Bob Carey

Bob Carey was one of the important players from the '50s folk revival scene, despite the allegations of some critics that he is "understandably forgotten." He was a member of two groups from this era, the Folksay Trio and the Tarriers, both originally in the company of sidekick Erik Darling. The Folksay Trio seems to have been the first young group from this era of folk music to record, and consisted of Darling, Carey, and banjoist Roger Sprung, who would later dive headlong into the world of bluegrass. This group recorded only four tracks in a basement in New Jersey, but what was basically a poorly distributed 10" record printed on pink plastic turned out to have far-reaching implications. The Folksay Trio's arrangement of "Tom Dooley," a typically moody Appalachian ballad, was the same one used by the Kingston Trio for a record that turned out to be one of the biggest hits of all time. Carey and Darling made several tries at establishing a group that could have similar commercial success, and by the mid-'50s had created the Tarriers trio with Alan Arkin, at that point yet another folkie who was quite a distance from becoming an acclaimed actor. The group was forced to cut its first sides for an independent label, having been turned down by every major company as being uncommercial. In 1957, "The Banana Boat Song" release on Glory brought this group plenty of gravy, staying on the hit parade for two months before being usurped by the classier cover version created by Harry Belafonte. Carey's performing and recording career from that point on largely centered around the Tarriers, with whom he stayed loyal through several changes in membership. In the end, he would be the only original member of the group, playing alongside multi-instrumentalist Eric Weissberg of...