JANUARY, 2019
HERITAGE MUSIC REVIEW
ELECTRONIC EDITION: Now free to e-mail subscribers and supported by tasteful, music-oriented advertising with a unique news-format approach.
A monthly guide to early rock, blues, country, folk, and traditional jazz in the Seattle area and beyond.
Editor and Publisher: Doug Bright
E-mail: subscribe@heritagemusicreview.com.
Web: http:heritagemusicreview.com
Editor's Note: Links to the books and albums mentioned in this issue come from my participation in the Amazon Associates affiliate program, which enables me to earn commissions on the products I recommend when readers buy them through this website. The links represent my judgment of the most relevant and reasonably priced musical packages available. Heritage Music Review does not collect, store, or share confidential information generated by its readers' purchases. Enjoy!
CONTENTS—January, 2019
PART FOUR: THE BROTHERS FOUR: ON THE MOVE IN A NEW MILLENNIUM
WHAT'S IN STORE: NEWS FROM THE MUSICAL MARKETPLACE
CHECKIN, OUT THE SOUNDS: JANUARY PERFORMANCE CALENDAR (next message)
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PART FOUR:
THE BROTHERS FOUR: ON THE MOVE IN A NEW MILLENNIUM
By Doug Bright
Summary of Parts 1-3
It all started in late 1956 in Seattle at the University of Washington, where Mike Kirkland, Dick Foley, John Paine, and Bob Flick met as Phi Gamma Delta fraternity brothers. "We used to sit around and sing folk songs at this fraternity house," Flick elaborated in this publication in 2003.
"We worked up a few songs for Rush Week parties," Mike Kirkland explained to a Columbia Records interviewer in 1960, "and had such a good time we did more and got to sing at other parties around campus. Before we knew it, we were performing someplace or other every weekend."
One day in 1958 Mike Kirkland got a call from a young woman who identified herself as secretary to the manager of Seattle's Colony Club and invited the group down to the famed nightspot the following Saturday for an audition. When the four collegiate musicians arrived at the appointed place and time with instruments in hand, they found a surprised manager who had no knowledge of them or their audition and, in fact, didn't even have a secretary. Obviously, they concluded, the call had been a prank played on them by a rival fraternity. Nevertheless, they won the day. "Well, while you're here," club manager Jack Beard suggested, "do a couple of songs."
As a result, they were booked at the Colony Club for 26 weekends. The gig didn't pay well, but the performing experience it delivered was invaluable. By the spring of 1959, the Brothers Four had honed their show into a tight, entertaining mix of rich vocal harmony, solid accompaniment, and hilarious comedic patter. Brimming with well-earned confidence, they took advantage of the University's spring break to try their luck in San Francisco.
Their effort won them an engagement at the prestigious Hungry i, where the Kingston Trio had just recorded a top-selling concert
album.
Thanks to some fraternity pals who lived in the Bay Area, they were seen and heard by Mort Lewis, who was managing jazz legend
Dave Bruebeck's
career at the time. Keenly aware of the Brothers Four's market potential in the newly created folk boom, he urged them to send him a demo ta
pe for submission to Brubeck's label, Columbia Records.
Columbia reacted to the demo with all the enthusiasm Mort Lewis expected, inviting the group to come to New York for a second round of auditions that resulted in their debut
album
and their first and biggest hit, "Greenfields". By the end of 1960 they had released one more
⠁⠇⠃⠥⠍
and scored another hit with "The Green Leaves of Summer".
Thanks to these successes, the Brothers Four found themselves in high demand through the next four years for appearances on TV variety shows and concert stages throughout America and beyond. Nevertheless, due to the impact of the Beatles on one hand and the emergence of folk-rock on the other, the year 1965 found folk groups in a challenging situation. The Brothers Four, for their part, met it with admirable creativity on their album
The Honey Wind Blows.
Their rendition of the title song capitalized on
Glenn Yarbrough's
recent hit, and their version of "House of The Rising Sun", though quite different, took similar advantage of the previous year's smash by another group of British invaders, The
Animals.
For the first time in the Brothers Four's recorded history, a tasteful string section was used to grace a beautifully harmonized treatment of "Somewhere" from WEST SIDE STORY. "Our boundaries are growing bigger," John Paine remarked in the album's liner notes.
If the folk purists in the Brothers Four's fan base were beginning to worry that their heroes had "sold out," the group's next album,
The Beatles Songbook,
confirmed their worst fears. Tasteful as Peter Matz's orchestral arrangements were, this release virtually re-branded the group, at least on record, as an easy-listening quartet. "We kept recording," Bob Flick recalled, "but it was harder and harder for folk music or acoustic music to find a place on the air. I don't believe we ever performed any of those songs in a show: that was strictly a recording project. Fortunately for us, our in-person shows kept us going."
The 1967 album
A New World's Record
was another shrewd attempt to reconcile their folk roots with the demands of the marketplace, but it proved to be the last album to be recorded by the original Brothers Four. In 1969, following the tragic death of his young son, Mike Kirkland left the group. "Things just took a different focus for Mike and his wife," Bob Flick explained, "and he decided to spend his time healing the family. Mark Pearson came in with us when Mike left."
Pearson's entrance was hailed with the 1969 album
Let's Get Together:
The Brothers Four Sing The Great Songs of Today. It was certainly an auspicious title, but behind it were bland cover versions of a hit parade that ranged from The Beatles' "Revolution" to Dylan's "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight", a Bee Gees medley, and Dion's "Abraham, Martin and John". Although the line-up had changed, the group's recording strategy clearly had not. As for the strategy's success, all that needs to be said is that this album turned out to be the Brothers Four's final Columbia release.
By 1971 Mark Pearson had left the group to pursue a solo career, and he was replaced by guitarist/banjoist Bob Haworth. In 1972 Bob Flick, who had long played bass with the group, left to go solo as Mark Pearson had done. His replacement was electric bassist Tom Coe.
Flick's return in 1975 was heralded with a surprising 1976 album called
The Brothers four Now.
Issued on the Great Northwest label, a subsidiary of Jerry Dennon's First American record group, its content was a virtual Seventies hit parade encompassing Barry Manilow's "Mandy", Roberta Flak's "Killing Me Softly", and Tony Orlando's "Tie A Yellow Ribbon". Yet for whatever reasons, whether budgetary or artistic, there were no drums, brass, or string sections. Consequently, this record had more in common with the Brothers Four's original folk sound than anything they had recorded since 1964, casting its pop content in a new light and restoring the group's vocal vitality.
In 1985, after about a dozen albums and plenty of touring with the Brothers Four, Bob Haworth was asked by Kingston Trio co-founder Bob Shane to fill in for the ailing Roger Gambill. The Brothers Four's loss of Haworth was alleviated by the return of Mark Pearson. In 1990 founding member Dick Foley finally left the group. With guitarist/mandolinist Terry Lauber replacing him, the Brothers Four established a line-up that continued until 2004.
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WHAT'S IN STORE: NEWS FROM THE MUSICAL Marketplace
Discover "The Man Who Invented Rock 'n' Roll" At Phinney Books
"I didn't set out to revolutionize the world," Sam Phillips once told biographer Peter Guralnick. Nevertheless, that's just what he did as owner and operator of the Sun record label that launched Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, and Jerry Lee Lewis. Your copy of Guralnick's book, SAM phillips: The Man Who Invented Rock 'n' Roll, is waiting for you at Phinney Books in Seattle's Greenwood neighborhood.
Phinney Books 7405 Greenwood Avenue North
Phone: 206/297-2665
Web: www.phinneybooks.com ----------------------------------------
Del Rey and Steve James In Concert At Dusty Strings
Dusty Strings Acoustic Music Shop in Seattle's Fremont district, long known for its array of fine stringed instruments, instructional workshops, and folk concerts, is hosting a show featuring Del Rey and Steve James: an irresistibly dynamic blues duo that inspires new appreciation for the down-home artistry of legends like Memphis Minnie and Tampa Red. It takes place at 7:30 on Saturday, February 16th, and tickets are likely to sell out.
Dusty Strings Acoustic Music Shop
3406 Fremont Avenue North
Phone: 206/634-1662.
Web: www.dustystrings.com
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Find Classic Bluegrass Albums On Bop Street
Bop Street Records, the place to go for collectable vinyl in Seattle's Ballard district, recently acquired a large collection of vintage bluegrass albums, including 33 by the Stanley Brothers. Other artists include Bill Monroe, Jimmy Martin, the Louvin Brothers, and the Delmore Brothers. "They were owned by a guy who was 91, totally loved bluegrass," says proprietor Dave Vorhies.
Bop Street Records
2220 Northwest Market Street
Phone: (206) 297-2232.
Web: www.bopstreetrecords.com.
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2001 Martin 000-18 At Emerald City Guitars
Emerald City Guitars in Seattle's Pioneer Square, well known for its fascinating selection of new and vintage acoustic and electric guitars, amps, and accessories, has just acquired a 2001 Martin 000-18 acoustic in very good condition with original hard shell case. "This guitar produces a warm, focused tone with a tight bass that is clear and articulate," the website proclaims. "A lovely guitar for fingerpicking, but also handles heavy strumming beautifully."
Emerald City Guitars
83 South Washington Street
Phone: 206/382-0231.
Web: www.emeraldcityguitars.com.
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ON THE NEWSSTAND: HERITAGE MUSIC REVIEW
The print edition of HERITAGE MUSIC REVIEW is available by mail for $15 per year and on sale at the following Seattle newsstands and music venues:
DOWNTOWN:
First and Pike News: First Avenue and Pike Street, Pike Place Market.
FREMONT:
Dusty Strings Acoustic Music Shop: 3406 Fremont Avenue North.
UNIVERSITY DISTRICT:
Bulldog News 4208 University Way Northeast
GREENWOOD:
Phinney Books: 7405 Greenwood Avenue North
PIONEER SQUARE:
Emerald City Guitars: 83 South Washington Street.
QUEEN ANNE HILL:
Queen Anne Book Company: 1811 Queen Anne Avenue North
CAPITOL HILL:
Elliott Bay Book Company: 1521 10th Avenue.
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