Previously Unreleased Kingston Trio Due Out on Collectors' Choice

Press release
Source: conqueroo / Cary Baker

Collectors’ Choice Music has announced plans to issue a series of unreleased Kingston Trio recordings, beginning with an ending: the last appearance by the Trio’s second classic roster — Nick Reynolds, Bob Shane and John Stewart — at the legendary San Francisco venue the Hungry i on June 17, 1967. The Kingston Trio: Nick, Bob & John – The Final Concert provides a 14-song overview of the folk group’s 10-year career, and though it was the last show these three played as the Kingston Trio, it was not a somber occasion by any means but a celebration, full of onstage antics and humor at the expense of friends in the audience. Release date is set for July 17, 2007.

The Kingston Trio rode the wave of the folk revival of the late ‘50s and early ‘60s. Though some purists then and now may have found the Trio (and their progeny, such as the Limeliters and the Highwaymen) a mite clean and laughably earnest (see A Mighty Wind), their contribution to the popularization of folk music is undeniable. In the BSS era (Before Singer-Songwriters), the Kingston Trio applied their pure and reverent sound to the songs of Bob Dylan, Gordon Lightfoot, Pete Seeger and Hoyt Axton among others, spreading the gospel of folk music to the masses. Among their hits were the traditional “Tom Dooley,” Seeger’s “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?” and Axton and Ken Ramsey’s “Greenback Dollar.” The Trio also charted with some of their own material, such as the Guard-Tom Glazer tune “A Worried Man.”

The group’s original members were Dave Guard and Bob Shane, Hawaiian-born kids who began playing guitar and banjo together in high school, and Nick Reynolds, who met Shane in college in California. The three began playing Palo Alto and other California college towns as the Kingston Trio in 1957. Their first hit, “Tom Dooley,” was from their first, eponymous 1958 release. In 1959 they were voted “Best Group of the Year” in both Billboard and Cashbox. Guard left in 1961 over creative differences, and was replaced by John Stewart.

Having cut their teeth in Northern California, the Trio played often in San Francisco, particularly at the Hungry i, so the venue was fitting for their final show. The Kingston Trio: Nick, Bob & John – The Final Concert surveys their career, from “Hard, Ain’t It Hard,” “Tom Dooley,” and “Scotch and Soda” from the first album, when Guard was part of the trio, to “Reverend Black,” “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?” and “Greenback Dollar,” hits after Stewart joined, to songs whose studio versions were yet to be released.

The package includes extensive notes by Kingston Trio expert Ben Blake and images by legendary music photographer Henry Diltz. Grammy-nominated producer Ron Furmanek is engineer and “curator” of the entire series of rare Kingston Trio releases.

Stay tuned for further rare Kingston Trio throughout the year from Collectors’ Choice Music, including hitherto-undiscovered studio recordings from 1967.

Track Listing:
1. Introduction
2. Hard, Ain’t It Hard (Woody Guthrie)
3. Early Morning Rain (Gordon Lightfoot)
4. M.T.A. (Jacqueline Steiner & Bess Hawes)
5. Tomorrow Is a Long Time (Bob Dylan)
6. Reverend Mr. Black (Billy Edd Wheeler & Jed Peters)
7. Ballad of the Shape of Things (Sheldon M. Harnick)
8. Greenback Dollar (Hoyt Axton & Ken Ramsey)
9. Thirsty Boots (Eric Andersen)
10. Colours (Donovan)
11. One Too Many Mornings (Bob Dylan)
12. Tom Dooley (John A. Lomax & Alan Lomax)
13. Wimoweh (Paul Campbell, Solomon Linda)
14. Where Have All The Flowers Gone (Pete Seeger)
15. Scotch & Soda (Dave Guard)

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