Frank Hamilton (musician)
Frank Hamilton (Born August 3, 1934)[1] is an American folk musician and co-founder of the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago, Illinois. As a performer, he has recorded for Folkways Records and, as a member of the folk group The Weavers, for Vanguard Records, as well as for Philips and several other labels and appeared at the first Newport Folk Festival in 1959. He was the house musician for The Gate of Horn in Chicago, the nation's first folk music nightclub. He was also a member of The Weavers in the early 1960s.
Early days
As a young man in the mid-1950s Hamilton met and played with Woody Guthrie at Will Geer's artist colony in Topanga, California.[2] In 1956 he met Win Stracke and Dawn Greening, who had begun an early version of the Old Town School of Folk Music in her kitchen in Oak Park, at the Gate of Horn. Together they founded the Old Town School Of Folk Music in Chicago where they developed a teaching method (based on Hamilton's observation of Bess Lomax Hawes teaching in Topanga) which emphasized group learning. On the opening night, Frank taught the class a song which had just been demonstrated by Big Bill Broonzy. Frank served as unofficial dean of the school and taught guitar and banjo. Among his students was Jim McGuinn (later known as Roger McGuinn, a founder of the BYRDS) whom he taught to play the 12-string guitar and the banjo. Frank left teaching when he joined The Weavers, with whom he played from 1962-1963.[3]
Discography
- Nonesuch and Other Folk Tunes for Harmonica, Flute, Recorder, Mandolin, Guitar, Banjo, 12-String Guitar, and Voices, Frank Hamilton and Pete Seeger, Folkways Records, 1959.[4]
- Frank Hamilton Sings Folk Songs, Folkways Records 1962. FW02437.[5]
- The Folk Singer's Folk Singer, Sound in the Room Records
- The World of Frank & Valucha, Frank Hamilton and Valucha deCastro, Philips Records, 1962[6]
References
External links
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