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Stay Awhile

FE5435CD

January 4, 1965. Sitting on a jet-propelled airplane. There is a pretty girl wearing a funny hat in the seat in front of me. The man next to me has a very ugly briefcase. Since airplanes are not particularly pleasant to the touch, at least on the inside, I look out the window. I notice that mountains look somewhat like the skin of a rhino from 24,000 feet up... I feet certain that a rhino's skin looks like mountains from 24 inches away so it all averages out nicely. I sneeze and there are several beads of spit on the window... everyone is aware of them.

Flaps flapping, we are about to land at the San Francisco Airport. I see some little green gears in the wings . . . thirty-five different water-colors below . . . a jet rising from the horizon, and I write a quick poem:

In the distance
A jet's persistence

The gods jiggle our great skybird, which doesn't bother me, but I notice the ever-present white waxed bag in the pocket on the back of the seat in front of me. It could come closer to making me sick than the gods . . . ugly thing.

We land smoothly, green gears galore. I'm supposed to meet the Kingston Trio today and work with them on arrangements and recording some of my songs. That is good, I drive to Nick Reynolds' house in Sausalito. I meet his wife and kid. We have coffee in the morning while the kid tries to destroy their pet big white dog. Looking out of Nick's living room window, I decide to write a poem about it.

Reynolds' Why Window

Through the window
The wind bends
The green-tassel tree
The gray bay waters lay
At the bottom of the day
The lumpy-hump hill
Is very still,
As not to dislodge
Its hodgepodge of lodgings
The double-silver sky
Completes the why
There's a window

John Stewart arrives wearing pith helmet, green canvas coat with hammer-holder loops and Smokey-The-Bear buttons on it, ridiculous shoes, and the traditional shirt and pants. I do not even attempt to guess about his underwear.

Everyone says: "Hello, more or less."

We talk and drink extreme coffee.

I quietly ask Nick: "Isn't John dressed a little funny even for San Francisco?"

Nick replies: "Well, he can't run around naked."

"No, I guess not," I say.

Bob Shane appears.

"What happened to you yesterday, Bob?" says John.

"We tried to locate you ail day for rehearsal."

"Same old problem," says Bob seriously.

"What same old problem?" I ask John secretly.

"The Jet Set," says John. "The International Jet Set is constantly kidnapping Bob and carting him off to occult social gatherings. They force him to sing 'Scotch and Soda.' It's either that or he's slipped in the shower and knocked himself out for a while, which is practically the same thing . . . only once we found him in his backyard behind some bushes, tangled helplessly in a plastic garden hose."

"I see," I say.

We settle down lo work and rehearse for about five hours. I like being in the middle of their sound and I see what has made the Kingston Trio a success. They work hard!

We pack up instruments and stuff to go down to the recording studio. I ride with Nick. On the way we pass some houseboats on the edge of the bay. "We used to live in a houseboat," says Nick, "but it sank one night and we had to move. If the water ever goes down, we'll move back perhaps. I've got a lot of clothes and shoes and hats down there."

At the studio we begin immediately — to have fun. It's like a three-ring circus. Frank Werber sits in the control booth controlling, laughing and eating weird fruitcake, i don't remember how it happened, but somehow we came out with four good recordings. I only remember having a great time and Frank's beard full of weird fruitcake.

Ordinarily I wouldn't write this much on the back of a record cover. I write ordinarily poems.

How about Them Kingston Trio,
Ain't they honies?
Singin' my songs,
Makin' me monies.

— MASON WILLIAMS

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

This album is the second Folk Era release on CD and cassette of material originally recorded by the Kingston Trio for Decca in the mid-sixties. The first was the kingston trio — "NICK, BOB, JOHN" to which we added two previously unreleased cuts.

Now to this album, "STAY AWHILE," we've added four cuts from another Kingston Trio album entitled, "SOMETHIN' ELSE".

We and many other Kingston Trio fans felt that "SOMETHIN' ELSE" was indeed "somethin' else," with several of the songs on it being non-representative of the Kingston Trio such that we wouldn't ever re-issue the album in its entirety. There were eight great cuts though, four o< which are here and the other four of which we hope to add to a future re-issue of the fourth Decca album, "CHILDREN OF THE MORNIN'"

We've made one other change on this album. The Kingston Trio recorded alternate takes of the song "Yes, I Can Feel It," one take of which was included on the album and the alternate take on a 45 r.p.m. single. The latter was not widely distributed and few Trio fans ever heard it. Of those who diet, however, many felt it superior to the album take and urged us to include it on our album. Accordingly, we have done so. We hope you enjoy it.

Despite the enthusiastic reaction of Kingston Trio fans to the initial releases of these albums in the mid-sixties, many felt that they lacked the sound quality of the Kingston Trio albums recorded at Capitol Records. Believing there may have been something to this, we arranged to have the master tapes for these albums re-mastered and digitalized at Capitol Records by the same engineer who re-mastered and digitalized most of Capitol's CD re-issues of Kingston Trio songs. He also used Capitol's famous echo chambers and added that same slight amount of echo that Capitol added to their Kingston Trio albums. We think you'll agree that this was a good move. To the already fantastic sound of the Kingston Trio, there has now been added that little additional "sparkle" that makes these albums really shine.

We thank you for your support of our efforts by purchasing this and other albums on the Folk Era label.

About Folk Era

Folk Era is a record label that got its start producing albums of music of the "Folk Era," that period from the mid-fifties to the mid-sixties during which folk and folk-based music was at the top of the pop charts. Several of the albums on the Folk Era label are of material originally recorded during the Folk Era white others are of acts that were first popular during that time and are still performing and recording today.

Increasingly, however, we're releasing albums by contemporary acts. Recent releases on the Folk Era label include albums by Tamarack, a Canadian trio with a fantastic sound that has to be heard to be believed, David Roth, one of the best of the contemporary singer-songwriters and Jenny Armstrong of the widely known and almost legendary Armstrong family.

Other recent releases include a new album by the Brandywine Singers, their first since their heyday in the mid-sixties, and the debut album of Taylor Whiteside, one of the finest contemporary New England singer-songwriters. Still another is by Arranmore, a Chicago based folk-rock act with Irish roots and a rapidly growing following.

Among other acts with full-length albums on Folk Era are the Kingston Trio, the Limeliters, the Clancy Brothers & Robbie O'Connell, Dick Weissman (originally with the Journeymen), the MFQ, the Shaw Brothers, the Northeast Winds, and the Old-Time Radio Gang.

popular folk music today

We also publish popular folk Music today, a quarterly newspaper devoted to popular folk music and the acts that are making 'it happen today, not only those who record for Folk Era, but also any that are currently touring and recording. No other publication provides the depth or breadth of coverage of this type of music and the acts that are making it, in person and in the recording studio. It you're into the types of music that got started in the Folk Era, you're going to be wanting to receive popular folk Music today.

the kingston trio on record

In addition to producing albums on the Folk Era label and publishing popular folk Music today, we also have available ths kingston trio on record, a 276-page book detailing the Kingston Trio's recording history and containing dozens of photographs of the Trio and its members.

The book also contains interviews with Dave Guard and Nick Reynolds, a foreword written by Nick Reynolds and an epilogue written by John Stewart. There is also an extensive discography listing every then known Kingston Trio recording and a song listing of every song known to have been recorded by the Trio. If you are (or know) a devoted Kingston Trio fan, this book is a must!

Folk Era albums can be found at most fine record stores. For a complete listing of Folk Era and other popular folk music albums, information on subscribing to popular folk Music today, and where to find the kingston trio on record book, call or write: Rediscover Music 705 S. Washington St., Naperville, IL 60540-6654 (800) 232-7328

Last revised:March 30, 2006.