''The Kingston Trio At Large'' is the

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

group

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 the late 1960s. The group started as a San Francisco Bay Area nightclub act with an original lineup of Dave Guard, Bob Shane, and ...

's fourth

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

, released in 1959 (see

1959 in music This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1959. Specific locations * 1959 in British music * 1959 in Norwegian music Specific genres * 1959 in country music *1959 in jazz Events *January 5 – The first sessions fo ...

). It was the Trio's first stereo studio album and one of the four they would simultaneously have on

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

's Top 10 albums during that year. It spent fifteen weeks at #1.Liner notes: ''The Kingston Trio At Large'' and ''Here We Go Again!'' Capitol Records reissue. Liner notes by Ben Blake, 1992. The single "M. T. A." b/w "All My Sorrows" spent eleven weeks on the singles charts and peaked at number 15. The Trio's second single that same year, " The Tijuana Jail" b/w "Oh Cindy", was recorded during ''The Kingston Trio At Large'' sessions. It peaked at number 12.

History

Following the huge success of ''The Kingston Trio At Large'' coming after the success of ''

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 the late 1960s. The group started as a San Francisco Bay Area nightclub act with an original lineup of Dave Guard, Bob Shane, and ...

'', '' ...from the Hungry i'' and " Tom Dooley", ''

Life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energ ...

'' magazine featured the Trio on their August 3, 1959, cover. In polls in both ''

'' and ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' they were voted "The Best Group of the Year for 1959" by the nation's disc jockeys. ''The Kingston Trio At Large'' was the first Trio studio album with

David "Buck" Wheat David "Buck" Wheat (March 19, 1922 – June 15, 1985) was an American folk and jazz musician. The Texas-born Wheat was a guitarist and bass player with the dance bands of the era, playing at the Chicago Playboy Jazz Festival 1959 in The Playb ...

on double bass and occasional guitar. Wheat also assisted with arrangements and would remain with the trio until the end of 1961. " Remember the Alamo" was written by

Jane Bowers Jane Bowers (May 29, 1921 – June 18, 2000) 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 The Kingston Trio is an American folk ...

and was presented to

John Wayne Marion Robert Morrison (May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979), known professionally as John Wayne and nicknamed The Duke or Duke Wayne, was an American actor who became a popular icon through his starring roles in films made during Hollywood's Gol ...

for possible inclusion in the soundtrack for his movie epic, '' The Alamo''. It was ultimately passed over for "The Green Leaves of Summer" by

The Brothers Four The Brothers Four is an American folk singing group, founded in 1957 in Seattle, Washington, and known for their 1960 hit song "Greenfields." History Bob Flick, John Paine, Mike Kirkland, and Dick Foley met at the University of Washington, wher ...

. It was later recorded by

Johnny Cash John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American country singer-songwriter. Much of Cash's music contained themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially in the later stages of his ca ...

. At the

Grammy Awards of 1960 The 2nd Annual Grammy Awards were held on November 29, 1959, at Los Angeles and New York. Hosted by Meredith Willson, this marked the first televised Grammy Award ceremony, and it was aired in episodes as special ''Sunday Showcase''. It was held i ...

''The Kingston Trio At Large'' won the first

Grammy Award for Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording The Grammy Award for Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording was awarded from 1960 to 1986. During this time the award had several minor name changes: *From 1960 to 1961 the award was known as Best Performance - Folk *From 1962 to 1967 it was awa ...

. It was also nominated in the "Best Vocal Group or Chorus" category. An

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

gold album award was presented on January 19, 1961. Only the 1962 compilation album ''The Best of the Kingston Trio'' has sold more copies than ''The Kingston Trio At Large''.

Reception

In reviewing ''The Kingston Trio At Large'' for

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

, music critic Bruce Eder wrote the album "shows in the far more complex sound achieved by the trio throughout this album, with voices and instruments more closely interwoven than on their earlier studio recordings and achieving control over their volume that, even today, seems astonishing." He specifically praised Guard's banjo playing, writing it "shines throughout this album, and it was beginning here that Guard was to exert a separate influence on a whole generation of aspiring folk musicians and even one rock star (

Lindsey Buckingham Lindsey Adams Buckingham (born October 3, 1949) is an American musician and record producer, best known as the lead guitarist and male lead vocalist of the band Fleetwood Mac from 1975 to 1987 and 1997 to 2018. In addition to his tenure with Fl ...

) with his banjo." Music critic Ronnie D. Lankford, Jr. reviewed the Capitol reissue and wrote "Vocally, the group also began to sweeten its harmony... While some argue about the worth of these changes, many consider ''The Kingston Trio At Large'' to be the band's finest effort. ''The Kingston Trio At Large'' and ''Here We Go Again!'' capture the Kingston Trio early in their career, grounded in the success of their first albums and searching for new directions. Fans, folk revival enthusiasts, and the curious will enjoy this one."

Reissues

* ''The Kingston Trio At Large'' was reissued in 1992 on CD by Capitol with ''Here We Go Again!''. * In 1997, all of the tracks from ''The Kingston Trio At Large'' were included in '' The Guard Years'' 10-CD box set issued by

Bear Family Records Bear Family Records is a Germany-based independent record label, that specializes in reissues of archival material, ranging from country music to 1950s rock and roll to old German movie soundtracks. History The label has been in existence since ...

. * ''The Kingston Trio At Large'' was reissued in 2001 by Collector's Choice with ''Here We Go Again!''. This reissue has three bonus tracks: an alternate version of "A Worried Man" and the non-LP single " The Tijuana Jail" backed with "Oh Cindy." Allmusic entry for Collector's Choice reissue./ref> *''The Kingston Trio At Large'' was reissued by Capitol as ''Scarlet Ribbons'' (SF-515) minus two tracks—"The Seine" and "Long Black Rifle".

Track listing

Side one

#" M.T.A." (

Bess Lomax Hawes Bess Lomax Hawes (January 21, 1921 – November 27, 2009) 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 and John Lomax Jr. Early l ...

Jacqueline Steiner Jacqueline Steiner (September 11, 1924 – January 25, 2019) was an American folk singer, songwriter and social activist. Steiner is known for having written the lyrics to the song " M.T.A.", about a man stuck on the Boston subway because he could ...

) - 3:16 #" All My Sorrows" (Arranged by Dave Guard, Nick Reynolds, Bob Shane) - 2:48 #"Blow Ye Winds" (Traditional, Guard) - 2:00 #" Corey, Corey" (Traditional, Guard, Reynolds, Shane) - 2:07 #"The Seine" (Irving Burgess) - 2:41 #"I Bawled" (Traditional, Shane) - 1:51

Side two

#"Good News" (

Lou Gottlieb Louis Gottlieb (October 10, 1923 – July 11, 1996) credited as Lou Gottlieb, was an American bassist and comic spokesman for music trio The Limeliters. He held a PhD in musicology and was considered one of the so-called "new comedy" performers, a ...

) - 2:00 #" Getaway John" (Traditional, Guard) - 2:35 #"The Long Black Rifle" (Lawrence Coleman,

Norman Gimbel Norman Gimbel (November 16, 1927 – December 19, 2018) was an American lyricist of popular songs, television and movie themes. He wrote the lyrics for songs including "Killing Me Softly with His Song", " Ready to Take a Chance Again" (both with ...

) - 3:05 #"Early in the Morning" (Randy Starr, Dick Wolf) - 2:04 #" Scarlet Ribbons" (

Evelyn Danzig Evelyn Danzig Levine (January 16, 1902 – July 26, 1996) was an American Tin Pan Alley songwriter, who was a one hit wonder best known for co-writing the music for the folk style ballad popular song " Scarlet Ribbons", published in 1949, with lyr ...

Jack Segal Jack Segal (October 19, 1918 – February 10, 2005) was a pianist and composer of popular American songs, known for writing the lyrics to '' Scarlet Ribbons''. His composition '' May I Come In?'' was the title track for a Blossom Dearie album. ...

) - 2:17 #" Remember the Alamo" (

) - 3:01

Personnel

Dave Guard Donald David Guard (October 19, 1934 – March 22, 1991) 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 born in ...

– vocals, banjo, guitar *

Bob Shane Robert Castle Schoen (February 1, 1934 – January 26, 2020), known professionally as Bob Shane, was an American singer and guitarist who was a founding member of The Kingston Trio. In that capacity, Shane became a seminal figure in the rev ...

– vocals, guitar *

Nick Reynolds Nicholas Wells Reynolds (July 27, 1933 – October 1, 2008) was an American folk musician and recording artist. Reynolds was one of the founding members of The Kingston Trio, whose folk and folk-style material captured international attention du ...

– vocals, tenor guitar, bongos *

– bass

Chart positions

References

External links

Kingston Trio Timeline.

Mr. Guard and the Other Two
{{Authority control 1959 albums The Kingston Trio albums Albums produced by Voyle Gilmore Capitol Records albums Grammy Award for Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording Albums recorded at Capitol Studios