Three Jolly Coachmen By The Kingston Trio

The first cut from side A of the first album by The Kingston Trio from 1958. Capitol Records' T996 "The Kingston Trio" sold in excess of a million units, and the group's first 45rpm record "Tom Dooley," the fourth cut on side A, sold over four million copies and was the biggest single factor in launching the commercial boom in all kinds of folk music from this date well into the mid-1960s.

Also known as "Landlord Fill The Flowing Bowl," this song dates as far back as 16th century England and demonstrated the kind of energy, musicianship, and humor that became the group's trademark as for the next three years (1958-1961) they became the largest-selling vocal group in the world, changing the face of American popular music in the process.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• KingstonTrio
• ThreeJollyCoachmen
• LandlordFillTheFlowingBowl
• folk

[grands1am]

I'm 25, into all music - I hear the Kingston Trio have a reputation of being a cleaned-up version of folk but they seem to be kind of awesome. Sing and play great.

[CompVid101]

That's a fair assessment in most ways, but it's not the whole story. They were a lot more "authentic" than most of what passes today as "folk." But by the standards of the 50s - there were real rural and traditional performers at the time, as well as urban folkies who imitated them, and the KT DID seem to be clean and commercial by comparison. KT never called themselves "folk" at all - that was Capitol Records. I'm working on a book about exactly this.

[qwizzler]

@CompVid101 he man post when you get that book out. i would be interested to read it

[talma16]

@grands1am The Kingston Trio, Chad Mitchell, and Peter Paul & Mary brought folk music to a much wider audience. More commercial, yes. But their arrangements were richer than the "pure" versions, with harmonies and multiple instruments. You can compare versions of Sinking of the Reuben James on Youtube. Woodie Guthrie did the original, pure one, but Kingston Trio version is much better.

[goatgruffy66]

:)

[sdingeswho]

Oh, this is great! My dad played this record incessantly when I was growing up, and it's wonderful to *finally* hear it without all the snaps, crackles, and pops. Thank you so much --- nobody could sing three-part like the original KT! :-D

[XMLarry]

A lively piece for them but still well done.