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Hootenanny was used in the early twentieth century America 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". Now, most commonly, it refers to a folk-music party.

According to Pete Seeger, in various interviews, he first heard the word hootenanny in Seattle, Washington in the late 1930s. It was used by Hugh Delacey’s New Deal political club to describe their monthly music fund raisers. After some debate the club voted in the word hootenanny, which narrowly beat out the word wingding. Seeger, Woody Guthrie and other members of the Almanac Singers later used the word in New York City to describe their weekly rent parties, which featured many notable folksingers of the time. Joan Baez made the analogy that a hootenanny is to folk singing what a jam session is to jazz.

Several different television shows are named and styled after it, including:

• Hootenanny, an early 1960s musical variety show broadcast on ABC in the United States.
• Hootenanny, a show by Jools Holland broadcast every New Year's Eve on BBC Two in the United Kingdom, airing from 11 o'clock till 1 o'clock.

In 1963, Björn Ulvaeus (of ABBA fame) formed a group called The Hootenanny Singers. They had several hits in Sweden.

In 1963 and 1964 there was a BBC1 show called "The Hoot'nanny Show", recorded in Edinburgh. (Ref: [1]). Two albums with the same title were released, with contributions from Archie Fisher, Barney McKenna (before he joined The Dubliners), and The Corries.

In 1983, The Replacements called their second album Hootenanny.

In 2003, Eels called their fifth album Shootenanny, which is a play on words on Hootenanny.

In 1988, in John Waters' film comedy Hairspray, a character called Penny Pingleton, who is dating a black boy on the sly, shocks her racist mother with the line: "I wish I was at a Hootenanny in Harlem!"

In 2007 a set of 3 DVDs called "The Best of Hootenanny" was issued. It contained clips of performances by The Chad Mitchell Trio, The Limelighters and the New Christy Minstrels, and even Woody Allen as a stand-up comedian.

In recent years, a large rockabilly music festival in California has taken the name "The Hootenanny."

Most recently, in the UK, The Big Chill has adopted the name for a mixed-media Sunday review - encompassing comedy and folk music - at their London venue The Big Chill House.

Hootenanny is also the name of an annual New Year's Eve music show presented by Jools Holland as an off-shoot of his Later with Jools Holland series. It is broadcast between 11 o'clock and around 1 o'clock every 31 December in the UK on BBC2.

Since November, 2001, The San Francisco Folk Music Club has presented free Hootenanny Nights [2] on the second Saturday of each month.

Started in April of 2000, The Hootenanny is the name of a growing annual ski and snowboard event that typically takes place on the first weekend of March in the Interior of British Columbia, Canada. Often referred to as "The Hoot", it is comprised of 4 days of snow sports and socializing and draws people from all around Canada, the US, and overseas. [3] Its essence is captured in its motto: "The Hootenanny...where friends are found, reputations made, and lives forever altered".

Between 1994 and 1997, Hootenanny Magazine [4] was a New York-based, collaborative, limited-edition artists' and writers' publication. It was founded by painter Ken Weathersby [5] and writer David Keith. Visual artists contributed whole editions of actual works, which were bound into the books along with fiction, poetry, essays, interviews and experimental works. The result was sold at the museum stores of the Whitney, the Guggenheim and the Carnegie Museums, at St. Marks Books and at La Hune in Paris. Hootenanny Magazine sponsored several exhibitions and live performance events at CBGB [6]. The interviews Hootenanny Magazine published with Rupert Sheldrake and Terrence McKenna have been referenced and linked frequently. [7][8]

• Hoedown

• Remembering Hootenanny