Traveling on With the Weavers was recorded during a transitional time when
Erik Darling was taking the place of longtime member
Pete Seeger. Five of the album's 16 tracks feature
Seeger and, tellingly, four of those were the only cuts from the album to be included on the 1987 anthology
The Weavers Classics. It is tempting to compare
Seeger and
Darling, but suffice it to say that
Seeger's presence is strongly felt where he appears, and his songs are the standouts on the album. "Old Riley" is a variation of
Grandpa Jones' signature song "Old Rattler," and "Gotta Travel On" is a variation of the song with which
Billy Grammer enjoyed a hit in 1959.
The Weavers go ethnic on side two, where the first four cuts are sung in foreign languages and nearly half of the songs overall are folk standards that would shortly become ubiquitous on commercial folk albums by
the Kingston Trio and their imitators. The album is a tentative step in that
Darling was only beginning to find his way as a
Weaver, but the group's sound and approach is so consistent that casual listeners might not notice that anything unusual is afoot.