Folk Music Tops The Charts

It was on this date in 1958 that The Kingston Trio did the unlikely: they took a nearly 100 year old folk song—and made it #1 on the pop charts!

“Tom Dooley” was a watershed for several reasons, not the least of which is that it—and the trio that performed it---are credited with paving the way for the 1960’s folk singers who might never have gotten the chance to be exposed nationally. Bob Dylan, Peter, Paul & Mary, Joan Baez---all owe their success in part to the Kingston Trio.

Dave Guard, Bob Shane and Nick Reynolds. Unlike the counter-culture, protest-based artists who would follow them—were clean cut, all-American young men who honed their act as fraternity brothers at Stanford. What they did---which allowed the others to follow—was to prove that folk music could be commercially viable.

Their ability to SELL made the record labels much more receptive to the artists who would use the genre of folk music to convey political messages.

The song “Tom Dooley” was probably first sung in 1868—based on a true story about a man named Tom Dula. Charged with the murder of his fiancée Laura Foster, Dula was the focus of national media attention, particularly in the New York Times. Professing his innocence right up to the gallows, Dula was hanged for the crime. It’s not known who originally wrote the song, but the Kingston Trio decided to record it after hearing it performed by a singer during an audition at the Purple Onion Club in San Francisco.

Here is that huge hit:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZYjc57V55U



The song actually broke out of Salt Lake City, of all places! DJ Paul Colburn at KLUB started playing the song extensively in his show, which resulted in strong local sales. Released nationally, the single sold more than 3 million copies.

The song earned the trio a Grammy award in the “Country & Western Performance” category in 1959, the first year of the awards.

The release of that debut record kicked off a remarkable 3 years for the group. They earned some $25 million dollars for Capitol Records ($180 million in 2010 dollars!)—and they reported accounted for 15% of the labels assets. For five consecutive weeks, four of the Top 10 selling LPs nationwide were Kingston Trio albums.

A feud within the group followed, with personnel changes—and the waning sales that were largely attributed to The Beatles and the British Invasion. Nevertheless, The Kingston Trio occupies a special place in pop music history.

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