The Greenbriar Boys

All Music Guide:

One of the first urban bands to play bluegrass, the Greenbriar Boys were instrumental in transforming the sounds of the hill country from a Southern music to an international phenomenon. The Greenbriar Boys first came together during informal Sunday afternoon jam sessions at New York's Washington Square Park. The impetus for the group, however, had been conceived a few years before, when New York-born John Herald met banjo ace Eric Weissberg at the University of Wisconsin. Inspired by Weissberg's repertoire of Bill Monroe, Flatt & Scruggs, and Don Reno tunes, Herald acquired an acoustic guitar and, with help from Weissberg, taught himself to play.

After leaving the school, Herald and Weissberg moved to New York, where they were soon joined by Bob Yellin. Yellin had studied classical violin, piano, and vocal harmony as a child and trumpet at the High School of Music and Art. After listening to a recording of Flatt & Scruggs, Yellin had been converted to bluegrass and bought himself a banjo. Using Pete Seeger's instructional record How to Play the 5 String Banjo, Yellin mastered the three-finger Scruggs style of banjo picking. In 1958, Yellin and Mike Seeger (of the New Lost City Ramblers) attended the Old Time Fiddlers Convention in Galax, VA, and received a second prize for their double banjo rendition of the traditional folk tune "Old Joe Clark."

Herald, Weissberg, and Yellin had few commercial aspirations when they formed the Greenbriar Boys, and their performances were limited to concerts at American Youth Hostels and the Sunday sessions at Washington Square Park. When Gerde's Folk City opened, the Greenbriar Boys were one of the first acts to play the club.

The Greenbriar Boys became more serious after Weissberg left to join the Tarriers and was replaced by Paul Prestopino and then Ralph Rinzler. A mandolin player and folklorist, Rinzler owned a large collection of tapes that included recordings by Riley Puckett, Charlie Poole, and Uncle Dave Macon. Rinzler encouraged the Greenbriar Boys to rehearse on a regular basis, and the group's sound began to meld. In 1960, the Greenbriar Boys traveled to Union Grove, NC, where they became the first northern group to win the band competition at the Old Time Fiddlers Convention. A year later, Yellin returned to the festival and became the first northerner to win first prize in the banjo competition.

1962 proved a pivotal year for the Greenbriar Boys. In addition to accompanying Joan Baez on two songs -- "Pal of Mine" and "The Banks of the Ohio" -- on her second album, the group was signed by Vanguard Records. After being featured along with Jackie Washington, Bob Gude, and Hedy West on a multi-artist sampler, New Folks, the Greenbriar Boys released a self-titled debut album. They subsequently released three other albums -- Ragged but Right! in 1964, Dian & the Greenbriar Boys in 1965, and Better Late Than Never in 1966. With Rinzler leaving the group to accept a job as director of the folk department at the Smithsonian Institute, the Greenbriar Boys were joined by bluegrass mandolinist and vocalist Frank Wakefield and fiddler Jim Buchanan on Better Late Than Never. The Greenbriar Boys' arrangement of "Different Drum," by Mike Nesmith (later of the Monkees), was re-recorded and turned into a pop hit by Linda Ronstadt and the Stone Poneys in 1967. However, the Greenbriar Boys disbanded in 1967, although they have occasionally reunited in the years since.

Wikipedia:

The Greenbriar Boys were a seminal northern bluegrass music group who first got together in jam sessions in New York's Washington Square Park. Along with the New Lost City Ramblers, their urban traditional country sound inspired a generation of musicians and fans.

Biography

In 1959, guitarist/vocalist John Herald formed The Greenbriar Boys, along with Bob Yellin (banjo) and Eric Weissberg (mandolin). Weissberg was soon replaced by Ralph Rinzler (mandolin) to form their most successful combination. The trio often played the Greenwich Village scene, but were notable enough to be the first Northern group to win the likes of the Union Grove Fiddler's Convention competition, where Yellin also took top honors for banjo.

They were credited as guest artists on two tracks from Joan Baez's 1961 album Joan Baez, Vol. 2. In 1962, they released their first eponymous album on Vanguard Records. Three more albums followed: Ragged but Right! in 1964, Dian and the Greenbriar Boys in 1965 (with Dian James, d. 18 May 2006), and Better Late Than Never in 1966 (with the additions of mandolinist/vocalist Frank Wakefield, who replaced Rinzler, and fiddler, Jim Buchanan). The 1966 album included the original recorded version of Mike Nesmith's "Different Drum", which was made into a hit song the following year by the Stone Poneys. This album was also the source for a subsequent Stone Poneys single, "Up To My Neck In High Muddy Water," with author credit to Wakefield, Herald, and Yellin.

By the last album, Rinzler had left to become director of the folklife area [1] at the Smithsonian Institution which now bears his name. Rinzler was replaced in 1965 by the Tennessee-born mandolin virtuoso Frank Wakefield who, at the age of 31, was already a legendary figure in Bluegrass music, having performed since the age of 16 with such Bluegrass stars as the Stanley Brothers, Jimmy Martin and Red Allen and the Kentuckians. He had made a Carnegie Hall appearance with Allen, had done guest spots on various TV programs and had appeared on dozens of records, including the first-ever all-Bluegrass LP album ever produced by Smithsonian-Folkways Records. Wakefield's arrival therefore brought some welcome southern appalachian authenticity to what until then was a northern, urban and folkish-oriented group. Over the next four years, the close friendship and musical collaboration between John Herald, Bob Yellin, Jim Buchanan and Frank Wakefield resulted in some successful recordings and national television appearances. In addition to his remarkable mandolin playing, Wakefield's southern-accented lead and harmony vocals lent a distinctively rural sound to the Greenbriar Boys. Wakefield was also responsible for bringing young Kentucky-born guitarist and lead singer Joe Isaacs into the group by 1968. The Greenbriar Boys disbanded in 1970 as Wakefield launched what was to become a highly successful solo career bringing him international fame and which is still thriving. The Greenbriar Boys reunited occasionally in later years. John Herald released albums with The John Herald Band and a solo album, in 2000, Roll On John, before committing suicide in 2005.