Reggie, if you're still in Seattle, you're welcome to come and both read the Tamony paper and listen to The Hootenanny Song. Send me a PM.

The notes to the Miller song in Songs For Political Action says: "...the word was long used as a folk expression; in the Midwest it referred to an impromptu party. But the concept of a "hootenanny" as a musical and social affair was generally limited to residents of Seattle. Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie are generally credited as the persons who made the concept popular in the east, although Seattle native Earl Robinson probably shared responsibility."

There is no question that the word had around before Terry Pettus used it for the New Dealer's events. Bob Miller, Texas Jim Lewis, and probably others had independently used the word. But it was the Seattle hootenannies and the Almanacs' copycat events in New York that but that led to the modern meaning as a folk music event.