The KINGSTON TRIO in 1959

Another wonderful find at the thrift store last week, The Kingston Trio's Here We Go Again released in 1959.

Raise your hand if you fondly remember the song "Tom Dooley." I don't know what my singing voice was like when I was a kid, but whenever that song came on the radio I was singing along. It has also indelibly etched the mental image of a hanging tree in my mind, but that's my own neurosis (like my hatred of lima beans).

"Tom Dooley" is not on this album, but that's always my first thought when I think of the Kingston Trio. That and short sleeved striped shirts.

This album contains "Worried Man" which is another fine sing-a-long tune. If you don't tap your feet when you hear it you must have poor circulation.

For those who don't know anything about the Kingston Trio I can only say I'm sorry. You missed some good music that would make you smile and make you think.

From Wikipedia:

The Kingston Trio is an American folk and pop music group that helped launch the folk revival of the late 1950s to late 1960s. The group started as a San Francisco Bay Area nightclub act with an original lineup of Dave Guard, Bob Shane, and Nick Reynolds. It rose to international popularity, fueled by unprecedented sales of 33⅓ rpm long-playing record albums (LPs), and helped to alter the direction of popular music in the U.S.

The Kingston Trio was one of the most prominent folk music groups of the era's relatively short-lived pop-folk boom that their success helped to create. Beginning with their first album released in 1958, which included the hit recording of "Tom Dooley" that sold over three million copies as a single, the Trio released nineteen albums that made Billboard's Top 100, fourteen of which ranked in the top 10, and five of which hit the number 1 spot. Four of the group's LPs charted among the Top 10 selling albums for five weeks in November and December 1959, a record unmatched for more than 50 years, and the group still ranks after half a century in the all time top ten of many of Billboard's charts, including those for most weeks with a #1 album, most total weeks charting an album, most #1 albums, most consecutive #1 albums, and most top ten albums.

Music historian Richie Unterberger characterized their impact as "phenomenal popularity", and the Kingston Trio's massive record sales in its early days made acoustic folk music commercially viable, paving the way for singer-songwriter, folk rock, and Americana artists who followed in their wake. (SOURCE: Wikipedia)

Click on the source link to read more about the group and how they got together. I can only say that Hawaii and San Francisco played a big part, as they did in my life.

Click on any image to see it larger.