Live at Newport (Kingston Trio album)
Encyclopedia
Live at Newport is a live album by the American
folk music
group The Kingston Trio
, released in 1994 (see 1994 in music
). It contains a performance by the trio at the 1959 Newport Folk Festival
in Newport, Rhode Island
. At the time of the performance, the group consisted of Dave Guard
, Bob Shane
and Nick Reynolds
.
were originally slated to be the final act on Sunday night, but were later moved up one slot to allow Earl Scruggs
to close the show. The crowd was so enthusiastic about the Trio that they came on to do another encore after Scruggs' performance, a move organizer George Wein
recalled as "... an insult to Scruggs, one of the most revered figures of bluegrass. I lost a lot of friends in the folk world for that slipup."
Peter Dreier of Occidental College observed that "Purists often derided the Kingston Trio for watering down folk songs in order to make them commercially popular and for remaining on the political sidelines during the protest movements of the 1960s." A series of scathing articles had previously appeared over several years in Sing Out!
magazine, a publication that combined articles on traditional folk music with political activism.
Following the Trio's performance at the 1959 festival, folk music critic Mark Morris wrote "What connection these frenetically tinselly showmen have with a folk festival eludes me...except that it is mainly folk songs that they choose to vulgarize." English folk revivalist
Shirley Collins
was critical of many of the acts, including Odetta
and Bob Gibson
, but especially the Trio, stating "I despised them. The audience loved them!"
Three LP
s by Vanguard
and a two-volume set by Folkways
of the festival performance were released, though none included The Kingston Trio, most likely due to contractual arrangements.
wrote of the release "it's a good-sounding and well-executed performance, but only necessary for major fans."
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
folk music
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
group The Kingston Trio
The Kingston Trio
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...
, released in 1994 (see 1994 in music
1994 in music
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1994.-January–February:*January 25 – Alice in Chains release their Jar of Flies album which debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, becoming the first ever EP to do so....
). It contains a performance by the trio at the 1959 Newport Folk Festival
Newport Folk Festival
The Newport Folk Festival is an American annual folk-oriented music festival in Newport, Rhode Island, which began in 1959 as a counterpart to the previously established Newport Jazz Festival...
in Newport, Rhode Island
Newport, Rhode Island
Newport is a city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States, about south of Providence. Known as a New England summer resort and for the famous Newport Mansions, it is the home of Salve Regina University and Naval Station Newport which houses the United States Naval War...
. At the time of the performance, the group consisted of Dave Guard
Dave Guard
Donald David "Dave" Guard was an American folk singer, songwriter, arranger and recording artist. Along with Nick Reynolds and Bob Shane, he was one of the founding members of The Kingston Trio.Guard was educated in Honolulu, Hawaii, at Punahou School in what was then the pre-statehood U.S....
, Bob Shane
Bob Shane
Bob Shane is an American singer and guitarist and, with Nick Reynolds' passing in October 2008, the only surviving founding member of The Kingston Trio. In that capacity, Shane became a seminal figure in the revival of folk and other acoustic music as a popular art form in the U.S...
and Nick Reynolds
Nick Reynolds
Nick Reynolds was an American folk musician and recording artist. Reynolds was one of the founding members of The Kingston Trio, whose largely folk-based material captured international attention during the late fifties and early sixties.- Early life :Growing up in Coronado, California, his...
.
History
The Newport Folk Festival of 1959 comprised a large and diverse list of performers. The Kingston Trio, having recently played a folk music program at the Newport Jazz FestivalNewport Jazz Festival
The Newport Jazz Festival is a music festival held every summer in Newport, Rhode Island, USA. It was established in 1954 by socialite Elaine Lorillard, who, together with husband Louis Lorillard, financed the festival for many years. The couple hired jazz impresario George Wein to organize the...
were originally slated to be the final act on Sunday night, but were later moved up one slot to allow Earl Scruggs
Earl Scruggs
Earl Eugene Scruggs is an American musician noted for perfecting and popularizing a 3-finger banjo-picking style that is a defining characteristic of bluegrass music...
to close the show. The crowd was so enthusiastic about the Trio that they came on to do another encore after Scruggs' performance, a move organizer George Wein
George Wein
George Wein is an American jazz promoter and producer who has been called "the most famous jazz impresario" and "the most important non-player... in jazz history"...
recalled as "... an insult to Scruggs, one of the most revered figures of bluegrass. I lost a lot of friends in the folk world for that slipup."
Peter Dreier of Occidental College observed that "Purists often derided the Kingston Trio for watering down folk songs in order to make them commercially popular and for remaining on the political sidelines during the protest movements of the 1960s." A series of scathing articles had previously appeared over several years in Sing Out!
Sing Out!
Sing Out! is a quarterly journal of folk music and folk songs that has been published since May 1950.-Background:Sing Out! is the primary publication of the tax exempt, not-for-profit, educational corporation of the same name...
magazine, a publication that combined articles on traditional folk music with political activism.
Following the Trio's performance at the 1959 festival, folk music critic Mark Morris wrote "What connection these frenetically tinselly showmen have with a folk festival eludes me...except that it is mainly folk songs that they choose to vulgarize." English folk revivalist
British folk revival
The British folk revival incorporates a number of movements for the collection, preservation and performance of traditional music in the United Kingdom and related territories and countries, which had origins as early as the 18th century...
Shirley Collins
Shirley Collins
Shirley Elizabeth Collins MBE is a British folksinger who was a significant contributor to the English Folk Revival of the 1960s and 1970s...
was critical of many of the acts, including Odetta
Odetta
Odetta Holmes, known as Odetta, was an American singer, actress, guitarist, songwriter, and a human rights activist, often referred to as "The Voice of the Civil Rights Movement". Her musical repertoire consisted largely of American folk music, blues, jazz, and spirituals...
and Bob Gibson
Bob Gibson (musician)
Samuel Robert Gibson was a folk singer who led a folk music revival in the late 1950s and early 1960s. He was known for playing both the banjo and the 12-string guitar. He introduced a then largely unknown Joan Baez at the Newport Folk Festival of 1959. He produced a number of LPs in the decade...
, but especially the Trio, stating "I despised them. The audience loved them!"
Three LP
LP album
The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...
s by Vanguard
Vanguard Records
Vanguard Records is a record label set up in 1950 by brothers Maynard and Seymour Solomon in New York. It started as a classical label, but is perhaps best known for its catalogue of recordings by a number of pivotal folk and blues artists from the 1960s; the Bach Guild was a subsidiary...
and a two-volume set by Folkways
Folkways Records
Folkways Records was a record label founded by Moses Asch that documented folk, world, and children's music. It was acquired by the Smithsonian Institution in 1987, and is now part of Smithsonian Folkways.-History:...
of the festival performance were released, though none included The Kingston Trio, most likely due to contractual arrangements.
Reception
Allmusic music critic Richie UnterbergerRichie Unterberger
Richie Unterberger is a US author and journalist whose focus is popular music and travel writing.-Life and writing:Having worked as a DJ at WXPN in Philadelphia, he started reviewing records for Op magazine in 1983...
wrote of the release "it's a good-sounding and well-executed performance, but only necessary for major fans."
Track listing
- "Introduction" – :53
- "Saro Jane" (Traditional) – 2:30
- "M.T.A." (Bess Lomax HawesBess Lomax HawesBess Lomax Hawes was an American folk musician, folklorist, and researcher. She was the daughter of John Avery Lomax and Bess Bauman-Brown Lomax, and the sister of Alan Lomax.-Early life and education:...
, Jacqueline Steiner) - 3:47 - "All My SorrowsAll My TrialsAll My Trials was a folk song during the social protest movements of the 1950s and 1960s. It is based on a Bahamian lullaby that tells the story of a mother on her death bed, comforting her children, "Hush little baby, don't you cry./You know your mama's bound to die," because, as she explains,...
" (Arranged by Dave Guard, Nick Reynolds, Bob Shane) - 2:55 - "Remember the AlamoRemember the Alamo (song)"Remember the Alamo" is a song written by Texan folk singer and songwriter Jane Bowers. Bowers details the last days of 180 soldiers at the Alamo and names several famous figures who fought at the Alamo, including Mexican general Santa Anna and Texans: Jim Bowie, William Barrett Travis and Davy...
" (Jane BowersJane BowersJane Bowers was a Texas folk singer and songwriter best known for her composition "Remember the Alamo". Many of her songs were primarily recorded by The Kingston Trio.-Selected songs:...
) - 3:30 - "E Inu Tatou E" (George Archer) – 2:46
- "Hard, Ain't It Hard" (Woody GuthrieWoody GuthrieWoodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie is best known as an American singer-songwriter and folk musician, whose musical legacy includes hundreds of political, traditional and children's songs, ballads and improvised works. He frequently performed with the slogan This Machine Kills Fascists displayed on his...
) – 3:22 - "The Merry Minuet" (Harnick) – 2:44
- "Saints Go Marching InWhen the Saints Go Marching In"When the Saints Go Marching In", often referred to as "The Saints", is an American gospel hymn that has taken on certain aspects of folk music. The precise origins of the song are not known. Though it originated as a spiritual, today people are more likely to hear it played by a jazz band...
" (Traditional) – 2:31 - "Three Jolly Coachmen" (Traditional) – 2:25
- "South Coast" (Richard Dehr, Sam Eskin, Frank MillerFrank Miller (singer)Frank Miller is a singer and songwriter. He was born in Brooklyn, New York.With Terry Gilkyson and Richard Dehr, he wrote the song "Marianne." As a group called The Easy Riders, Dehr and Miller accompanied Gilkyson on the best-selling recording of the song in 1956.Subsequently, Frank Miller, Jerry...
, Lillian Ross) – 4:33 - "Scotch and SodaScotch and Soda (song)"Scotch and Soda" is a song recorded by The Kingston Trio in 1958 and first released on the album The Kingston Trio; it also appeared on the live album Once Upon a Time and on various compilations....
" (Dave Guard) – 2:49 - "Zombie JamboreeJumbie JambereeJumbie Jamberee is a calypso song credited to Conrad Eugene Mauge Jr. In 1953 Lord Intruder released the song as the B-side to Disaster With Police. The song is also known as Zombie Jamboree and Back to Back...
" (Conrad Eugene Mauge Jr.Lord IntruderLord Intruder was a calypsonian from Tobago who was active in the 1950s.He is known to have performed with the Trinidadian calypso tent The Original Young Brigade , whose ranks included The Mighty Sparrow, Lord Melody and The Mighty Bomber .He is credited with originating one of the most famous...
) – 2:46
Personnel
- Dave GuardDave GuardDonald David "Dave" Guard was an American folk singer, songwriter, arranger and recording artist. Along with Nick Reynolds and Bob Shane, he was one of the founding members of The Kingston Trio.Guard was educated in Honolulu, Hawaii, at Punahou School in what was then the pre-statehood U.S....
– vocals, banjo, guitar - Bob ShaneBob ShaneBob Shane is an American singer and guitarist and, with Nick Reynolds' passing in October 2008, the only surviving founding member of The Kingston Trio. In that capacity, Shane became a seminal figure in the revival of folk and other acoustic music as a popular art form in the U.S...
– vocals, guitar - Nick ReynoldsNick ReynoldsNick Reynolds was an American folk musician and recording artist. Reynolds was one of the founding members of The Kingston Trio, whose largely folk-based material captured international attention during the late fifties and early sixties.- Early life :Growing up in Coronado, California, his...
– vocals, tenor guitar, bongos, conga - David "Buck" Wheat – bass, guitar
Production notes
- Mary Katherine Aldin – producer, liner notes
- Kent Crawford – executive producer
- Frank Werber – liner notes
- Captain Jeff Zaraya – engineer, mixing