For a folkie, Glenn Yarbrough albums turn up in reasonable frequency in op shops and that’s because he has had some mainstream success.
He success was largely due to the fact that he straddled the bridge between political and or personal folk and pop folk.
Clearly, if you are a folkie and you want a career, that works given that Yarbrough has released around 50 or so solo albums (as well as around 20 albums as a member of the successful pop folk act The Limeliters).
His solo albums include Christmas albums, albums of Broadway standards, gospel albums, sea shanty albums, country pop albums, traditional pop albums as well as straight folk albums.
He has written the odd song but more often than not he leans towards covers of traditional numbers or of contemporary folk singers, even the more “controversial” ones like Phil Ochs.
Obviously he keeps his ear to the ground.
In many ways, if he had a film career, he would be a latter day Burl Ives. Unlike Ives though Yarbrough sings in a smooth velvet tenor so perhaps, musically, he is to folk what Jim Reeves was to country.
In saying all this I’m not taking anything away from him.
What Yarbrough was, was ahead of his time, in combining folk and pop music. He, The Kingston Trio and his other band The Limeliters all spearheaded the folk boom with their pop folk hybrid. Admittedly that pop folk was soon discarded by hard core folkies but it nevertheless opened the door of opportunity (by making folk commercially viable) for all the folkies, personal and controversial, in the 60s, including Dylan, Phil Ochs and others.
Bio – allmusic: Glenn Yarbrough’s high, clear tenor has served him well throughout his long career as a singer (that’s him singing "Things go better with Coke" on all those commercials), and although it has been many years since he placed a song on the pop charts, he continues to have a large and loyal fan base. He was born on
He’s still performing and recording.
This album, about midway through his career, sticks to the formula he established … smooth versions of recent folk standards. The only difference is, here, he performs with the Havenstock River Band – I have little on them and there appears to be at least one other band from around the same time with the same name,
The songs are a mixed bag from 71 era popular folk songwriters – Ron Davies, Bobby Scott and Danny Meehan being less well known but nevertheless recorded and established singers.
Tracks (best in italics)
- Friend of Jesus – (John Stewart ) – slick without the contemplative qualities of Stewart’s original. It’s bouncy enough though ….
- Easy Now – (Bob Gibson) – nice.
- Ease Your Pain– (Hoyt Axton) – country singer Axton in folky writing mould which he did on occasion. Pleasant. No grit, but a good song.
- Where Will the Love Come From – (Dick Holler ) – quietly contemplative singer-songwriter song here given the emotive treatment. Dramatic but entertaining.
- Put Your Hand in the Hand – (Gene MacLellan) – the big funky gospel hit …done by just about everyone in the 70s. It suits Yarbrough’s vocal.
- Annie’s Going to Sing Her Song – (Tom Paxton) – A gentle nursery rhyme type of a song. Again, Yarbrough’s voice is a perfect fit.
- Willoughby Grove -(Bobby Scott, Danny Meehan ) – lush
- Silent Song Through the Land – (Ron Davies) – up tempo number with a gospel feel
- Funky in the Country – (Bob Gibson) – certainly is …but only just. Can you fault any song with a kazoo? Or is it a comb?
- Epistle -(Hoyt Axton) – a gently critical song on churchgoers …I think. It’s a little muddled but still it’s pretty good …
An’ to your marchin’ men in blue and silver,
Everyone for peace is just a lousy red.
You just can’t seem to figure out the reason:
The answer lies in what the shepherd said.
He said: "I’ll choose you one out of a thousand.
"Only two out of ten thousand more.
"And you shall stand as one again,
"On the sacred shores of the promise."
And …
Patchy …very patchy and perhaps a bit too slick. Yarbrough always works best when he has themed albums …. I think I will tape a couple of tracks and sell.
Chart Action
US
Nothing no where
Sounds
Epistle
attached
Others
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBfIaFr2Jfg (from the Steve McQueen film)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IyNp_oS1KU&feature=fvst
Limeliters
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FakIaWVelE&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKsox3mKgIU&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hO4qvEtPZ4&feature=relmfu
Review
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Bio
http://www.allmusic.com/artist/glenn-yarbrough-mn0000556320
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenn_Yarbrough
Website
http://www.glennyarbroughsinger.com/
Trivia
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