A report on The Weavers and On Top of Old Smoky

The Appalachian Mountains (probable place of origin) viewed from Clingman's Dome (perhaps, "Old Smoky")
Cecil Sharp around 1900
Pete Seeger in 1955

As recorded by The Weavers, the song reached the pop music charts in 1951.

- On Top of Old Smoky

The successful concerts and hit recordings of the Weavers helped introduce to new audiences such folk revival standards as "On Top of Old Smoky" (with guest vocalist Terry Gilkyson), "Follow the Drinking Gourd", "Kisses Sweeter than Wine", "Michael, Row the Boat Ashore", "The Wreck of the John B" (aka "Sloop John B"), "Rock Island Line", "The Midnight Special", "Pay Me My Money Down", "Darling Corey" and "Wimoweh".

- The Weavers
The Appalachian Mountains (probable place of origin) viewed from Clingman's Dome (perhaps, "Old Smoky")

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Seeger playing the banjo in 1955

Pete Seeger

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American folk singer and social activist.

American folk singer and social activist.

Seeger playing the banjo in 1955
Peter Seeger (on father's lap) with his father and mother, Charles and Constance Seeger and brothers on a camping trip (May 23, 1921)
Seeger in 1979
Pete Seeger entertaining Eleanor Roosevelt (center), honored guest at a racially integrated Valentine's Day party marking the opening of the United Federal Labor Canteen, CIO, in then-segregated Washington, D.C., 1944.
Four long-neck banjos inspired by Seeger's. The instrument on far left was closely constructed to match Seeger's. American Banjo Museum.
Seeger at 86 on the cover of Sing Out! (Summer 2005), a magazine he helped found in 1950
Pete Seeger, Stern Grove, San Francisco, August 6, 1978
photo
Sloop Clearwater sailing up the Hudson River
Seeger in 1999
Seeger (left), performing with Kabir Suman at Kolkata in 1996
Seeger at the Clearwater Festival in June 2007
Pete Seeger (right), 88 years old, photographed in March 2008 with his friend, the writer and musician Ed Renehan

A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, Seeger also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of the Weavers, notably their recording of Lead Belly's "Goodnight, Irene", which topped the charts for 13 weeks in 1950.

The Weavers' string of major hits began with "On Top of Old Smoky" and an arrangement of Lead Belly's signature waltz, "Goodnight, Irene", which topped the charts for 13 weeks in 1950 and was covered by many other pop singers.