Hank Weisman

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A Life-long Love Affair with Music...

 

​Since the age of six, Hank Weisman has been playing the guitar and into folk music. Unhappy with starting by learning notes and scales, he was then given guitar lessons by a Greenwich Village musician who taught him folk songs - lyrics and chords - and he was hooked!

 

 In high school Hank was in several rock 'n' roll bands as well as a folk duo, The Yeomen with his friend, Dell Hoyt. (After a thirty year hiatus, they got together again and perform from time to time.) During college the music continued for a couple of years, with another rock band and folk music with a new partner, Tennessean Charlie Lull. But studies and married life ("growing up") got in the way and playing music was only for himself and friends for a long, long time.

 

In the 1970's and 1980's, Hank found opportunities to make music in public again. While in Tallahassee, FL he appeared weekends at Bob's at the Bridge, a pleasant spot over the Bay in Panacea, Fl. After coming back to Atlanta, he was in a duet with the immensely talented Buddy Allen.

 

When Hank moved to Savannah, GA in 1995 and gave up a full-time career, he once again devoted his time and interest to music in a big way. He became active in the Savannah Folk Music Society and led that organization for over a decade. He created a monthly coffeehouse-style concert, First Friday for Folk Music that continues today as a Savannah institution. He brought hundreds of folk music acts to town and befriended both idols of his youth and many up and coming performers.

 

Savannah was also where he met John Powers and started The Old Folkers, a folk music act that appeared regularly at many Savannah venues. Hank was also a member of the Bimah Blues Band, playing Jewish folk, klezmer, theater and liturgical music in the Savannah and Hilton Head areas.

 

After sixteen years as Savannah's top folk music figure, Hank returned to the Atlanta area in 2011, his third time in the burgeoning metroplolitan area.  He became a regular performer at Steve's Live Music in Sandy Springs and was recruited to join the Board of Atlanta Area Friends of Folk Music where he helped coordinate talent for its monthly coffeehouse concerts, known as "Fiddlers Green." He also helped establish the Frank Hamilton School modeled after the venerated Old Town Folk School in Chicago. Hank  performed and gave guitar lessons to students young and old so they too could enjoy the musical world in which he has thrived for over  six decades.

 

In 2016, Hank moved back to Orlando, Florida to be near family and where his interest in music was developed and displayed to the public.