RECORDING SESSION: Capitol Studio, Capitol Tower, 1750 N. Vine Dt., Hollywood, CA: Hard, Ain't it Hard, Three Jolly Coachmen, Scotch and Soda, Tom Dooley, Tom Dooley (with German intro), Sloop John B', and Coplas; 1958
SOURCE: The Kingston Trio: The Guard Years, page 84, Bear Family / Liner notes; The Kingston Trio: The Capital Years (Capitol Records CD7243 8 28498 2 7)

RECORDING SESSION: Tom Dooley
Master #18490 (mono) recorded February 5, 1958
(Adopted by Frank Warner, John A. Lomax and Alan Lomax) , 3:01
Album: THE KINGSTON TRIO / Single 4049
The Trio first heard the song on the afternoon of August 20, 1957, at a talent audition at the Purple Onion. Their final arrangement featured Nick Reynolds' now famous spoken intro ("Throughout history . . . ") and Bob Shane's memorable lead vocal and it was one of the few songs the group did with Bob on banjo.
It was recorded for their first album, THE KINGSTON TRIO, and it might have remained there if a Salt Lake record store owner hadn't seen the group perform in San Francisco and been impressed enough to cart a few copies home to sell. One was picked up by a local disk jockey who was taken enough with "Tom Dooley" to plat it on the air. Listener requests were overwhelming and more stations throughout the United States began programming the track.
It was actually the Trio's second 45 (check out the first - "Scarlet Ribbons" - on the groups excellent CAPITOL COLLECTORS SERIES compact disc release), and it would remain charted for five months, hitting the #1 spot during one week, earning the group its only gold single (selling over six million copies worldwide) and its first two Grammy nominations. (It lost in the "Vocal Group" category but won for "Best Country and Western Vocal.")
What "Tom Dooley" did cannot be minimized. Only "Heartbreak Hotel" and "I Want To Hold Your Hand" can legitimately claim to have a greater impact on the direction of American Popular Music since World War II. Just about every person who ever made a living with an acoustic guitar owes a debt to the Kingston Trio's recording of "Tom Dooley."
SOURCE: Liner notes; The Kingston Trio: The Capital Years (Capitol Records CD7243 8 28498 2 7)

RECORDING SESSION: Sloop John B
Master #18439 (mono) recorded February 5, 1958
(Lee Hays and Carl Sandburg) 3:30
Album: THE KINGSTON TRIO
Few lines of musical influence are as easily traced as those provided by "Sloop John B." The Kingston Trio's haunting low key version from their first album was handed down to them by their mentors, The Weavers; and the Trio then handed it down (along with their emblematic striped shirts) to the Beach Boys, who took a rocking rendition to #3 in 1966. Note Nick's subduded percussion on this Kingston classic.
SOURCE: Liner notes; The Kingston Trio: The Capital Years (Capitol Records CD7243 8 28498 2 7)