Hootenanny (US TV series)

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Hootenanny was a musical variety television show broadcast in the United States on ABC from April, 1963 to September, 1964. The program was hosted by Jack Linkletter. It primarily featured pop-oriented folk music acts. It was taped before a live audience at a different college campus each week. Some of the popular acts that appeared on the show included The Limeliters, the Chad Mitchell Trio, Hoyt Axton, Judy Collins, Johnny Cash, The Carter Sisters, Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs, and the Foggy Mountain Boys, and the Smothers Brothers.

Hootenanny created some controversy at the time of its broadcast due to the refusal of show's producers to allow the appearance of certain folk music acts alleged to have overly left-wing views such as Pete Seeger and The Weavers, allegedly due to advertiser pressure to continue the practice begun in the 1950s of blacklisting certain folk music acts. Because of this, several other popular folk acts, including The Kingston Trio, Joan Baez, and Peter, Paul, and Mary, refused to appear on the show. Another performer who refused to appear on the show, Bob Dylan, mentioned it in his song "Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues."

Associated with the show was a magazine ABC-TV Hootenanny, edited by Linda Solomon.

The 1964 British invasion abruptly ended the folk music craze which inspired this series and ABC replaced the show on its schedule with Shindig! in September of that year.

ABC erased videotapes of the show many years ago, but kinescopes of the show survive and were used to compile the Best of Hootenanny DVD set from Shout! Factory.