What is "hootenanny"

hootenanny \hoot"en*an*ny\ n.

1. An informal social gathering or concert featuring mostly folk songs, sometimes dancing, and where the audience often participates in the singing. [PJC]

2. Same as whatchamacallit; a thingumbob. [Obsolescent, chiefly dial.]

"informal session of folk musicians," 1940, American English, earlier "a gadget" (1927), of unknown origin, perhaps a nonsense word.\n\nAnother device used by the professional car thief, and one recently developed to perfection, according to a large Chicago lock-testing laboratory, is a "hootenanny," so-called by the criminals using it.

["Popular Mechanics," February 1931]

n. 1 (context obsolete English) A placeholder word for a nonspecific or forgotten thing ''(see thingamajig, whatchamacallit)'' 2 An informal, festive performance by folk singers, often including audience participation with the use of acoustic instruments.

Hootenanny is a Scottish word meaning "celebration" and/or "party".

With the Scots being one of the biggest groups of settlers in the Appalachian region of North America (bringing with them their whisky-making tradition and methods, leading to the area's "moonshining" tradition) it is not surprising that hootenanny became an Appalachian colloquialism, although it became used in early 20th-century America as a placeholder name to refer to things whose names were forgotten or unknown. In this usage it was synonymous with thingamajig or whatchamacallit, as in: "Hand me that hootenanny." Hootenanny was also an old country word for "party". Nowadays the word most commonly refers to a folk music party with an open mic, at which different performers are welcome to get up and play in front of an audience.

"Hootenanny" was also used by the leadership of early firefighting battalions to describe a "meeting of the minds" of higher ups or various department heads. The term has trickled down to working companies and is now used, with some frequency, at working incidents and other circumstances that require a focused discussion between key individuals. Most recently it was adopted for use during the annual Fire Department Instructors Conference. Logistics professionals for the conference employ the word to call together the required personnel needed to accomplish the prodigious assignments placed on them.

Hootenanny is the second studio album by the American rock band The Replacements, released on April 29, 1983 by Twin/Tone Records. The album received positive reviews from critics.

Hootenanny was an American musical variety television show broadcast on ABC from April 1963 to September 1964. The program was hosted by Jack Linkletter. It primarily featured pop-oriented folk music acts, including The Journeymen, The Limeliters, the Chad Mitchell Trio, The New Christy Minstrels, The Brothers Four, Ian & Sylvia, The Big 3, Hoyt Axton, Judy Collins, Johnny Cash, The Carter Family, Flatt & Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys, The Tarriers, Bud & Travis, and the Smothers Brothers. Although both popular and influential, the program is primarily remembered today for the controversy created when the producers blacklisted certain folk music acts, which then led to a boycott by others.

Hootenanny is a folk-music party.

Hootenanny may also refer to:

Hootenanny is an album by the bluegrass band Country Gentlemen, recorded in 1963.