John Hardy (Getaway John): The Kingston Trio

The original Kingston Trio of Bob Shane, Nick Reynolds, and Dave Guard sing a ballad about a real character, John Hardy, who was hanged in West Virginia in 1894 for murdering a man after a card game, though the actual motivation seems to have been a love triangle. As the last verse indicates, Hardy experienced a religious conversion while awaiting execution, and prison officials allowed him to be baptized in a river on the morning of his hanging.

The ballad came to national attention in the 1920s when it was recorded by the Carter Family. This version from the Kingston Trio appeared on their second studio album "At Large," released in 1959. "At Large" spent 15 weeks as the #1 album on the Billboard charts, enough that after half a century it is still in the top 20 albums all time for that statistic.

The video is a montage of images of the original troupe of the Kingston Trio, from 1957-61.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• KingstonTrio
• CarterFamily
• folk
• JohnHardy
• AtLarge

[903davesharonpoky]

I love duos and groups that sing in great harmony!!!! Amazing!!!

[kong3355]

Mountains of Trinity, Songs of my childhood, thanks Dad :)

[sgtmajtom06]

Too sweet. Too much missed.

[3Pitous]

Someone said the Trio played with only 2 or 3 chords! Let's not forget the subtle 6th

[Cyberella1000]

I was a little kid when I heard my brother Tom, playing his Trio album.I would hide on the stairs and listen to him and his buds sing this song and speak of adventures to come.

[ArepoEn]

Another jewel of the Kingston trio in their finest hours...

[desertra1]

Cuties patooties.

[zaaritha]

This is good!

[guitarbo1]

A beaut! Sounds great on Once Upon A Time