The Baby Sitters was a music group that recorded four albums of children's folk songs from 1958 until 1968. [1] Its original members were ex-Weaver Lee Hays as composer, Doris Willens Kaplan as lyricist, actor Alan Arkin on guitar, and his wife Jeremy Yaffe Arkin. In 1964, Jeremy was replaced by Barbara Dana, Arkin's second wife, and Arkin's eight-year-old son Adam was featured on a few songs. All of the Kaplan and Arkin boys participated. [2] [3]
For instruments, the group used a guitar, a toy piano, a toy xylophone, pots, pans, and jars. [4]
Love was an American psychedelic and folk-rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1965. Led by Arthur Lee, Love was one of the first racially diverse American rock bands. Their style drew from an eclectic range of sources including hard rock, blues, jazz, flamenco, and orchestral pop.
Alan Wolf Arkin is an American actor, director, and screenwriter. With a film career spanning seven decades, Arkin is known for his performances in The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming (1966), Wait Until Dark (1967), The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (1968), Popi (1969), Catch-22 (1970); The In-Laws (1979), Edward Scissorhands (1990), The Rocketeer (1991), Glengarry Glen Ross (1992), Grosse Point Blank (1997), Thirteen Conversations About One Thing (2001), Little Miss Sunshine (2006), Sunshine Cleaning (2008) and Argo (2012).
Country Joe and the Fish was an American psychedelic rock band formed in Berkeley, California, in 1965. The band was among the influential groups in the San Francisco music scene during the mid- to late 1960s. Much of the band's music was written by founding members Country Joe McDonald and Barry "The Fish" Melton, with lyrics pointedly addressing issues of importance to the counterculture, such as anti-war protests, free love, and recreational drug use. Through a combination of psychedelia and electronic music, the band's sound was marked by innovative guitar melodies and distorted organ-driven instrumentals which were significant to the development of acid rock.
The Weavers were an American folk music quartet based in the Greenwich Village area of New York City. They sang traditional folk songs from around the world, as well as blues, gospel music, children's songs, labor songs, and American ballads, and sold millions of records at the height of their popularity. Their style inspired the commercial "folk boom" that followed them in the 1950s and 1960s, including such performers as the Kingston Trio, Peter, Paul, and Mary, the Rooftop Singers, the Seekers, Joan Baez, Don Mclean and Bob Dylan.
The Almanac Singers was an American New York City-based folk music group, active between 1940 and 1943, founded by Millard Lampell, Lee Hays, Pete Seeger, and Woody Guthrie. The group specialized in topical songs, mostly songs advocating an anti-war, anti-racism and pro-union philosophy. They were part of the Popular Front, an alliance of liberals and leftists, including the Communist Party USA, who had vowed to put aside their differences in order to fight fascism and promote racial and religious inclusiveness and workers' rights. The Almanac Singers felt strongly that songs could help achieve these goals.
Adam Arkin is an American actor and director. He is known for playing the role of Aaron Shutt on Chicago Hope. He has been nominated for numerous awards, including a Tony as well as three primetime Emmys, four SAG Awards, and a DGA Award. In 2002, Arkin won a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Directing in a Children's Special for My Louisiana Sky. He is also one of the three actors to portray Dale "The Whale" Biederbeck on Monk. Between 2007 and 2009, he starred in Life. Beginning in 1990, he had a guest role on Northern Exposure playing the angry, paranoid Adam, for which he received an Emmy nomination. In 2009, he portrayed villain Ethan Zobelle, a white separatist gang leader, on the Sons of Anarchy and as Principal Ed Gibb in 8 Simple Rules (2003–2005). His father Alan Arkin and brother Matthew are also actors.
Gilbert Vandine "Cisco" Houston was an American folk singer and songwriter, who is closely associated with Woody Guthrie due to their extensive history of recording together.
Trevor George Lucas was an Australian folk singer, a member of Fairport Convention and one of the founders of Fotheringay. He mainly worked as a singer-songwriter and guitarist but also produced many albums and composed for the film industry toward the end of his career. He married three times, his first wife was Cheryl, his second wife was fellow folk musician Sandy Denny (1973–1978), and his third wife was Elizabeth Hurtt (1979–1989). Lucas died on 4 February 1989 of a heart attack in his sleep, in Sydney, aged 45. He was survived by Elizabeth Hurtt, his daughter, Georgia Rose Lucas, and his son, Daniel 'Clancy' Lucas. According to Australian rock music historian, Ian McFarlane, Lucas "was one of the most acclaimed singer-songwriters Australia ever produced and although he was held in high regard in UK folk rock circles, he remained virtually unknown in his homeland".
Lee Hays was an American folk-singer and songwriter, best known for singing bass with the Weavers. Throughout his life, he was concerned with overcoming racism, inequality, and violence in society. He wrote or co-wrote "Wasn't That a Time?", "If I Had a Hammer", and "Kisses Sweeter than Wine", which became Weavers' staples. He also familiarized audiences with songs of the 1930s labor movement, such as "We Shall Not Be Moved".
The American folk music revival began during the 1940s and peaked in popularity in the mid-1960s. Its roots went earlier, and performers like Josh White, Burl Ives, Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly, Big Bill Broonzy, Billie Holiday, Richard Dyer-Bennet, Oscar Brand, Jean Ritchie, John Jacob Niles, Susan Reed, Paul Robeson, Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey and Cisco Houston had enjoyed a limited general popularity in the 1930s and 1940s. The revival brought forward styles of American folk music that had in earlier times contributed to the development of country and western, blues, jazz, and rock and roll music.
Contemporary folk music refers to a wide variety of genres that emerged in the mid 20th century and afterwards which were associated with traditional folk music. Starting in the mid-20th century a new form of popular folk music evolved from traditional folk music. This process and period is called the (second) folk revival and reached a zenith in the 1960s. The most common name for this new form of music is also "folk music", but is often called "contemporary folk music" or "folk revival music" to make the distinction. The transition was somewhat centered in the US and is also called the American folk music revival. Fusion genres such as folk rock and others also evolved within this phenomenon. While contemporary folk music is a genre generally distinct from traditional folk music, it often shares the same English name, performers and venues as traditional folk music; even individual songs may be a blend of the two.
Fred Hellerman was an American folk singer, guitarist, producer, and songwriter. Hellerman was an original member of the seminal American folk group The Weavers, together with Pete Seeger, Lee Hays, and Ronnie Gilbert. He produced the record album Alice's Restaurant (1967) for Arlo Guthrie, played accompaniment guitar on scores of folk albums, and wrote a number of folk and protest songs.
Sunny Side! is an album by the American folk music group the Kingston Trio, released in 1963. It reached number 7 on the Billboard Pop Albums chart. The lead-off single was "Desert Pete" b/w "Ballad of the Thresher". The single was the last Top 40 single for the group. Members of the Western Writers of America chose it as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time.
The Peter, Paul and Mary Album, also known as Album, is the sixth studio album by the American folk music trio Peter, Paul and Mary, released in 1966.
Something Else Again is the second studio album by American folk singer and guitarist Richie Havens, released in January 1968. The track "Run, Shaker Life" was based on a Shaker dance song by elder Issachar Bates and reworked from Havens' old band, The Last Men, who reunited for this recording. "No Opportunity Necessary, No Experience Needed" was later reworked by Yes on its second album, Time and a Word.
Donald Eric Partridge was an English singer and songwriter, known as the "king of the buskers". He performed from the early 1960s first as a folk singer and later as a busker and one-man band, and achieved unexpected commercial success in the UK and Europe in the late 1960s with the songs "Rosie", "Blue Eyes" and "Breakfast on Pluto". He later was a founder of the group Accolade, which released two albums. He continued writing music, playing, busking and recording, mainly as a solo artist, until 2008.
Grandma, What Great Songs You Sang! is the debut studio album by American pop and country artist Brenda Lee. The album was released on August 3, 1959 on Decca Records and was produced by Owen Bradley. The album was Brenda Lee's only studio album released during the 1950s.
"You Can Close Your Eyes" is a song written by James Taylor which was released on his 1971 album Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon. It was also released as the B-side to his #1 single "You've Got a Friend". It has often been described as a lullaby. It was initially recorded by his sister Kate Taylor for her 1971 album Sister Kate. The song has been covered by many artists, including Carly Simon, Linda Ronstadt, Maureen McGovern, Richie Havens, Sheryl Crow, Sting, Eddie Vedder with Natalie Maines, and the King's Singers.
A babysitter is one who temporarily cares for a child.
Doris Willens was an American singer-songwriter, journalist, advertising executive and author. She was a member of the Baby Sitters children's folk music group along with Alan Arkin and Lee Hays, and she wrote Lonesome Traveler: The Life of Lee Hays (1988), describing his career with the Almanac Singers and the Weavers.