Greatest Hits

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The Kingston Trio

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One of the most stellar groups rising out of the pop woof and warp of the late 1950s was the counter-intuitive group, the Kingston Trio, who, singing traditional folk songs, popularized it to the point of creating a cottage industry with imitators by the score. Yet it was with their singular hit of "The Legend Of Tom Dooley', recounting the sad last moments of a condemned man that they caught the public imagination and lit a fire under contemporary folk music. They were sophisticated, mainly urban, and yet quite down to earth and folksy in their approach, and showed that they had a sense of humor with another hit, "M.T.A.", recounting the dilemma of a Boston commuter caught on board the "T" without sufficient money to get off.

Yet they recorded and released quite serious songs too, such as the traditional "Where Have All The Flowers Gone", an early anti-war song, "Rueben James", and "Reverend Mr. Black". Also included here are hits such as "Greenback Dollar" and a rather interesting diversion in the way of "Tijuana Jail". They also had a minor hit with "Scotch And Soda", which was mainly aimed at the late fifties-early sixties college crowd. So was one of their final hits, "Worried Man". They blazed the way for a number of other, more mainstream vocal groups like the Limelighters, the Brothers Four, and Peter, Paul and Mary. The original Kingston Trio toured for years, and in the decades since have had a number of revivals since with different group members than the originals. This is a great album including most of their best-known songs. Enjoy!