The Brothers Four and Other Folk Music Greats

The Brothers Four and Other Folk Music Greats is a weekly podcast that features the best in folk music.

The Brothers Four

The Brothers Four are a folk music group from Seattle, Washington, United States, founded in 1957. The group’s repertoire includes songs written by members of the group as well as traditional folk songs and popular songs of the day. The Brothers Four have released more than two dozen albums and have toured extensively in the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia, and South America. In addition to their work as a performing group, The Brothers Four have also been active in promoting folk music and aiding various charitable causes.

The Weavers

The Weavers were an American folk music quartet based in the Greenwich Village area of New York City. They sang traditional folk songs from around the world, as well as blues, gospel music, and labor songs, and are credited with popularizing many of the latter. The group was founded in 1948 by Pete Seeger, Lee Hays, Ronnie Gilbert, and Fred Hellerman and was active until 1963.

The Weavers were blacklisted during the McCarthy Era for their support of leftist causes. This, combined with the declining popularity of folk music in general, led to their dissolution in 1963. However, they continued to influence subsequent generations of folk musicians both in the United States and internationally.

The Kingston Trio

The Brothers Four and Other Folk Music Greats – The Kingston Trio

In the late 1950s, a new kind of American folk music was born. The Kingston Trio, led by Bob Shane, Nick Reynolds and Dave Guard, became one of the most successful groups of the era with their closeharmony songs and light-hearted stage presence.

The Kingston Trio were not purists when it came to their music. They were happy to add a pop flavor to traditional folk songs, which made them more accessible to a wider audience. Some purists criticized them for this approach, but there is no doubt that the Kingston Trio helped to popularize folk music in America.

The group was at their most successful in the late 1950s and early 1960s, but they continued to record and perform together until 2004, when Bob Shane retired due to ill health. Nick Reynolds died in 2008, but Dave Guard continued to perform with a new lineup of the Kingston Trio until his death in 1991.

The Brothers Four and Other Folk Music Greats – The Weavers

The Weavers were one of the most influential folk music groups of the 20th century. Led by Pete Seeger, the group popularized many traditional folk songs as well as writing their own material. Their career was interrupted by the blacklisting of Pete Seeger during the McCarthy era, but they reformed in 1955 and continued to perform and record together until 1963.

The Weavers were very much aware of the political power of their music and used it to campaign for social justice on issues such as civil rights and nuclear disarmament. Pete Seeger remained an active campaigning singer until his death in 2014, at the age of 94.

The Chad Mitchell Trio

The Chad Mitchell Trio was an American folk music group during the 1960s, one of the leading bands of the folk revival. The group started as a jug band named “The Rappahannock River Dukes” in Arlington, Virginia. They were discovered by talent agent Martin Ransohoff while playing in Washington, D.C.’s Dupont Circle area, and signed to Kapp Records. The trio consisted of Chad Mitchell (lead vocals and guitar), Mike Kobluk (bass guitar and harmony vocals) and Joe Frazier (harmony vocals and guitar). Frazier was replaced by David Bray in 1963.

The group’s repertoire consisted mostly of traditional American songs, such as “Tom Dooley”, “The Frozen Logger”, “Lonesome Traveler”, and “Number 12 Train”, as well as contemporary issues such as the Cold War (“Mighty Day”), civil rights (“Don’t Laugh at Me”), labor rights (“Big Rock Candy Mountain”), and religion (“This Train”). They often satirized current events and political figures, most notably in their 1964 parody of Barry Goldwater’s presidential campaign song “Amarillo”.

The group disbanded in 1968, but Mitchell continued to perform as a solo artist and with various other groups into the 21st century.

Peter, Paul, and Mary

Peter, Paul, and Mary was an American folk group formed in New York City in 1961, during the American folk music revival phenomenon. The trio was composed of tenor Peter Yarrow, baritone Noel “Paul” Stookey and contralto Mary Travers. The group’s greatest commercial success was between 1962 and 1966, when it released a string of hit songs, including “Don’t Laugh at Me”, “Puff, the Magic Dragon”, “Leavin’ on a Jet Plane”, and “Blowin’ in the Wind”. The group was inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1996.

Yarrow and Stookey were successful songwriters who had written hits for Peter, Paul, and Mary as well as for others. In 2005 they were awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award as a musical group. In May 2008 they were awarded the National Medal of Arts by President George W. Bush in ceremony at Kennedy Center Opera House in Washington D.C.. They gained prominence with their 1960 recording of Leonard Cohen’s composition “Suzanne” which sold more than 300,000 copies and was awarded a gold disc by the RIAA.

Simon and Garfunkel

Simon and Garfunkel were an American folk rock duo consisting of singer-songwriter Paul Simon and singer Art Garfunkel. They were one of the most popular groups of the 1960s and are best known for their hits “The Sound of Silence”, “Mrs. Robinson”, and “The Boxer”.

The Byrds

The Byrds were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1964. The band was considered a leading force in the development of folk rock and is credited with helping to pioneer the genre. The band’s signature sound was built around the guitar work of Jim McGuinn and the harmony singing of Gene Clark, David Crosby, and Roger McQuinn. McGuinn’s lead electric guitar work and use of jangly 12-string Rickenbacker guitars, along with the group’s close vocal harmonies, drew influence from The Beatles and other British Invasion bands.

Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young

By the early 1970s, with the addition of Neil Young to their group, CSNY became a powerhouse of folk-rock. The foursome released a string of albums that defined the genre, including “Deja Vu” and “4 Way Street.” They were also known for their political activism, supporting causes like the environment and civil rights.

The Eagles

The Eagles are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1971 by Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Bernie Leadon, and Randy Meisner. With five number-one singles, six Grammy Awards, five American Music Awards, and six number one albums, the Eagles were one of the most successful musical acts of the 1970s. At the end of the 20th century, two of their albums, Their Greatest Hits (1971–1975) and Hotel California, were ranked among the 20 best-selling albums in the United States according to the Recording Industry Association of America. Hotel California is ranked 37th in Rolling Stone’s list of “The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time” and the band was ranked number 75 on the magazine’s 2004 list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

The Eagles are one of the world’s best-selling bands of all time, having sold more than 150 million records—100 million in the U.S. alone—including 42 million copies of Their Greatest Hits (1971–1975) and 32 million copies of Hotel California.

America

There are many great folk music groups from America, but the Brothers Four are among the best. The group was formed in 1957 in Seattle, Washington. The original members were Bob Flick (bass guitar and vocals), Mike Kirkland (rhythm guitar and vocals), Dick Foley (lead guitar and vocals), and John Paine (drums and percussion).

The Brothers Four became popular singing tightly harmonized arrangements of traditional folk songs and contemporary tunes. They had a hit single in 1960 with their cover of “Greenfields,” which reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. In 1963, they appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, which helped to boost their popularity even further.

The Brothers Four continued to perform and record throughout the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. They were inducted into the Washington Music Hall of Fame in 1990. Today, Bob Flick is the only original member still performing with the group. Mike Kirkland died in 2009, Dick Foley passed away in 2013, and John Paine died in 2014.