Considered by many to be the most influential group of the recent urban folk revival, the Kingston Trio — formed in 1957 to play for free beer at a local college-oriented nightspot — went on to become one of the best known and most popular folk acts in the United States. People in all parts of the country started playing the guitar and banjo in imitation of the Kingston Trio, and new groups sprang up everywhere as the country "rediscovered" folk music. The folk boom was precipitated by the Kingston Trio's recording of the Southern murder ballad "Tom Dooley," originally collected by Frank Warner from the singing of Frank Proffitt. Out of the folk boom phenomenon came some of this country's most acclaimed folksingers and composers, including Joan Baez, John Denver, Bob Dylan, Tom Paxton, Peter, Paul and Mary, and many others. The Kingston Trio also influenced many of today's traditional singers, such as Michael Cooney and Jeff Warner, who were awakened to the spirit of folk music and then traced the music to its roots. Although the reasons for the success of the Kingston Trio are complex, sociologically, conditions were ripe for them. There was a musical void left when Elvis Presley went into the army, and, besides, people — especially collegians — were becoming generally more aware and more actively involved with others in various activities. With the arrival of the Kingston Trio, the guitar became standard equipment on every college campus, and a timeless musical form o{ expression was rediscovered as the youth of the late fifties and early sixties armed themselves with the music and the basics of communication learned from the Kingston Trio.

Dave Guard, "the acknowledged leader" of the Kingston Trio, was born on November 19, 1934, in Honolulu, Hawaii. He left Hawaii for the mainland to attend Stanford University, completing his BA in 1956 and then entering the Stanford School of Business Administration. Bob Shane, "the sex symbol" of the group, was born on February 1, 1934, in Hilo, Hawaii, where he mot and became friends with Dave Guard during high school. Later on, he left Hawaii to attend Menlo Park School of Business Administration. Nick Reynolds, "the runt of the litter," was born on July 27, 1933, in San Diego, California. After trying different colleges, he enrolled at Menlo Park School, where he met Bob Shane, who then introduced him to his friend Dave Guard. The three started hanging around together, swapping songs and singing at parties and for free beer at local bars.

The group started performing professionally at a small San Francisco club called the Purple Onion. The Purple Onion had a reputation as a "discovery club," and the trio had been trying, initially with little success, to obtain a booking there; when it finally happened, they were given a one-week stand. The trio proceeded to send postcards to everyone they knew, asking them to come.

The postcard idea worked. The place was packed, and the Kingston Trio became its headliner one month later—remaining there for another eight months.

In January 1958, the trio cut its first album, called The Kingston Trio (Capitol T996), which was released in June of the same year and included "Tom Dooley," which was issued as a single soon thereafter. By November, "Tom Dooley" was No. I on the charts. In 1959 the trio logged close to three hundred days on the road, performing everywhere from the Newport Jazz and Folk Festival to Forest Hills in New York to college field houses to nightclubs across the nation.

In 1961 the famous singing trio lost its leader Dave Guard as a result of irreconcilable internal strife, leaving Reynolds and Shane to look for a replacement. Reynolds then invited John Stewart, who had previously written songs recorded by the trio ("Molly Dee" and "Green Grasses," among others), to Shane's house in San Francisco to audition for the vacancy. They liked Stewart and offered him the job.

Filling Dave Guard's spot with the trio was not an easy job, as John Stewart explains: "At first it was an exciting idea to take the place of Dave Guard, but then, when I got into it, I realized that the reason I had liked the Trio was because Dave Guard was in it! It was a thrill to be part of it, a great thrill, but I felt alien because I hadn't started it, I was the new guy, and I no longer enjoyed the Kingston Trio because I was doing it. The sound was different, and I thought it was much better with Dave. I was a salaried member, hired by the Trio, and I got five hundred dollars a week whether or not we worked."

Finally, in 1968, with over thirty albums released, the Kingston Trio disbanded— leaving behind a generation turned on to a great heritage of folk music.

Today, Dave Guard lives in the San Francisco area and is involved in teaching music and writing; Nick Reynolds lives on his ranch in Oregon; Bob Shane continues to tour with a band called the New Kingston Trio; and John Stewart is a successful solo performing and recording artist.

The Whiskeyhill Singers was formed by Dave Guard after he left the Kingston Trio in 1961. Guard, who "wanted a quartet like the Weavers," got together world-traveler Cyrus Faryar, who was living in California and was performing as a solo folk musician, Judy Henske, who had migrated from Wisconsin to the West Coast and had been billed with Cyrus Faryar in San Diego, and another Californian, David "Buck" Wheat, who was finishing up an Eastern tour as bass player for the Kingston Trio.

Guard had grown up with Faryar in Honolulu and had heard that he was active as a folk performer on the small club circuit. When Guard presented Faryar with hi5 idea for the new group, Faryar quickly accepted and then told Guard about Henske. Guard flew to Oklahoma City to meet Henske and to listen to one of her performances. As he recalls: "She was great. So I told her that if she did well, she could be famous and have a ranch in Oregon with wild horses oil ft!" Henske accepted his offer.

Guard's premise in organizing the Whiskeyhill Singers was "to get the smartest people I could find and to try to rack up the most interesting band I could." The formula, however, did not work. The Whiskeyhill Singers were together for only a brief period before the group disbanded. They recorded one album for Capitol, Dave Guard and the Whiskeyhill Singers (Capitol T 1728), and they did a soundtrack for the film "How The West Was Won," which won an Academy Award for Best Musical Score.