Today is a return to the folk sounds of the early sixties.
We're listening to four fraternity brothers from the University of Washington who got together in the late 1950's. Their single of Greenfields was one of the hits of the early folk scene, but it was The Green Fields of Summer which was their biggest hit. Theirs was a sound which came to epitomize the early folk revival, and The Brothers Four was one of the most successful of these groups. They gave concerts all over the country and recorded the theme song for Hootenanny.
It would take the emergence of singer-songwriters like Dylan to push them off the folk charts.
MP3 File
Thursday, November 01, 2007
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6 comments:
Just in case anyone wants a bit more background on this group, check out this link ...
http://www.producersinc.com/Sec-BandInfo.php?BandID=63
You'll need to copy/paste it into your menubar 'cuz the site doesn't create hyperlinks ...
The Four Freshmen were from my fratenity (TKE), and had a more 'standardized' sound - but Dylan pretty much signaled the end of vocal groups, even the more established ones like Pentangle or Fairfield Convention ... they continued on, but not as strongly as before Dylan ... amazing how many changes he brought about - especially when he went electric and his base damned near abandoned him for 'selling out' ... how many of his later hits can we imagine being performed acoustically ... ? Nope, Dylan broke a lotta ground in his time - and he's still breaking it today ...
Thanks, Richard, that was a great link. I didn't realize The Green Fields of Summer was from a soundtrack, but I did know they are still doing concerts. Besides Flick, I believe one other original member still plays.
I love the sound of vocal groups in this vein. They were my entry into folk music.
I think "Greenfields of Summer" was the best thing about John Wayne's "The Alamo".
I spent the last 40 years pooh poohing groups like this as "commercial" . Then, last year, on a whim, I picked up their "best of" cd and thoroughly enjoyed it. If you listen with the notion that it's "pop" music rather than "folk" (whatever that really is) their stuff is really entertaining.
John,
I have never been a John Wayne fan which is why I was surprised to find this song was part of the soundtrack. They are commercial but they were also the sound for a long while, from the fifties until the mid-sixties. They were the start of what became folk.
Watch Wayne in the " John Ford Trilogy", Fort Apache, She Wore A Yellow Ribbon, and Rio Grande, or his performance in The Searchers and you might change your mind. Another of my favorites was the great "Three Godfathers". He put out a lot of crap in the 60's and 70's but his stuff in the 50's was outstanding.
John,
Thanks for jogging my memory. I did like She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, and I'm willing to give the others a
look. I'm thinking Fort Apache wight be next.
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