I grew up in England, coming to Australia in 1960-61. My first exposure to the Weavers was their 1963? Carnegie Hall reunion record which I still have and which had an enormous influence on me. The guest who started this thread should get a look at the video of "Wasn't That a Time" which has a lot of talk at the beginning about the blacklisting of the Weavers. Anyway, what I came on to say, was that as a boy in England, I was particularly a fan of Paul Robeson, not exactly a folk singer but also blacklisted. His sell-out Albert Hall, London concert was amazing in that he was not allowed to leave America so they put a solitary microphone on the stage in the spotlight and sent the performance from New York by cable and sent the audience reaction back the other way. I know in these days, that doesn't sound much but in those days it was awesome. A real poke in the eye with a burnt stick for the blacklisters. This has been a fantastic thread. Thanks everyone.
Maybe we could start a similar Australian thread. In 1979, my attempt to take out Australian citizenship was held up for six months because, as a folksinger, I had managed to accumulate an ASIO (Australian Intelligence and Security Organisation) file.