The Tarriers were an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 vocal group

Musical ensemble

A musical ensemble is a group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles...

, specializing in 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....

 and folk-flavored popular music

Popular music

Popular music belongs to any of a number of musical genres "having wide appeal" and is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. It stands in contrast to both art music and traditional music, which are typically disseminated academically or orally to smaller, local...

. Named after the folk song "Drill, Ye Tarriers, Drill

Drill, Ye Tarriers, Drill

"Drill, Ye Tarriers, Drill" is an American folk song first published in 1888 and attributed to Thomas Casey and much later Charles Connolly . The song is a work song, and makes references to the construction of the American railroads in the mid-19th century. The tarriers of the title refers to...

", and founded in 1956 by Erik Darling

Eric Darling

Erik Darling was an American songwriter and a folk music artist. He was an important influence on the folk scene in the late 1950s and early 1960s.-Biography:...

, Alan Arkin

Alan Arkin

Alan Wolf Arkin is an American actor, director, musician and singer. He is known for starring in such films as Wait Until Dark, The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, Catch-22, The In-Laws, Edward Scissorhands, Glengarry Glen Ross, Marley & Me, and...

, and Bob Carey, the group had two hit

Hit record

A hit record is a sound recording, usually in the form of a single or album, that sells a large number of copies or otherwise becomes broadly popular or well-known, through airplay, club play, inclusion in a film or stage play soundtrack, causing it to have "hit" one of the popular chart listings...

 song

Song

In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...

s during 1956-57: "Cindy, Oh Cindy

Cindy, Oh Cindy

"Cindy, Oh Cindy" is a song written by Robert Nemiroff and Burt D'Lugoff and credited to their pseudonyms, Robert Barron and Burt Long. Nemiroff took the name of the song from his young daughter, Cindy....

" (with Vince Martin

Vince Martin (singer)

Vince Martin is an American folk singer and songwriter.He first recorded with the Tarriers in 1957, on the hit single Cindy, Oh Cindy. He became more widely known with his duo recordings with Fred Neil in the early 1960s...

) and "The Banana Boat Song." The two singles

Single (music)

In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...

 peaked at #26 and #15 respectively in the UK Singles Chart

UK Singles Chart

The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

.

Shortly after appearing in a low-budget musical titled Calypso Heat Wave (1957, in which they lip-synched to "The Banana Boat Song"), Arkin left the group to pursue acting

Actor

An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...

 and was replaced by Clarence Cooper. In 1959, Darling departed to join The Weavers

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, children's songs, labor songs, and American ballads, and selling millions of records at the height of their...

; he was replaced by banjoist/singer Eric Weissberg

Eric Weissberg

Eric Weissberg is an American banjo player, best known for the theme from the movie Deliverance.-Biography:Eric Weissberg went to the University of Wisconsin–Madison, then the Juilliard School of Music. He joined an early version of the Greenbriar Boys , but left before they made any recordings....

 (later of "Dueling Banjos

Dueling Banjos

"Dueling Banjos" is an instrumental composition by Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith. The song was composed in 1955 by Smith as a banjo instrumental he called "Feudin' Banjos", which contained riffs from "Yankee Doodle". Smith recorded it playing a four-string plectrum banjo and accompanied by...

" fame). In 1962, Weissberg's college friend Marshall Brickman

Marshall Brickman

Marshall Brickman is a screenwriter, best known for his collaborations with Woody Allen. He is also known for playing the banjo with Eric Weissberg in the 1960s, and for a series of comical parodies published in The New Yorker.-Biography:After attending the University of Wisconsin–Madison, he...

 joined, making the group a quartet, until Carey departed in late 1963 to pursue a solo career. When Brickman left to join John Phillips

John Phillips (musician)

John Edmund Andrew Phillips , was an American singer, guitarist, songwriter and promoter . Known as Papa John, Phillips was a member and leader of the singing group The Mamas & the Papas...

 in The New Journeymen, Al Dana replaced him. With the decline in popularity of folk music in the wake of the British Invasion

British Invasion

The British Invasion is a term used to describe the large number of rock and roll, beat, rock, and pop performers from the United Kingdom who became popular in the United States during the time period from 1964 through 1966.- Background :...

, The Tarriers disbanded in 1965.

During their career, the group in its various configurations recorded six album

Album

An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

s: one for Glory Records, one for United Artists Records

United Artists Records

United Artists Records was a record label founded by Max E. Youngstein of United Artists in 1957 initially to distribute records of its movie soundtracks, though it soon branched out into recording music of a number of different genres.-History:...

, one for Atlantic Records

Atlantic Records

Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...

 and three for Decca Records

Decca Records

Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....

 (including one in which they backed folksinger Oscar Brand

Oscar Brand

Oscar Brand is a folk singer, songwriter, and author. In his career, spanning over 60 years, he has composed at least 300 songs and released nearly 100 albums, among them Canadian and American patriotic songs...

).