December 3, 2024 • 34 mins
One of the most influential bands in American music history performs Dec. 7 at Key West Theater.
The Kingston Trio, a legacy band that carries the torch for one of the most influential musical movements in modern history, blending calypso, folk, bluegrass and rock themes into the Americana mainstream, performs Saturday, Dec. 7 at the Key West Theater.Keys Weekly's Britt Myers and Mandy Miles catch up with the trio for the latest episode of the Florida Keys Weekly podcast. They discuss the band's historic feats of record-breaking hits and album sales; the Beatles opening for the trio and their influence on Bob Dylan and the folk revival of the early '60s. Many argue the Kingston Trio transformed modern American music alongside pioneers such as Elvis Presley, BB King and The Beach Boys — blending sounds and genres that forever changed how music was performed and marketed. Mike Marvin, Tim Gorelangton and Buddy Woodward represent the group today, performing hits like “Tom Dooley” and "MTA" while reminiscing with nostalgic stories of growing up around the original trio. Don’t miss the podcast, which drops some breaking news (spoiler alert) on a potential upcoming Netflix miniseries on the Kingston Trio. Some tickets remain at thekeywesttheater.com.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
And welcome back everyone to another edition of the Florida
Keys Weekly podcast. I'm your host, Brett Myers. I'm joined
by once again, uh, our editor in Key West, Mandy
Miles of the Keys Weekly Newspapers, the Key West Weekly
in particular. She's gonna be on the show for a
reason today. You're about to find out why.
Before we get started, I want to thank some listeners
out in Radio land, the WKWFAM, the FM 103.3 listeners,
(00:24):
you early risers, thanks for getting up early and listening,
and of course all of our listeners and podcast land
on Spotify, Amazon, Apple, all of you who tune in
and then you can find this show and all the
others from authors like John Feinstein, Carl Hiaasen.
Performers like Jelly Roll, Black Pumas, and on and on
on the Keys Weekly.com podcast section as well. You can
(00:47):
go back and listen to those and I wanna think
Overseas Media Group, the uh social media SEO, uh, digital
marketing company that makes this possible as our sponsor. They're
the local digital company that has the world of experience
that you need and the local service that you always
want so thank you Overseas Media Group.
Now I named some bands we've and performers and famous
names we've had on the show before. I'm particularly excited
(01:10):
about this show because I just feel like all of
those names and all the people who've come along have
been influenced by this particular band all the all the
way back to the Beatles. I mean that's how big
and influential this band.
Is an Americana in our music world and that's none
other than the Kingston Trio. They're gonna be at the
Key West Theater performing right here December 7th, uh, as
(01:31):
we speak, a few tickets might remain if you wanna
get on there and and pull up the Key West Theater.
Uh, and look for those tickets, but that's December 7th
and today joining me from the Kingston Trio is the
current members, uh, who are carrying on that legacy. It's
Mike Marvin, uh, Tim Gorlington, and Buddy Woodward, uh, all
joining us together. We've got the three of them right
here on the phone, uh, gentlemen, thank you so much for, uh,
(01:53):
making this happen and and spending a a moment with us.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Thanks, Brett. Good to be with
you.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Where are you guys all located right now? I know
you're all calling into uh to our show, but where
are you guys located currently?
Uh, this is Buddy. I'm in Tucson, Arizona.
All right,
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Mike, what about you?
Speaker 2 (02:14):
I'm in, I'm in Santa Monica, California. I love Santa Monica.
And this is Tim. I'm in Reno, Nevada. It's about
28 degrees here today. Oh
man,
Speaker 1 (02:24):
I would not have expected that. At
Speaker 2 (02:25):
least you'll be in QS next week, so, uh, it,
it's much warmer down here, I promise.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Gentlemen, I'm gonna talk a lot about you guys and
let you kind of take it away here momentarily as
Mandy and I ask you some questions. Um, going back
to the legacy of the Kingston Trio, I wanna let
our listeners, for those who may have forgotten or just
not know.
Uh, how influential and what that legacy encompasses. I'm just
gonna name a few, uh, facts about the band real
quick as we get started. Uh, obviously, it helped launch
(02:51):
the folk revival back in the 50s and 60s originated
in 1958 around the San Francisco area. The Tom Dooley song,
one of the biggest we all know, sold over 3
million copies of that time, uh, released 19 albums that
made Billboard's top 100, 14 in the top 10, and
5 at number one.
Uh, four of the group's, uh, LP the group, the
Kingston Trio charted in the top 10 selling albums for
(03:12):
5 weeks and 59 for 2 months, and, uh, it
goes on and on. that that record was unmatched for
50 years, you ranked top of the many billboards all-time list,
including most weeks at number one album, most total weeks
charting that album at number one, most consecutive number one
albums and most top 10 albums.
That's just a few accolades and that was
Speaker 2 (03:33):
in the 50s and that was
in the 60s before streaming or anything, you know, you
couldn't download a single song.
Go ahead.
There, there was a slight unfair advantage in that the
Kingston Trio had to put out a new single every
quarter and at least 2 and sometimes as many as
3 LP.
(03:53):
A year. And now it takes like 4 or 5
years for someone to record one record. You're that's amazing.
You're right. And for and for all these all these
numbers and accolades to add up, it's it's amazing that
there wasn't just a, you know, single
Speaker 1 (04:08):
downloadable.
Yeah, and gentlemen, just on that note, and talking about
the Kingston Trio and that original band that back in
the 50s and 60s that that had so much influence
that we'll talk about on the folk movement into the
rock movement uh that that obviously.
Goes back uh to the original, but each of you
gentlemen have a tie to the original band members, um,
(04:30):
you know of Dave and Bob and Nick and I
wanna ask you about that real quick just so listeners
understand that, you know, a lot of times we have
bands that carry on a legacy, the Temptations and you know,
all the way into uh the revivalists in New Orleans
that carry on these traditions and these bands and they
do it well and they carry it on the way
it's supposed to be done.
But you actually have some some really strong ties and
relationships with the original members that make this so special.
(04:52):
If y'all could talk about that real quick, uh, Mike,
I'll just start with you if that's OK.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
Yeah, um, yeah, I was, uh, I'm probably the one
that was the closest in the sense that when I
was a kid, uh, Nick Reynolds took me in. My
cousin Joan had married Nick and I was, I had
grown up at Lake Tahoe and, and, uh, I
(05:18):
You know, I came from a broken home and I
really needed some something and somebody, and Nick took me in.
And it was during that period when the Kingston Trio
was the biggest group in the world and
I just learned everything about the trio. I just was
like a sponge absorbing it, absorbing it. I was almost
a country bumpkin when I started, and then by the
(05:40):
time it was over with, still are, yeah, I still am.
Were they, they were already huge when you joined, you know,
I really.
I became totally immersed. Nick was my best friend. He
was my mentor, and I mean, it didn't matter. It
wasn't just music, but it was like photography. He had
a dark room in his house, taught me how to do,
(06:03):
run a darkroom. It, it was an incredible experience and
I ended up on his pit crew for his race
cars and all that stuff. I was very, very, very close.
And one of the things I was close, close in
was how the trio operated, how they picked their songs,
(06:25):
all that stuff. I was involved in. Later on, I mean,
the trio was, were already big stars, but later on,
between 62 and 68 during that period, I was there
and
You know, uh, we, we're all very close and then
later on, and this is, I always like to mention this, that,
(06:48):
you know, Tim was one of the very few people
who ever, Nick Reynolds ever recorded with besides in the
Kingston trio. So, you know, we do have links that
are unusual, I would say.
And Tim, Tim was in a folk duo, wasn't he?
I met John Stewart in '68, right after I got
(07:10):
out of the, out of the army and started back
in school in Northern California. And uh I had started
uh writing songs of my own when I was working
with a folk group in Germany when I was in
the army. And uh I met John and he was
a very positive influence on me in my writing and
what I was doing and right after that, I met Mike, uh,
(07:33):
singing in a ski bar at Lake Tahoe.
Uh, and first night I met Mike.
We sang together mostly Kingston Trio songs. uh interesting and through,
through Mike, then of course I met Nick and got
to know, uh, him as a person besides just as
a performer. It was a wonderful experience and uh here
(07:56):
we are all these years later, still doing Kingston Trio songs.
the there you go. Uh, my, uh, buddy, my, my,
my father mustered out of the, uh, the Navy in 7.
He went to uh Westchester Teachers College, uh, on the
GI Bill and he met my mother who had a
(08:16):
folk group called the Mark Free Trio. This is in,
you know, uh.
5960, I think is when he met her in his
senior year, and uh they they needed a third person
and and he joined. Uh, he wound up stopping the
song Worried man in the middle of the performance proposed
(08:39):
to her. Oh my God, the banjo player, her boyfriend.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
That's
amazing. That's amazing.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
So, uh, I, I grew up listening to, you know.
Kingston Trio and the Weavers and Peter Paul and Mary,
and a lot of bluegrass as well and country music.
We uh moved to California in 1965 or 1966.
And uh
I saw the uh the Stewart configuration.
(09:09):
I think it was uh New Year's, like right right
after New Year's.
6667, uh, at the Circle Star Theater in San Carlos, California,
and I think that was the start of their farewell
tour or something like that. I've seen almost every iteration of,
of the Kingston Trio. Wow, that's that's how I learned
(09:31):
how to play and how to, how to do part singing, uh,
I met, uh, George Grove at a, uh, Kingston Trio
concert in
1987 or 1988, it was right after Nick had just
rejoined the group.
(09:51):
And uh they were doing a two week residency at
the Fairmount Hotel in San Francisco.
So, uh, I took my mother the show.
They, they Bob mentioned we're gonna be in the bar,
we're gonna be in the bar after the show if
you want to come out and say hi and you
know buy us drinks and stuff.
(10:14):
So you know, so we went to the bar and
and uh.
I, I, I talked to George because he was the
banjo player, you know, I, I was always attracted to
the banjo players. I love Dave, yeah, Dave Garrick was,
was my hero. Jon Stewart was my hero because those
guys played banjo, you know, and, and Peter Tork was
(10:36):
my hero because he played banjo too, you know, and
Earl Scruggs, but, but Dave and John were like the
first two guys that, uh.
You know, and then the monkeys, of course, but the
distinctive instrument and you know, you can pick it out
of any any instrumental and I love it, that and
the
Speaker 1 (10:53):
mandolins. In the history,
Speaker 2 (10:55):
yeah, plus plus I didn't, I didn't want to get
in Bob or Nick's face, you know what I mean? I, I,
I didn't want to be like a fanboy even though
I'm a fanboy. I still am, you know, talk to
a banjo player.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
the three of you go ahead,
Speaker 2 (11:08):
I'm
sorry.
No, I did, I talked to the banjo player and,
and we, we, we struck up this friendship and we've been,
we've been friends ever since. He, he, you know, he's
been a mentor to me. He, he, you know, kind
of a similar relationship that, that Mike had to, to
Nick in, in certain ways, although I, I, I never
lived with George and I never raided his refrigerator, but.
(11:33):
I, I, uh, you know, he, but he, he, you know,
he had to kind of defang me a little bit and, and,
and teach me professionalism and, you know, what to do,
what not to do, how to treat members of the
audience when you're not on stage, uh, little things like,
you know, what don't.
You know, if, if, if you're in the, the, the banjo,
(11:54):
if you're the guy that that plays banjo and guitar,
you know, don't, don't, don't be fiddling with your picks.
Just use the finger picks for the guitar it's real,
real fast, you can go from one song to the
next without like dropping things and having to pull them
out of your pocket and stuff like that. I.
Little things like that are, are, are just absolutely invaluable,
(12:16):
you know, and then the, the, the coup de grace,
you know, the, the creme de la creme, if you like,
was in 2002 when the Kingston Trio were honored by
the World Folk Association. I think it is, uh.
In, uh, at the Birchmere, it was their forty-fifth anniversary concert.
(12:37):
And it was the Kingston Trio plus Jon Stewart plus
the Limelighters plus the brothers, no, not the brothers, but
the uh the Shaw brothers and and so on. It
was like a great big, it was a cluster folk cluster.
I like it.
That's cool. I like it. And, and I was, I
(12:57):
was invited to be one of the performers.
So I, I got to, I get to play on
stage with the Kingston Trio in Bob's stead. Yeah, so
it was.
So it was George and me and, and uh I,
I think it Nick wasn't, wasn't touring with them anymore
at that point. So I think it was um it
(13:20):
was Bob Hayworth.
So I got to do writer and a couple of
a couple of other numbers with them and it was
and it was really amazing. That's
so cool.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
One of the things that when I, you know, for example,
I was watching, there was a small documentary or a
short documentary about the Kingston Trio then and now that
was done and in that Bob Shane joins one of
the newer versions of the gentleman you're you're referred to already,
but Bob comes on the stage.
And there's, you know, you go back to those 50s
(13:51):
and the banjo, the, the people that played back then,
they didn't just have a knack for being incredible musicians
and just incredible artists. Storytelling and humor, uh, it's incredible
what a comedian, Bob, and I'm sure the rest of
the band was to be able to go up and
tell stories and lead what, you know, we kind of
missed today in a lot of performers is to be
able to really engage an audience with storytelling and humor
(14:12):
and I kind of I didn't know what to expect
when when you gentlemen all called in, but I can
feel that camaraderie between the three of you. I can
feel the humor.
Um, how difficult is that to carry on? How important
is that? And is that something y'all still incorporate into
the shows? Because
Speaker 2 (14:23):
it's gotta be part of, you
know, it's it's gotta be part of the of the
legacy of the Kingston Trio, I would think is that
intimacy and and banter, yeah.
Yeah, Tim, Tim, why didn't you answer that?
One of the things that I remember most about the guys, uh,
back in the day is that they seem to be
having so much fun on stage. Somebody, somebody once remarked
(14:46):
to us that they seem to have more fun than
anybody in the in in the hall, you know, they, uh, and,
and I think part of it was the fact that
they were all just great guys and, and, and really
enjoyed what they were doing.
One thing we, we noticed that when we uh
Came to the group as we wanted to stick to
the original concept of working close together on stage. And
(15:10):
when they started off, there were sound reinforcement was pretty
primitive and most of the halls like had one microphone.
I was gonna say, weren't they all clustered usually around,
usually just around one microphone often, right? Yeah, and, and
the original configuration. Right.
Originally they were clustered around one microphone and that
(15:31):
Closeness to each other, where you're actually banging into each
other and knocking instruments and everything is really conducive to
having fun on stage like Mike, Mike once said, we're
in each other's pockets up there and, and it feels good,
and we don't, don't really use monitors, we mix through
the air because we're so close to each other. And that,
(15:51):
that really helps us out. And I remember that vividly, uh,
seeing the group.
So close together they would have fun with each other
and and we still do we, we, we try to
not just recreate that we, we enjoy that too. That's
the way we've always worked, uh, close to each other and, uh,
it's they were fun and funny, uh, because they liked
(16:13):
each other, they liked, they loved the music, and they
always had a good time. They were always the coolest
guys in the room, and we, uh, we appreciate that.
I feel
Speaker 1 (16:21):
like I feel like you guys are too.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
I can feel it, yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
The the go
Speaker 2 (16:27):
ahead,
Speaker 1 (16:27):
go ahead, guys, don't let me interrupt. I want you
to keep talking as much as you like. I I've
got notes, but I can hear y'all. They wanna hear
you talk and I wanna hear you talk, so please,
if I start y'all just go over me and keep going, please.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
Listen, before I joined, I, I want to tell you that, that, uh,
you know, one of the, one of the most clever
things that uh I think Mike did was, uh, uh,
Mike and Tim, you know, uh, put this, put this
thing back to using a central mic stand. I, I
that that's one of the, the, I thought that's an
absolute genius move right there because, uh, you know, when
(17:03):
When the Kingston Trio, you know, uh, they, they were
trying real hard not to be an oldies act in
the 70s and even into the mid 80s. And in,
in order to, to do that and to survive and
to be, you know, uh, on the, do like lucrative
uh casino shows and things like that, they had to
expand their sound, so they had a drummer, they had
(17:24):
an electric bass player, they had a uh a multi-instrumental
guy that played electric tenor guitar and viola and stuff
like that. Um.
So, but and they stood at 3 microphones spread out
across the stage, the, the frontmen.
Uh, and they didn't move, really. They were, they were
stuck right there in front of their microphones because the
(17:46):
Kingston Trio has never and will never plug in their guitars.
It's the, yeah, it's the sound of an acoustic instruments,
you know, being air mic basically. So, but when these guys,
when these guys came on the scene and, you know, after,
after Bob retired, you know, they they go back to
(18:06):
the original concept of the central mic stand. I, I.
I thought that brilliant, great idea, and it was also
right around the same time that a lot of, you know,
well-known bluegrass artists, you know, like, uh, Alison Krauss and
especially Del McCurry also went back using a minimal mic
set up. Exactly right. A lot of them still do
it at Merlefest at the Bluegrass, you know, festival down
(18:28):
there that you see it all the time.
I've played Merlefest and I've I've done it there. It was,
it was kind of amazing, yeah, yeah. You, you
Speaker 1 (18:38):
talk
Speaker 2 (18:38):
about that
Speaker 1 (18:40):
you talk about the bluegrass movement into the folk movement
and I wanna ask you and I don't mean to
I do want to ask this question though because the
three of you carry this on so well with the
passion that you have for it and the history you
have with it, but you talk about that bluegrass movement.
Going into the folk movement and of course the inspiration
that led to, you know, I know Dylan comes up
and and all that canyon music in San Francisco area
(19:01):
that derived the Beach Boys were influenced the way they
looked and the way they dressed. I mean, the influence
of the Kingston Trio, we couldn't encapsulate that in a
4 hour podcast. Um, how important is that to you
gentlemen to carry on that legacy and go ahead.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
Go ahead.
Well, we'll correct you though. It wasn't bluegrass and deffolk,
it was calypso. Thank you. Oh, good point, good point. OK, OK,
good point.
Yeah,
Speaker 1 (19:24):
so all those blends and there really wasn't much of
anything like you guys, like the Legacy did until it
came along, and it changed music forever from rock to
country to the things we hear today in the bluegrass.
Banjo influence that we now hear in mainstream from country artists,
you know, from, yeah, all the way into some of
the the the folk rock folks we hear and on
(19:44):
and on, but how important is it to carry on
that legacy that was so, you know, changed America culture,
not just music, the American culture and knowing that the
Kingston Trio was behind that, um, and I don't mean
to overemphasize it, but I think it's that big of
a deal. How important it is for you three is
it is it do you ever take that for granted, hey,
we're just playing music or we're carrying on something so
amazing and so important.
(20:05):
Uh, and you're carrying that torch, does it ever dawn
on you that you're you're continuing to do that, or
is that something that you gotta have in the back
burner as you just perform and love doing the music?
Speaker 2 (20:15):
that point to that point, um, yeah, yeah, I think
that everything you said there is accurate and, um.
The Kingston Trio is responsible, I mean, directly responsible for
probably a half dozen really famous, uh, you know, groups
(20:37):
and acts that came afterwards. Our thing now, at least
in my, from my perspective is, um,
You know, keep the music playing, keep the music alive. This,
this is American American Americana music. If ever there if,
if ever it existed in this country, this is it.
And I've finally come to the place where it's like,
(21:01):
You know, let's get the music out there. Let's see
what happens. Let's see who, you know, I'm always hoping that, um,
somebody in the audience buys a CD and gives it
to their grandson or granddaughter. That, that's and that's, that's
kind of where I'm at on the whole thing at
this point. I'm thinking, well, one of these days, one
(21:24):
of these days, some kid's gonna grab this music and wrap,
wrap himself around it.
And you know, fish bit falls Montana and it's gonna break,
it's gonna break again just in a different way than
it did in the past and because everything in life
is cyclical anyway, um, yeah, and so much of the
(21:47):
music from that era came from, you know, the political climate,
the protest songs and the protest music that, you know, the, the,
you know, the attitude away from that, you know.
Yeah, it was really only towards the end that they
started dabbling a little bit and things like where have
all the flowers. Is that their later? OK, OK, so
that wasn't, they weren't the protest. OK. There's a great,
(22:10):
there's a great story of the tree with the White House,
and Lyndon Johnson asked them, please, uh, they were playing
at the White House. Lyndon Johnson asked them not to
play where have all the flowers gone.
Of course you know they did, of course, and uh
(22:30):
of course one of the great, one of the great
things about what uh the trio did by coming on
the scene, of course, the, the weavers had been their
big influence. They always uh acknowledged that, but as they
got more material, needed more material for their albums, uh,
they started picking up on the new.
(22:51):
The newer songwriters, Tom Pax and Gordon Lightfoot, uh, people
like that, and helped usher in the era of the
singer-songwriter so that somebody like Bob Dylan, uh, who openly
acknowledged that he's a true influence on him, people like
that who'd come to prominence and, uh, that was, that
(23:12):
I think was a very important thing that they, uh.
Encourage people not only to make their own music, but to,
to write their own music too. So that was a
big step forward for popular music I think. And did
they always did they record their own? How about, how
about this one? The in our kitchen in, in Oregon, uh,
(23:33):
there was a letter from Al Grossman who was Bob
Dylan's manager back in the day.
Nick Reynolds was, was, was really, he didn't keep mementos
of the trio around the house. So if you walked
into his house, you would never know that he was
in the Kingston Trio, except when you walked in the kitchen,
there was a letter, 22 letters, but one was from
(23:54):
Uh, Albert Grossman, and basically it was asking Nick if
he would please consider one of Bob Dylan's songs because
he really, uh, Grossman believed that Bob Dylan could, first
of all, Bob Dylan needed the money, and secondly, right, buddy,
and secondly, the, the, uh, um,
(24:16):
You know, that, that they, uh, if you got one
of your songs on a trio album, it may oh
my God, that's yeah, yeah, you had a 5 albums
a year. The thing that is in the top of
the Billboard Top 10 or top 20 or something you
could like just one song on a Kingston Trio album.
(24:37):
Back in those days that that would cover a mortgage.
You could buy two cars and a swimming pool to
wash them. Wow, that's one thing about, uh, Nick's house
in Oregon, his little house in Oregon, though you could
tell there was something going on because I remember the
first time I walked in on the coat rack behind the,
behind the front door, there was a tenor guitar hanging there, right.
(24:58):
Is it true
Speaker 1 (24:59):
the Beatles open for
Speaker 2 (25:00):
them? That's
true. That's cool. The Kingston trail were also kind of, uh,
fortunate that they, that they came on the scene when
they did. They're, they're right at the forefront of several
like really important revolutions, and I mean that literally in
in recording technology. For instance, stereo was just coming into prominence.
(25:22):
They up until like, I think the late 60s, you
could still buy.
Albums in either mono or stereo and the stereo was
like a $1 extra or something like that. But they're
right on the forefront of, of, of stereo recording, double
tracking vocals and doing overdubs and stuff like that. That's,
(25:42):
that's pretty. I think Les Paul is really the guy
that that developed that in his home studio with Les
Paul and Mary Ford, but the Kingston Trio.
You're like one, I think their albums starting with the
3rd album, it's, it's one of the first mainstream artists
to double track their vocals and get that big full
(26:06):
choral sound. That's, that's amazing, yeah,
Speaker 1 (26:09):
I had a question.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
Mandy, tell you, Mandy, tell your story. My story here? Oh,
I didn't. That's right the other guys. I just, um,
I joined this podcast with Brett. I have to tell
you guys because I grew up, I'm 48 years old,
my dad's 77.
I grew up bouncing on his knee listening to every
single Kingston Trio song, and I had our wedding DJ
play MTA. The other one he loved was the Chad
(26:32):
Mitchell Trio, so I danced with my dad at my
wedding to the Chad Mitchell's song
Stewball.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
I've never seen her so excited and we've had we've had,
you know, contemporary acts like I say, Jelly roll and
you know whoever on this show who are great to
have and we love doing it, but I've never seen
Mandy and I mean this sincerely, as excited as when
I told her today I was like, hey, I'm about
to interview the the Kingston Trio guys.
He says, Oh, I said, would you, you know, would
you like to come on? I said yes I would.
And so,
Speaker 2 (26:58):
yeah, and I went outside and called my dad. I
said guess who I'm interviewing this afternoon? And he goes,
You're kidding. I said, so I have to give my dad,
my dad's gonna listen, so I have to give a
shout out to Bob Bolin who taught me all your
songs and uh.
MTA, Tom Dooley, Greenback Dollar, all those. So yes, it's
an honor. I'll see you guys when you're here on
December 7th. But I also wanted to ask, when you
play shows, I know you're touring, you know, you're, you're
(27:20):
gonna be in Key West next week, then you're going
up to the villages out to Arizona, California, um, what
do you, what's your sense of either your both your
favorite song to play that gets the crowd going and
what is the most requested song from, from your various audiences?
Here you go, Mike.
Well, we, it's interesting. People shout out from the audience,
(27:42):
you know, certain songs we don't do, and, and so
that I think in my case right now we never did.
That's true. Every now and then shout out songs that
aren't yours. Free bird. Yeah, every now and then somebody
will call, call one that we that the trio never recorded.
I go, I go, uh, I, I, my mood switches, um,
(28:06):
where have all the flowers gone and happens to be
one of my favorite hobo's lullabies and uh the reason
why hobo's lullabies is a favorite of mine is because
I helped pick it.
Uh, for the trio album when it was originally recorded.
And then, um, but more lately, we, we're doing a
non-trio song that, um, was written by Jon Stewart who
(28:29):
was in the Kingston Trio, uh, called Armstrong, which celebrates
Neil Armstrong's walk on the moon. That's the only that's
the only song in our entire show that's not really.
Uh, a recognizable song by the Kingston Trio. Although once
in a while, uh, somebody will come up to me
(28:49):
and say, oh, I heard that song. I heard Jon
Stewart's version of it somewhere along the line. So, but
that's me. That's those are, those are my favorites. That's cool.
That's cool. What about the rest of you guys and
what else, what else is the either the most requested too?
Traditionally the most requested song has always been scotch and soda. OK, OK,
that makes sense, and that'll probably be the same in
(29:11):
Key West. I wouldn't be
surprised
Speaker 1 (29:14):
or
Speaker 2 (29:14):
or
Speaker 1 (29:14):
mm,
Speaker 2 (29:16):
but also, yeah, exactly. Yeah, we, we get a lot of,
you know, when people are, you know, super fans will
come up and they'll request.
You know, some, some really wild and wacky stuff that, that,
you know, we're we're on album tracks or the B
side of the, you know, a single of theirs or
something like that. The thing is that the Kingston Trio,
(29:37):
I mean, just because they recorded a song doesn't mean
that they learned it up to play live, right? You
know what I mean? So there's like, I would say
about 80% of their of their catalog was never performed
on stage.
You know, because people have, they have to get the hits.
I mean, what, what do you, you know, we only
have so long on stage, so sometimes it's down to
(29:59):
do we do this hit or do we do that one?
Do we put this on that list.
Always have requests for things like NTA. That's gonna be
my better play that. That's my favorite. OK, good. That's
$1 you know.
You
Speaker 1 (30:20):
guys keep saying they though you guys are the Kingston Trio,
you're carrying this on, with all due respect to the originals,
but you, you guys are, and I, we don't even
have enough time to dig into the amazing talent that
the three of you are, the time you put into it,
the expertise, the, the coordination, the harmony and everything you
gentlemen do, um, but I do wanna ask you, as
we get close to time here is.
(30:42):
Um, there was such an incredible movement out west when
this started, the influence, I know there's so many stories
you haven't covered. I heard something that maybe the Beatles
opened for how many people with the Beatles open for,
I mean that's amazing, um,
Speaker 2 (30:53):
but
Speaker 1 (30:54):
have you guys ever played on stages where the originals
played and felt that nostalgia, and have you ever been
to Key West?
Speaker 2 (31:00):
Oh yes, yes, I mean, we've played, we've played stages
that the trio played, and Tim and I, um, I
remember a couple of times early on, Tim and I
acknowledged how strange it feels to be doing it. Yeah, it's,
it is odd. It is an odd feeling. I asked
myself often. I said, what would Nick Reynolds think right
(31:22):
now if he saw this? Just, you know, I asked
myself that all the time, but I think also I
think he'd be proud.
Oh, I can't imagine yeah I'm sure he would.
Mike and I started out at a ski bar in
Tahoe City called the Four Winds, and there's been many
a time we're standing backstage ready to go on some
big hall in Denver or uh some uh Palm Desert
(31:48):
or something like that, and we'll poke each other in
the ribs and go, we're a long ways from the
four winds.
Nice,
nice, that's cool.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
Have you guys been to Key West before? Have you
have you been to Key West?
Speaker 2 (32:00):
4th time. Oh, nice, good, good. Do you have,
Speaker 1 (32:03):
do you have something in Key West you have to
do just to kind of tie that local tie into
this show? Sloop
Speaker 2 (32:08):
John Bloop you have to do that, yes, and you
guys did it before the Beach Boys, so, uh, so
that yeah.
And, and the, uh, the Weavers did it before the
Kingston Trio. Oh wow, OK, yes, I was gonna say
that's oh I I can't wait.
I'm so excited
Speaker 1 (32:23):
for the show. I have to ask you this real
quick as we wrap, he goes, you know, the Bob
Dylan movies coming up and I know Bob, you know,
was in a position to be where he was because
of the Kingston Trio, but he was also able to
kinda stick his nose up with sort of the I'm
the new liberal.
Political movement guy, and later he he certainly recognized that
appreciation and how they propelled him for that position, but
(32:45):
obviously that movie's coming out, we've had Johnny Cash movies
and on and on. Why, why is there not a
mainstream like is or is there something in the works?
So I just feel like a Kingston Trio movie would
be amazing and baffling. Is
Speaker 2 (32:55):
that something is there not enough scandal. Oh really? break
some news? Are we breaking news here?
Yeah, um, we've been working on, uh, uh, on possible Netflix.
It's about 2 weeks from completion, 12 1 hour episodes.
Full dramatic story, full dramatic story of the Kingston Trio
(33:20):
origins starting with, uh, Frank Werber's.
Um, Frank Werber's escaping from a Nazi concentration camp and
making it to San Francisco and finding these guys and
nurturing them into the biggest group in the world.
Speaker 1 (33:39):
It's a big sign me up. Do we know about
the time I know we've had Carl Hien on talking
about Bad Monkey. I know it's hard to tell when
a show's going to be released, you never know, but
is there any timetable when that might come out, uh,
any idea at all?
Speaker 2 (33:51):
It would be not really, but, um, hopefully it'd be 2026.
Alright,
Speaker 1 (33:56):
sign me up. I cannot wait. Gentlemen, I know I
can talk to you all day. I've got so many questions,
but we're at our time here and I know it's
uh uh time to celebrate a holiday for Thanksgiving. We're
thankful for you, we're thankful for the legacy you're preserving,
we're thankful for the talent you bring to us and
the joy you bring to listeners. Uh, thank you all
for coming on this show. It means a lot and
I can't wait to see you here. This is great
Speaker 2 (34:17):
and don't forget everybody,
yeah.
We'd like to leave you with our corporate motto which
a clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.
I love that. I, and it's so perfect for Key West.
I love it. That's so
perfect. So December with us at the
theater. That's motto.
Thank you guys have fun. December
Speaker 1 (34:38):
7th, Kingston Trio, uh, we're gonna see you here. You
can still get tickets at the Key Westheatre.com. It is
gonna be great, as you can already tell with this
energy here, Mike, Tim, buddy, you guys are amazing. Thank
you again for coming on and we can't wait to
see you here at the Kingston Trio here in Key West.
Thank you all for guys,
Speaker 2 (34:54):
happy Thanksgiving.
And welcome back everyone to another edition of the Florida
Keys Weekly podcast. I'm your host, Brett Myers. I'm joined
by once again, uh, our editor in Key West, Mandy
Miles of the Keys Weekly Newspapers, the Key West Weekly
in particular. She's gonna be on the show for a
reason today. You're about to find out why.
Before we get started, I want to thank some listeners
out in Radio land, the WKWFAM, the FM 103.3 listeners,
(00:24):
you early risers, thanks for getting up early and listening,
and of course all of our listeners and podcast land
on Spotify, Amazon, Apple, all of you who tune in
and then you can find this show and all the
others from authors like John Feinstein, Carl Hiaasen.
Performers like Jelly Roll, Black Pumas, and on and on
on the Keys Weekly.com podcast section as well. You can
(00:47):
go back and listen to those and I wanna think
Overseas Media Group, the uh social media SEO, uh, digital
marketing company that makes this possible as our sponsor. They're
the local digital company that has the world of experience
that you need and the local service that you always
want so thank you Overseas Media Group.
Now I named some bands we've and performers and famous
names we've had on the show before. I'm particularly excited
(01:10):
about this show because I just feel like all of
those names and all the people who've come along have
been influenced by this particular band all the all the
way back to the Beatles. I mean that's how big
and influential this band.
Is an Americana in our music world and that's none
other than the Kingston Trio. They're gonna be at the
Key West Theater performing right here December 7th, uh, as
(01:31):
we speak, a few tickets might remain if you wanna
get on there and and pull up the Key West Theater.
Uh, and look for those tickets, but that's December 7th
and today joining me from the Kingston Trio is the
current members, uh, who are carrying on that legacy. It's
Mike Marvin, uh, Tim Gorlington, and Buddy Woodward, uh, all
joining us together. We've got the three of them right
here on the phone, uh, gentlemen, thank you so much for, uh,
(01:53):
making this happen and and spending a a moment with us.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Thanks, Brett. Good to be with
you.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Where are you guys all located right now? I know
you're all calling into uh to our show, but where
are you guys located currently?
Uh, this is Buddy. I'm in Tucson, Arizona.
All right,
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Mike, what about you?
Speaker 2 (02:14):
I'm in, I'm in Santa Monica, California. I love Santa Monica.
And this is Tim. I'm in Reno, Nevada. It's about
28 degrees here today. Oh
man,
Speaker 1 (02:24):
I would not have expected that. At
Speaker 2 (02:25):
least you'll be in QS next week, so, uh, it,
it's much warmer down here, I promise.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Gentlemen, I'm gonna talk a lot about you guys and
let you kind of take it away here momentarily as
Mandy and I ask you some questions. Um, going back
to the legacy of the Kingston Trio, I wanna let
our listeners, for those who may have forgotten or just
not know.
Uh, how influential and what that legacy encompasses. I'm just
gonna name a few, uh, facts about the band real
quick as we get started. Uh, obviously, it helped launch
(02:51):
the folk revival back in the 50s and 60s originated
in 1958 around the San Francisco area. The Tom Dooley song,
one of the biggest we all know, sold over 3
million copies of that time, uh, released 19 albums that
made Billboard's top 100, 14 in the top 10, and
5 at number one.
Uh, four of the group's, uh, LP the group, the
Kingston Trio charted in the top 10 selling albums for
(03:12):
5 weeks and 59 for 2 months, and, uh, it
goes on and on. that that record was unmatched for
50 years, you ranked top of the many billboards all-time list,
including most weeks at number one album, most total weeks
charting that album at number one, most consecutive number one
albums and most top 10 albums.
That's just a few accolades and that was
Speaker 2 (03:33):
in the 50s and that was
in the 60s before streaming or anything, you know, you
couldn't download a single song.
Go ahead.
There, there was a slight unfair advantage in that the
Kingston Trio had to put out a new single every
quarter and at least 2 and sometimes as many as
3 LP.
(03:53):
A year. And now it takes like 4 or 5
years for someone to record one record. You're that's amazing.
You're right. And for and for all these all these
numbers and accolades to add up, it's it's amazing that
there wasn't just a, you know, single
Speaker 1 (04:08):
downloadable.
Yeah, and gentlemen, just on that note, and talking about
the Kingston Trio and that original band that back in
the 50s and 60s that that had so much influence
that we'll talk about on the folk movement into the
rock movement uh that that obviously.
Goes back uh to the original, but each of you
gentlemen have a tie to the original band members, um,
(04:30):
you know of Dave and Bob and Nick and I
wanna ask you about that real quick just so listeners
understand that, you know, a lot of times we have
bands that carry on a legacy, the Temptations and you know,
all the way into uh the revivalists in New Orleans
that carry on these traditions and these bands and they
do it well and they carry it on the way
it's supposed to be done.
But you actually have some some really strong ties and
relationships with the original members that make this so special.
(04:52):
If y'all could talk about that real quick, uh, Mike,
I'll just start with you if that's OK.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
Yeah, um, yeah, I was, uh, I'm probably the one
that was the closest in the sense that when I
was a kid, uh, Nick Reynolds took me in. My
cousin Joan had married Nick and I was, I had
grown up at Lake Tahoe and, and, uh, I
(05:18):
You know, I came from a broken home and I
really needed some something and somebody, and Nick took me in.
And it was during that period when the Kingston Trio
was the biggest group in the world and
I just learned everything about the trio. I just was
like a sponge absorbing it, absorbing it. I was almost
a country bumpkin when I started, and then by the
(05:40):
time it was over with, still are, yeah, I still am.
Were they, they were already huge when you joined, you know,
I really.
I became totally immersed. Nick was my best friend. He
was my mentor, and I mean, it didn't matter. It
wasn't just music, but it was like photography. He had
a dark room in his house, taught me how to do,
(06:03):
run a darkroom. It, it was an incredible experience and
I ended up on his pit crew for his race
cars and all that stuff. I was very, very, very close.
And one of the things I was close, close in
was how the trio operated, how they picked their songs,
(06:25):
all that stuff. I was involved in. Later on, I mean,
the trio was, were already big stars, but later on,
between 62 and 68 during that period, I was there
and
You know, uh, we, we're all very close and then
later on, and this is, I always like to mention this, that,
(06:48):
you know, Tim was one of the very few people
who ever, Nick Reynolds ever recorded with besides in the
Kingston trio. So, you know, we do have links that
are unusual, I would say.
And Tim, Tim was in a folk duo, wasn't he?
I met John Stewart in '68, right after I got
(07:10):
out of the, out of the army and started back
in school in Northern California. And uh I had started
uh writing songs of my own when I was working
with a folk group in Germany when I was in
the army. And uh I met John and he was
a very positive influence on me in my writing and
what I was doing and right after that, I met Mike, uh,
(07:33):
singing in a ski bar at Lake Tahoe.
Uh, and first night I met Mike.
We sang together mostly Kingston Trio songs. uh interesting and through,
through Mike, then of course I met Nick and got
to know, uh, him as a person besides just as
a performer. It was a wonderful experience and uh here
(07:56):
we are all these years later, still doing Kingston Trio songs.
the there you go. Uh, my, uh, buddy, my, my,
my father mustered out of the, uh, the Navy in 7.
He went to uh Westchester Teachers College, uh, on the
GI Bill and he met my mother who had a
(08:16):
folk group called the Mark Free Trio. This is in,
you know, uh.
5960, I think is when he met her in his
senior year, and uh they they needed a third person
and and he joined. Uh, he wound up stopping the
song Worried man in the middle of the performance proposed
(08:39):
to her. Oh my God, the banjo player, her boyfriend.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
That's
amazing. That's amazing.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
So, uh, I, I grew up listening to, you know.
Kingston Trio and the Weavers and Peter Paul and Mary,
and a lot of bluegrass as well and country music.
We uh moved to California in 1965 or 1966.
And uh
I saw the uh the Stewart configuration.
(09:09):
I think it was uh New Year's, like right right
after New Year's.
6667, uh, at the Circle Star Theater in San Carlos, California,
and I think that was the start of their farewell
tour or something like that. I've seen almost every iteration of,
of the Kingston Trio. Wow, that's that's how I learned
(09:31):
how to play and how to, how to do part singing, uh,
I met, uh, George Grove at a, uh, Kingston Trio
concert in
1987 or 1988, it was right after Nick had just
rejoined the group.
(09:51):
And uh they were doing a two week residency at
the Fairmount Hotel in San Francisco.
So, uh, I took my mother the show.
They, they Bob mentioned we're gonna be in the bar,
we're gonna be in the bar after the show if
you want to come out and say hi and you
know buy us drinks and stuff.
(10:14):
So you know, so we went to the bar and
and uh.
I, I, I talked to George because he was the
banjo player, you know, I, I was always attracted to
the banjo players. I love Dave, yeah, Dave Garrick was,
was my hero. Jon Stewart was my hero because those
guys played banjo, you know, and, and Peter Tork was
(10:36):
my hero because he played banjo too, you know, and
Earl Scruggs, but, but Dave and John were like the
first two guys that, uh.
You know, and then the monkeys, of course, but the
distinctive instrument and you know, you can pick it out
of any any instrumental and I love it, that and
the
Speaker 1 (10:53):
mandolins. In the history,
Speaker 2 (10:55):
yeah, plus plus I didn't, I didn't want to get
in Bob or Nick's face, you know what I mean? I, I,
I didn't want to be like a fanboy even though
I'm a fanboy. I still am, you know, talk to
a banjo player.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
the three of you go ahead,
Speaker 2 (11:08):
I'm
sorry.
No, I did, I talked to the banjo player and,
and we, we, we struck up this friendship and we've been,
we've been friends ever since. He, he, you know, he's
been a mentor to me. He, he, you know, kind
of a similar relationship that, that Mike had to, to
Nick in, in certain ways, although I, I, I never
lived with George and I never raided his refrigerator, but.
(11:33):
I, I, uh, you know, he, but he, he, you know,
he had to kind of defang me a little bit and, and,
and teach me professionalism and, you know, what to do,
what not to do, how to treat members of the
audience when you're not on stage, uh, little things like,
you know, what don't.
You know, if, if, if you're in the, the, the banjo,
(11:54):
if you're the guy that that plays banjo and guitar,
you know, don't, don't, don't be fiddling with your picks.
Just use the finger picks for the guitar it's real,
real fast, you can go from one song to the
next without like dropping things and having to pull them
out of your pocket and stuff like that. I.
Little things like that are, are, are just absolutely invaluable,
(12:16):
you know, and then the, the, the coup de grace,
you know, the, the creme de la creme, if you like,
was in 2002 when the Kingston Trio were honored by
the World Folk Association. I think it is, uh.
In, uh, at the Birchmere, it was their forty-fifth anniversary concert.
(12:37):
And it was the Kingston Trio plus Jon Stewart plus
the Limelighters plus the brothers, no, not the brothers, but
the uh the Shaw brothers and and so on. It
was like a great big, it was a cluster folk cluster.
I like it.
That's cool. I like it. And, and I was, I
(12:57):
was invited to be one of the performers.
So I, I got to, I get to play on
stage with the Kingston Trio in Bob's stead. Yeah, so
it was.
So it was George and me and, and uh I,
I think it Nick wasn't, wasn't touring with them anymore
at that point. So I think it was um it
(13:20):
was Bob Hayworth.
So I got to do writer and a couple of
a couple of other numbers with them and it was
and it was really amazing. That's
so cool.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
One of the things that when I, you know, for example,
I was watching, there was a small documentary or a
short documentary about the Kingston Trio then and now that
was done and in that Bob Shane joins one of
the newer versions of the gentleman you're you're referred to already,
but Bob comes on the stage.
And there's, you know, you go back to those 50s
(13:51):
and the banjo, the, the people that played back then,
they didn't just have a knack for being incredible musicians
and just incredible artists. Storytelling and humor, uh, it's incredible
what a comedian, Bob, and I'm sure the rest of
the band was to be able to go up and
tell stories and lead what, you know, we kind of
missed today in a lot of performers is to be
able to really engage an audience with storytelling and humor
(14:12):
and I kind of I didn't know what to expect
when when you gentlemen all called in, but I can
feel that camaraderie between the three of you. I can
feel the humor.
Um, how difficult is that to carry on? How important
is that? And is that something y'all still incorporate into
the shows? Because
Speaker 2 (14:23):
it's gotta be part of, you
know, it's it's gotta be part of the of the
legacy of the Kingston Trio, I would think is that
intimacy and and banter, yeah.
Yeah, Tim, Tim, why didn't you answer that?
One of the things that I remember most about the guys, uh,
back in the day is that they seem to be
having so much fun on stage. Somebody, somebody once remarked
(14:46):
to us that they seem to have more fun than
anybody in the in in the hall, you know, they, uh, and,
and I think part of it was the fact that
they were all just great guys and, and, and really
enjoyed what they were doing.
One thing we, we noticed that when we uh
Came to the group as we wanted to stick to
the original concept of working close together on stage. And
(15:10):
when they started off, there were sound reinforcement was pretty
primitive and most of the halls like had one microphone.
I was gonna say, weren't they all clustered usually around,
usually just around one microphone often, right? Yeah, and, and
the original configuration. Right.
Originally they were clustered around one microphone and that
(15:31):
Closeness to each other, where you're actually banging into each
other and knocking instruments and everything is really conducive to
having fun on stage like Mike, Mike once said, we're
in each other's pockets up there and, and it feels good,
and we don't, don't really use monitors, we mix through
the air because we're so close to each other. And that,
(15:51):
that really helps us out. And I remember that vividly, uh,
seeing the group.
So close together they would have fun with each other
and and we still do we, we, we try to
not just recreate that we, we enjoy that too. That's
the way we've always worked, uh, close to each other and, uh,
it's they were fun and funny, uh, because they liked
(16:13):
each other, they liked, they loved the music, and they
always had a good time. They were always the coolest
guys in the room, and we, uh, we appreciate that.
I feel
Speaker 1 (16:21):
like I feel like you guys are too.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
I can feel it, yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
The the go
Speaker 2 (16:27):
ahead,
Speaker 1 (16:27):
go ahead, guys, don't let me interrupt. I want you
to keep talking as much as you like. I I've
got notes, but I can hear y'all. They wanna hear
you talk and I wanna hear you talk, so please,
if I start y'all just go over me and keep going, please.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
Listen, before I joined, I, I want to tell you that, that, uh,
you know, one of the, one of the most clever
things that uh I think Mike did was, uh, uh,
Mike and Tim, you know, uh, put this, put this
thing back to using a central mic stand. I, I
that that's one of the, the, I thought that's an
absolute genius move right there because, uh, you know, when
(17:03):
When the Kingston Trio, you know, uh, they, they were
trying real hard not to be an oldies act in
the 70s and even into the mid 80s. And in,
in order to, to do that and to survive and
to be, you know, uh, on the, do like lucrative
uh casino shows and things like that, they had to
expand their sound, so they had a drummer, they had
(17:24):
an electric bass player, they had a uh a multi-instrumental
guy that played electric tenor guitar and viola and stuff
like that. Um.
So, but and they stood at 3 microphones spread out
across the stage, the, the frontmen.
Uh, and they didn't move, really. They were, they were
stuck right there in front of their microphones because the
(17:46):
Kingston Trio has never and will never plug in their guitars.
It's the, yeah, it's the sound of an acoustic instruments,
you know, being air mic basically. So, but when these guys,
when these guys came on the scene and, you know, after,
after Bob retired, you know, they they go back to
(18:06):
the original concept of the central mic stand. I, I.
I thought that brilliant, great idea, and it was also
right around the same time that a lot of, you know,
well-known bluegrass artists, you know, like, uh, Alison Krauss and
especially Del McCurry also went back using a minimal mic
set up. Exactly right. A lot of them still do
it at Merlefest at the Bluegrass, you know, festival down
(18:28):
there that you see it all the time.
I've played Merlefest and I've I've done it there. It was,
it was kind of amazing, yeah, yeah. You, you
Speaker 1 (18:38):
talk
Speaker 2 (18:38):
about that
Speaker 1 (18:40):
you talk about the bluegrass movement into the folk movement
and I wanna ask you and I don't mean to
I do want to ask this question though because the
three of you carry this on so well with the
passion that you have for it and the history you
have with it, but you talk about that bluegrass movement.
Going into the folk movement and of course the inspiration
that led to, you know, I know Dylan comes up
and and all that canyon music in San Francisco area
(19:01):
that derived the Beach Boys were influenced the way they
looked and the way they dressed. I mean, the influence
of the Kingston Trio, we couldn't encapsulate that in a
4 hour podcast. Um, how important is that to you
gentlemen to carry on that legacy and go ahead.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
Go ahead.
Well, we'll correct you though. It wasn't bluegrass and deffolk,
it was calypso. Thank you. Oh, good point, good point. OK, OK,
good point.
Yeah,
Speaker 1 (19:24):
so all those blends and there really wasn't much of
anything like you guys, like the Legacy did until it
came along, and it changed music forever from rock to
country to the things we hear today in the bluegrass.
Banjo influence that we now hear in mainstream from country artists,
you know, from, yeah, all the way into some of
the the the folk rock folks we hear and on
(19:44):
and on, but how important is it to carry on
that legacy that was so, you know, changed America culture,
not just music, the American culture and knowing that the
Kingston Trio was behind that, um, and I don't mean
to overemphasize it, but I think it's that big of
a deal. How important it is for you three is
it is it do you ever take that for granted, hey,
we're just playing music or we're carrying on something so
amazing and so important.
(20:05):
Uh, and you're carrying that torch, does it ever dawn
on you that you're you're continuing to do that, or
is that something that you gotta have in the back
burner as you just perform and love doing the music?
Speaker 2 (20:15):
that point to that point, um, yeah, yeah, I think
that everything you said there is accurate and, um.
The Kingston Trio is responsible, I mean, directly responsible for
probably a half dozen really famous, uh, you know, groups
(20:37):
and acts that came afterwards. Our thing now, at least
in my, from my perspective is, um,
You know, keep the music playing, keep the music alive. This,
this is American American Americana music. If ever there if,
if ever it existed in this country, this is it.
And I've finally come to the place where it's like,
(21:01):
You know, let's get the music out there. Let's see
what happens. Let's see who, you know, I'm always hoping that, um,
somebody in the audience buys a CD and gives it
to their grandson or granddaughter. That, that's and that's, that's
kind of where I'm at on the whole thing at
this point. I'm thinking, well, one of these days, one
(21:24):
of these days, some kid's gonna grab this music and wrap,
wrap himself around it.
And you know, fish bit falls Montana and it's gonna break,
it's gonna break again just in a different way than
it did in the past and because everything in life
is cyclical anyway, um, yeah, and so much of the
(21:47):
music from that era came from, you know, the political climate,
the protest songs and the protest music that, you know, the, the,
you know, the attitude away from that, you know.
Yeah, it was really only towards the end that they
started dabbling a little bit and things like where have
all the flowers. Is that their later? OK, OK, so
that wasn't, they weren't the protest. OK. There's a great,
(22:10):
there's a great story of the tree with the White House,
and Lyndon Johnson asked them, please, uh, they were playing
at the White House. Lyndon Johnson asked them not to
play where have all the flowers gone.
Of course you know they did, of course, and uh
(22:30):
of course one of the great, one of the great
things about what uh the trio did by coming on
the scene, of course, the, the weavers had been their
big influence. They always uh acknowledged that, but as they
got more material, needed more material for their albums, uh,
they started picking up on the new.
(22:51):
The newer songwriters, Tom Pax and Gordon Lightfoot, uh, people
like that, and helped usher in the era of the
singer-songwriter so that somebody like Bob Dylan, uh, who openly
acknowledged that he's a true influence on him, people like
that who'd come to prominence and, uh, that was, that
(23:12):
I think was a very important thing that they, uh.
Encourage people not only to make their own music, but to,
to write their own music too. So that was a
big step forward for popular music I think. And did
they always did they record their own? How about, how
about this one? The in our kitchen in, in Oregon, uh,
(23:33):
there was a letter from Al Grossman who was Bob
Dylan's manager back in the day.
Nick Reynolds was, was, was really, he didn't keep mementos
of the trio around the house. So if you walked
into his house, you would never know that he was
in the Kingston Trio, except when you walked in the kitchen,
there was a letter, 22 letters, but one was from
(23:54):
Uh, Albert Grossman, and basically it was asking Nick if
he would please consider one of Bob Dylan's songs because
he really, uh, Grossman believed that Bob Dylan could, first
of all, Bob Dylan needed the money, and secondly, right, buddy,
and secondly, the, the, uh, um,
(24:16):
You know, that, that they, uh, if you got one
of your songs on a trio album, it may oh
my God, that's yeah, yeah, you had a 5 albums
a year. The thing that is in the top of
the Billboard Top 10 or top 20 or something you
could like just one song on a Kingston Trio album.
(24:37):
Back in those days that that would cover a mortgage.
You could buy two cars and a swimming pool to
wash them. Wow, that's one thing about, uh, Nick's house
in Oregon, his little house in Oregon, though you could
tell there was something going on because I remember the
first time I walked in on the coat rack behind the,
behind the front door, there was a tenor guitar hanging there, right.
(24:58):
Is it true
Speaker 1 (24:59):
the Beatles open for
Speaker 2 (25:00):
them? That's
true. That's cool. The Kingston trail were also kind of, uh,
fortunate that they, that they came on the scene when
they did. They're, they're right at the forefront of several
like really important revolutions, and I mean that literally in
in recording technology. For instance, stereo was just coming into prominence.
(25:22):
They up until like, I think the late 60s, you
could still buy.
Albums in either mono or stereo and the stereo was
like a $1 extra or something like that. But they're
right on the forefront of, of, of stereo recording, double
tracking vocals and doing overdubs and stuff like that. That's,
(25:42):
that's pretty. I think Les Paul is really the guy
that that developed that in his home studio with Les
Paul and Mary Ford, but the Kingston Trio.
You're like one, I think their albums starting with the
3rd album, it's, it's one of the first mainstream artists
to double track their vocals and get that big full
(26:06):
choral sound. That's, that's amazing, yeah,
Speaker 1 (26:09):
I had a question.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
Mandy, tell you, Mandy, tell your story. My story here? Oh,
I didn't. That's right the other guys. I just, um,
I joined this podcast with Brett. I have to tell
you guys because I grew up, I'm 48 years old,
my dad's 77.
I grew up bouncing on his knee listening to every
single Kingston Trio song, and I had our wedding DJ
play MTA. The other one he loved was the Chad
(26:32):
Mitchell Trio, so I danced with my dad at my
wedding to the Chad Mitchell's song
Stewball.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
I've never seen her so excited and we've had we've had,
you know, contemporary acts like I say, Jelly roll and
you know whoever on this show who are great to
have and we love doing it, but I've never seen
Mandy and I mean this sincerely, as excited as when
I told her today I was like, hey, I'm about
to interview the the Kingston Trio guys.
He says, Oh, I said, would you, you know, would
you like to come on? I said yes I would.
And so,
Speaker 2 (26:58):
yeah, and I went outside and called my dad. I
said guess who I'm interviewing this afternoon? And he goes,
You're kidding. I said, so I have to give my dad,
my dad's gonna listen, so I have to give a
shout out to Bob Bolin who taught me all your
songs and uh.
MTA, Tom Dooley, Greenback Dollar, all those. So yes, it's
an honor. I'll see you guys when you're here on
December 7th. But I also wanted to ask, when you
play shows, I know you're touring, you know, you're, you're
(27:20):
gonna be in Key West next week, then you're going
up to the villages out to Arizona, California, um, what
do you, what's your sense of either your both your
favorite song to play that gets the crowd going and
what is the most requested song from, from your various audiences?
Here you go, Mike.
Well, we, it's interesting. People shout out from the audience,
(27:42):
you know, certain songs we don't do, and, and so
that I think in my case right now we never did.
That's true. Every now and then shout out songs that
aren't yours. Free bird. Yeah, every now and then somebody
will call, call one that we that the trio never recorded.
I go, I go, uh, I, I, my mood switches, um,
(28:06):
where have all the flowers gone and happens to be
one of my favorite hobo's lullabies and uh the reason
why hobo's lullabies is a favorite of mine is because
I helped pick it.
Uh, for the trio album when it was originally recorded.
And then, um, but more lately, we, we're doing a
non-trio song that, um, was written by Jon Stewart who
(28:29):
was in the Kingston Trio, uh, called Armstrong, which celebrates
Neil Armstrong's walk on the moon. That's the only that's
the only song in our entire show that's not really.
Uh, a recognizable song by the Kingston Trio. Although once
in a while, uh, somebody will come up to me
(28:49):
and say, oh, I heard that song. I heard Jon
Stewart's version of it somewhere along the line. So, but
that's me. That's those are, those are my favorites. That's cool.
That's cool. What about the rest of you guys and
what else, what else is the either the most requested too?
Traditionally the most requested song has always been scotch and soda. OK, OK,
that makes sense, and that'll probably be the same in
(29:11):
Key West. I wouldn't be
surprised
Speaker 1 (29:14):
or
Speaker 2 (29:14):
or
Speaker 1 (29:14):
mm,
Speaker 2 (29:16):
but also, yeah, exactly. Yeah, we, we get a lot of,
you know, when people are, you know, super fans will
come up and they'll request.
You know, some, some really wild and wacky stuff that, that,
you know, we're we're on album tracks or the B
side of the, you know, a single of theirs or
something like that. The thing is that the Kingston Trio,
(29:37):
I mean, just because they recorded a song doesn't mean
that they learned it up to play live, right? You
know what I mean? So there's like, I would say
about 80% of their of their catalog was never performed
on stage.
You know, because people have, they have to get the hits.
I mean, what, what do you, you know, we only
have so long on stage, so sometimes it's down to
(29:59):
do we do this hit or do we do that one?
Do we put this on that list.
Always have requests for things like NTA. That's gonna be
my better play that. That's my favorite. OK, good. That's
$1 you know.
You
Speaker 1 (30:20):
guys keep saying they though you guys are the Kingston Trio,
you're carrying this on, with all due respect to the originals,
but you, you guys are, and I, we don't even
have enough time to dig into the amazing talent that
the three of you are, the time you put into it,
the expertise, the, the coordination, the harmony and everything you
gentlemen do, um, but I do wanna ask you, as
we get close to time here is.
(30:42):
Um, there was such an incredible movement out west when
this started, the influence, I know there's so many stories
you haven't covered. I heard something that maybe the Beatles
opened for how many people with the Beatles open for,
I mean that's amazing, um,
Speaker 2 (30:53):
but
Speaker 1 (30:54):
have you guys ever played on stages where the originals
played and felt that nostalgia, and have you ever been
to Key West?
Speaker 2 (31:00):
Oh yes, yes, I mean, we've played, we've played stages
that the trio played, and Tim and I, um, I
remember a couple of times early on, Tim and I
acknowledged how strange it feels to be doing it. Yeah, it's,
it is odd. It is an odd feeling. I asked
myself often. I said, what would Nick Reynolds think right
(31:22):
now if he saw this? Just, you know, I asked
myself that all the time, but I think also I
think he'd be proud.
Oh, I can't imagine yeah I'm sure he would.
Mike and I started out at a ski bar in
Tahoe City called the Four Winds, and there's been many
a time we're standing backstage ready to go on some
big hall in Denver or uh some uh Palm Desert
(31:48):
or something like that, and we'll poke each other in
the ribs and go, we're a long ways from the
four winds.
Nice,
nice, that's cool.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
Have you guys been to Key West before? Have you
have you been to Key West?
Speaker 2 (32:00):
4th time. Oh, nice, good, good. Do you have,
Speaker 1 (32:03):
do you have something in Key West you have to
do just to kind of tie that local tie into
this show? Sloop
Speaker 2 (32:08):
John Bloop you have to do that, yes, and you
guys did it before the Beach Boys, so, uh, so
that yeah.
And, and the, uh, the Weavers did it before the
Kingston Trio. Oh wow, OK, yes, I was gonna say
that's oh I I can't wait.
I'm so excited
Speaker 1 (32:23):
for the show. I have to ask you this real
quick as we wrap, he goes, you know, the Bob
Dylan movies coming up and I know Bob, you know,
was in a position to be where he was because
of the Kingston Trio, but he was also able to
kinda stick his nose up with sort of the I'm
the new liberal.
Political movement guy, and later he he certainly recognized that
appreciation and how they propelled him for that position, but
(32:45):
obviously that movie's coming out, we've had Johnny Cash movies
and on and on. Why, why is there not a
mainstream like is or is there something in the works?
So I just feel like a Kingston Trio movie would
be amazing and baffling. Is
Speaker 2 (32:55):
that something is there not enough scandal. Oh really? break
some news? Are we breaking news here?
Yeah, um, we've been working on, uh, uh, on possible Netflix.
It's about 2 weeks from completion, 12 1 hour episodes.
Full dramatic story, full dramatic story of the Kingston Trio
(33:20):
origins starting with, uh, Frank Werber's.
Um, Frank Werber's escaping from a Nazi concentration camp and
making it to San Francisco and finding these guys and
nurturing them into the biggest group in the world.
Speaker 1 (33:39):
It's a big sign me up. Do we know about
the time I know we've had Carl Hien on talking
about Bad Monkey. I know it's hard to tell when
a show's going to be released, you never know, but
is there any timetable when that might come out, uh,
any idea at all?
Speaker 2 (33:51):
It would be not really, but, um, hopefully it'd be 2026.
Alright,
Speaker 1 (33:56):
sign me up. I cannot wait. Gentlemen, I know I
can talk to you all day. I've got so many questions,
but we're at our time here and I know it's
uh uh time to celebrate a holiday for Thanksgiving. We're
thankful for you, we're thankful for the legacy you're preserving,
we're thankful for the talent you bring to us and
the joy you bring to listeners. Uh, thank you all
for coming on this show. It means a lot and
I can't wait to see you here. This is great
Speaker 2 (34:17):
and don't forget everybody,
yeah.
We'd like to leave you with our corporate motto which
a clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.
I love that. I, and it's so perfect for Key West.
I love it. That's so
perfect. So December with us at the
theater. That's motto.
Thank you guys have fun. December
Speaker 1 (34:38):
7th, Kingston Trio, uh, we're gonna see you here. You
can still get tickets at the Key Westheatre.com. It is
gonna be great, as you can already tell with this
energy here, Mike, Tim, buddy, you guys are amazing. Thank
you again for coming on and we can't wait to
see you here at the Kingston Trio here in Key West.
Thank you all for guys,
Speaker 2 (34:54):
happy Thanksgiving.
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