HAYS

Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, the son of a Methodist minister, Lee Hays founded the The Weavers in 1949 with Pete Seeger, Ronnie Gilbert and Fred Hellerman and sang bass with the folk singing group until its last performance in 1963.

Lee Hays had been teaching dramatics at Commonwealth College, a cooperative school in Arkansas and used union songs, original songs and traditional folk songs in his college productions. It was decided that he should go to New York to form a singing group in order to spread this music. On his way he met Woody Guthrie in Philadelphia and when he reached New York he met Millard Lampell and Pete Seeger with all of whom he formed the Almanac Singers in the late 1930s, disbanding in 1942 with the outbreak of World War II. The Weavers became its outgrowth.

Among his best known songs are “Lonesome Traveler” and “If I Had a Hammer” , the latter co-authored with Pete Seeger as well as “Kisses Sweeter Than Wine” written with members of the Weavers and Huddie Ledbetter.