnow astutely chronicles how the Weavers lost gigs, quit working as a group, and dealt with internal dissension and government persecution.
The Weavers...are recast as a crucial fulcrum in America’s postwar culture battles in this dramatic, raucous account from Jarnow ... Detailed and smartly reported, this work marvelously captures the four voices in a complex era that influenced pop-folk bands that followed.
Jarnow delivers a by-the-numbers biography of a band whose popular songs and covers earned them plenty of attention during the Red Scare and a place on the blacklist ... There are also interesting cameos sprinkled throughout this colorful tale ... A well-researched music biography best read with some traditional American folk songs playing in the background.
