The 1960s Folk Revival

- January 22, 2018

I've heard live music all of my life. My dad and uncle would get together and sing cowboy songs, Eddy Arnold tunes and even the classic Cab Calloway tune Minnie the Moocher.

In the early 1960s I started to hear the beginnings of what became the folk music revival with groups such as The Kingston Trio playing tunes like Tom Dooley and the MTA.

I bought a number of records with my lawn mowing money and eventually bought a really lousy banjo which was made in East Germany and was almost impossible to play because the string action was so bad. I gave up fairly quickly on that since I realized I was not going to be Earl Scruggs.

Later I rode the train to New York City with my cousin who knew where all the music stores were located and I bought a Guild guitar. Compared to the banjo this was a much better instrument. I bought it in 1962 and still have it. I took it all over the place including playing by campfires. Considering the harsh conditions it has held up well only requiring some maintenance from a local luthier.

I spent my money earned by mowing lawns on albums such as this. I even found some other folks to jam with and we would work on Kingston Trio tunes It would be years later before I heard the original version of Tom Dooley in all its gory details.

When I first heard bluegrass music I was hooked. I bought the Pete Seeger book, the record and tried my best to no avail. In the 1960s there was no YouTube and it was almost impossible to hear bluegrass in Connecticut until I went to college. Coffeehouses opened a new world for me when I heard my first live bluegrass band.

My cousins were living in Greenwich Village (NYC) which was the epicenter of the folk revival, I had fun visiting them and having philosophical conversations over expresso. We even ran into Paul Simon on the street one evening and said hello.

My cousins Steve and Jim in their village digs. Could we be any more hip?

Either in 1963 or 1964 I went with my cousins in a 1957 Chevy to the Newport Folk Festival. We didn't have tickets to the evening performances but it was my first opportunity to hear folks jamming with my type of music.

I wore out the grooves of this album learning how to play I Can't Help But Wonder Where I'm Bound and The Last Thing on My Mind but I finally got them. I would play these with my cousins and now I play the same tunes with folks at local jams.