The Menhaden Chanteymen were a group of retired African American commercial fishermen from Beaufort, North Carolina, who preserved the work songs sung aboard menhaden purse-seine vessels. The group included James Cain, William Carter, Eddie Clark, Josh Curry, Richard Tarleton, Captain Charles Winstead, Ernest Davis, and Rev. Leroy Cox.

In 1988, folklorists Michael and Deborah Luster, hired by the North Carolina Arts Council to survey the folk culture of Carteret County, gathered about a dozen retired fishermen who had worked the menhaden boats. These men had hauled nets by hand — slow, grueling labor requiring a dozen or more men to work in unison — and had sung call-and-response chanteys to coordinate their effort. When hydraulic power blocks replaced hand-hauling in the early 1960s, the songs nearly vanished with the work that created them.

After their formation the group performed widely, including before the North Carolina General Assembly, the National Council on the Arts, and at Carnegie Hall. In 1990 they recorded Won’t You Help Me to Raise ‘Em: Authentic Net Hauling Songs from an African-American Fishery for Global Village Music — the definitive document of the tradition. They received the 1991 North Carolina Folk Heritage Award. Ernest Davis, the youngest and last surviving member, died January 3, 2026.

Menhaden fishermen hauling nets by hand

See also the Northern Neck Chantey Singers, a related Virginia group who carried the same tradition from the Reedville, Virginia side of the menhaden fishery.